I live by a small River that has turned neon green with super abundant algae. DEC tests have confirmed that this river water is 25 times what is considered a toxic level of contamination. This condition has been generated by drought, static, still water and pollution from sewage and agricultural fertilizers. We also have a problem with municipal water supplies for New Paltz. Guess we can't count on our River.
The temperatures Rise and our River is ruined!
The temperatures Rise and our River is ruined!
25
"Unless we act, we’re cooked!"
What makes Mr. Kristof confident that action will influence temperatures in any significant way?
In an op-ed he was showing a glacier, which had melted 1850-1930 the same as 1930-now, the latter with 100 times more industrial emissions. So should we reduce emissions to the levels of 1850, an impossibility, glaciers would STILL melt the same.
Sea levels in NYC, according to NOAA, are carefully measured since the time of Lincoln, in 1855. They grew, according to that direct, clear measurement, at the same rate, 3mm/year=1ft/century in 1855 as they do now. The same from ANY long term gauge ANYWHERE around the world, according to NOAA and to peer reviewed publications. Should we reduce emissions to the levels of 1855, an impossibility, sea levels would STILL rise at the same rate.
Sea rise shows temperature rise, at the same rate in 1855 as now.
Mr. Kristof favors action, which would damage the energy independence of the US, a dream for generations. It would favor China, which stresses development instead.
That is the real question. What makes him think that costly action will affect significantly the climate?
President Obama made clear in 2008 that his administration could and would stop the seas from rising. Without knowing that they rise at the same rate since the time of Napoleon, 210 years ago.
Here is the NYC data from NOAA, in blue
https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?stnid=...
with links to ALL gauges.
What makes Mr. Kristof confident that action will influence temperatures in any significant way?
In an op-ed he was showing a glacier, which had melted 1850-1930 the same as 1930-now, the latter with 100 times more industrial emissions. So should we reduce emissions to the levels of 1850, an impossibility, glaciers would STILL melt the same.
Sea levels in NYC, according to NOAA, are carefully measured since the time of Lincoln, in 1855. They grew, according to that direct, clear measurement, at the same rate, 3mm/year=1ft/century in 1855 as they do now. The same from ANY long term gauge ANYWHERE around the world, according to NOAA and to peer reviewed publications. Should we reduce emissions to the levels of 1855, an impossibility, sea levels would STILL rise at the same rate.
Sea rise shows temperature rise, at the same rate in 1855 as now.
Mr. Kristof favors action, which would damage the energy independence of the US, a dream for generations. It would favor China, which stresses development instead.
That is the real question. What makes him think that costly action will affect significantly the climate?
President Obama made clear in 2008 that his administration could and would stop the seas from rising. Without knowing that they rise at the same rate since the time of Napoleon, 210 years ago.
Here is the NYC data from NOAA, in blue
https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?stnid=...
with links to ALL gauges.
12
Honestly this is a pretty ridiculous article ... yes people get more irritable when it's hot and more important muggy. But up to a point. Because if the temperature rises to over, say 100 degrees, people aren't doing anything but slowing down, way down. I would also say people get mean when the weather gets really cold, esp when they are not used to it. But the same thing happens in reverse. If it gets super cold, like 0, people aren't going anywhere. I don't need a scientist to tell me this.
If Mr Kristof's point is high temperatures are going to do us in, well I probably agree with that. But we will most likely be under water, it looks like, before we get that far.
Orange, NJ
If Mr Kristof's point is high temperatures are going to do us in, well I probably agree with that. But we will most likely be under water, it looks like, before we get that far.
Orange, NJ
9
Do you remember the latest ice age? There were glaciers over a lot of North America. That was about 12 thousand years ago. We humans survived it. Much later we had the "mini ice age" in the middle ages.
We now seem to believe that the climate will not change ever. Aren't we fools?
We now seem to believe that the climate will not change ever. Aren't we fools?
12
The same physics we are messing with makes Venus hot enough to melt lead and Mars cold enough to freeze out CO2.
And those are our sister planets.
What could go wrong?
And those are our sister planets.
What could go wrong?
25
We learn from the NY Times that animal agriculture is responsible for up to 51% of climate change:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/we-could-be-heroes/
It's time to boycott the products of animal agriculture. They are the products of atrocities against the defenseless. Ethics require a boycott, in so very many ways.
Mr. Kristof, have you joined the boycott yet?
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/we-could-be-heroes/
It's time to boycott the products of animal agriculture. They are the products of atrocities against the defenseless. Ethics require a boycott, in so very many ways.
Mr. Kristof, have you joined the boycott yet?
15
I suggest that all deniers should have their air conditioning disabled, and the same treatment for all those who vote for people so stupid or so conceited as to repudiate the scientific consensus. You make your bed, you should sweat in it.
40
"It appears that 2016 will be the hottest year in recorded history..."
Why do writers keep saying that w/o giving a date?
It would be more informative to say
"2016 will be the hottest year since (1780? 1849? 1890? 1915?) when reliable readings began to be kept."
Why do writers keep saying that w/o giving a date?
It would be more informative to say
"2016 will be the hottest year since (1780? 1849? 1890? 1915?) when reliable readings began to be kept."
7
"Unless we act, we’re cooked!"
What makes Mr. Kristof confident that action will influence temperatures in any significant way?
In an op-ed he was showing a glacier, which had melted 1850-1930 the same as 1930-now, the latter with 100 times more industrial emissions. So should we reduce emissions to the levels of 1850, an impossibility, glaciers would STILL melt the same.
Sea levels in NYC, according to NOAA, are carefully measured since the time of Lincoln, in 1855. They grew, according to that direct, clear measurement, at the same rate, 3mm/year=1ft/century in 1855 as they do now. The same from ANY long term gauge ANYWHERE around the world, according to NOAA and to peer reviewed publications. Should we reduce emissions to the levels of 1855, an impossibility, sea levels would STILL rise at the same rate.
Sea rise shows temperature rise, at the same rate in 1855 as now.
Mr. Kristof favors action, which would damage the energy independence of the US, a dream for generations. It would favor China, which stresses development instead.
That is the real question. What makes him think that costly action will affect significantly the climate?
President Obama made clear in 2008 that his administration could and would stop the seas from rising. Without knowing that they rise at the same rate since the time of Napoleon, 210 years ago.
Here is the NYC data from NOAA, in blue
https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?stnid=...
with links to ALL gauges.
What makes Mr. Kristof confident that action will influence temperatures in any significant way?
In an op-ed he was showing a glacier, which had melted 1850-1930 the same as 1930-now, the latter with 100 times more industrial emissions. So should we reduce emissions to the levels of 1850, an impossibility, glaciers would STILL melt the same.
Sea levels in NYC, according to NOAA, are carefully measured since the time of Lincoln, in 1855. They grew, according to that direct, clear measurement, at the same rate, 3mm/year=1ft/century in 1855 as they do now. The same from ANY long term gauge ANYWHERE around the world, according to NOAA and to peer reviewed publications. Should we reduce emissions to the levels of 1855, an impossibility, sea levels would STILL rise at the same rate.
Sea rise shows temperature rise, at the same rate in 1855 as now.
Mr. Kristof favors action, which would damage the energy independence of the US, a dream for generations. It would favor China, which stresses development instead.
That is the real question. What makes him think that costly action will affect significantly the climate?
President Obama made clear in 2008 that his administration could and would stop the seas from rising. Without knowing that they rise at the same rate since the time of Napoleon, 210 years ago.
Here is the NYC data from NOAA, in blue
https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?stnid=...
with links to ALL gauges.
2
Our Free Trade pacts do not penalize companies for making goods, for the American market, in countries with no environmental laws. The pollution emitted in other countries eventually makes its way around the world.
Our Free Trade pacts also allow international companies to sue a country whose environmental laws interfere with the amount of money the companies think they could make there. American companies have successfully sued Canada. Canada had to pay so much that it stopped enforcing some of its laws. Now a Canadian company is suing the United States for stopping it from building the Keystone Oil Pipeline.
These Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) lawsuits are brought in a special court. It is not possible to appeal the verdict.
The ISDS is part of our current Free Trade bills. According to a 6/10/15 article in the Guardian titled “The Obscure Legal System that Lets Corporations Sue Countries”, the proposed TPP expands the scope and power of ISDS.
Our Free Trade pacts do not penalize manufacturers for polluting in other countries, and they allow multi-national corporations to sue us if our environmental laws lessen their profits.
Bill Clinton signed NAFTA and CAFTA. His wife oversaw the writing of the TPP, and described it as the “gold standard”. Now she has backed off from the TPP, saying parts of it need to be revised. But she has not said which parts.
Our Free Trade pacts also allow international companies to sue a country whose environmental laws interfere with the amount of money the companies think they could make there. American companies have successfully sued Canada. Canada had to pay so much that it stopped enforcing some of its laws. Now a Canadian company is suing the United States for stopping it from building the Keystone Oil Pipeline.
These Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) lawsuits are brought in a special court. It is not possible to appeal the verdict.
The ISDS is part of our current Free Trade bills. According to a 6/10/15 article in the Guardian titled “The Obscure Legal System that Lets Corporations Sue Countries”, the proposed TPP expands the scope and power of ISDS.
Our Free Trade pacts do not penalize manufacturers for polluting in other countries, and they allow multi-national corporations to sue us if our environmental laws lessen their profits.
Bill Clinton signed NAFTA and CAFTA. His wife oversaw the writing of the TPP, and described it as the “gold standard”. Now she has backed off from the TPP, saying parts of it need to be revised. But she has not said which parts.
29
Another piece on the problem but not the solution. We need more journalism on the solution. How much of America's and the developed countries' carbon footprint is truly the problem? We have 2-billion Chinese and Indians that would desire to have a car, a house, etc. and live like Americans do. Can we realistically tell them to stop it? Does American suburban sprawl, a huge engine to the American economy, account for a lot of it? Much of American middle class to higher aspirations entail the big car, the big house, and membership club level consumption. The NYT needs to stop reporting that climate change is a problem and start talking about solutions. Should we as consumers and Americans really be focused upon reducing our carbon footprint? Or is it more of a manufacturing/resource utilization thing? Can we have any hope for growing economies and climate change reversing? Yes Mr. Kristof it's hot. It's really hot. What should we do about it? Are you ready to cut back on your traveling schedule? Does it even matter if you do?
36
The science is clear: the climate is warming, and it is very likely anthropogenic.
The science is also clear that the warming is predominantly in cold places and cold seasons.
The science is also clear that the warming is predominantly in cold places and cold seasons.
1
It's all too late unless you can think of a huge, solar powered machine that sucks carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and dumps it deep in the earth, preferably as a solid or liquid carbon compound.
6
The wall that will be built won't be on our southern border, it will be on our northern border and the Canadian will build it.
18
You have to give Kristof credit for trying to get Trump unelected, while Times editors are accepting op eds entitled with Hillary being called a bitch. At least Kristof tries to do the job. With Dowd's brain permanently on vacation, with David Brooks having becoming a rabbinical pop psychologist and general Republican booster, there really isn't much push back from the op ed staff against the greatest threat to good government that this country has ever seen.
17
More people, by far, die from cold weather/exposure than from heat. It's not even close.
3
It's actually past time for these people to reevaluate. The temperature has gone up. All we can do is attempt to mitigate the damage.
11
Feel the bern.
9
Trump does not believe in global warming and would end efforts to prevent it. Another reason Trump is unfit for the job of President of the United States of America. He doesn't deserve to lead our country. He is un-American and/or anti-American. His election would be the end of the world as we know it.
20
Overpopulation has to be addressed or we're all doomed. World religions that don't believe in contraception have contributed to poverty , wars and mass dislocation of people, and over taxing the earth's resources. Too many people and growing which becomes unsustainable.
30
Oh dear! As soon as I read the first 4 paragraphs, I was confronted with more Trump blather, a man who talks incessantly about things he knows nothing about. If he gets elected, will he finally shut his mouth or will I have to listen to more of the same every day for 4 years? I have no hopes that being elected president will improve his IQ or knowledge of what he talks about. I only hope that the fact that he might let slip out government secrets would cause his handlers to muzzle him. If he is not elected, no one will have cause to muzzle him.
I want a day, no, a whole week to go by without a single picture of Trump appearing anywhere, without a single outrageous comment from the mouth of Trump being repeated ad nauseum, without a simple mention of the man appearing anywhere. Also, no Trump surrogates spinning the words according to Trump. Please God? Please NYT? Please all media?
I want a day, no, a whole week to go by without a single picture of Trump appearing anywhere, without a single outrageous comment from the mouth of Trump being repeated ad nauseum, without a simple mention of the man appearing anywhere. Also, no Trump surrogates spinning the words according to Trump. Please God? Please NYT? Please all media?
31
So the immediate solution should be to install Air Conditioning in less than 40% of schools that still lack the units, correct ? If the hypotheis of this Harvard paper is true, then it is a no-brainer.
1
Economists, sociologists, psychologists, biologists, climate scientists and many others have been looking at the effects of climate change for years. If Mr. Kristof were doing the job of a journalist, he would have found the work of Geoffrey Heal at Columbia and Solomon Hsiang at Berkeley (among many others). The Park paper has obvious links to that of Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson and also of Jared Diamond and Jeffrey Sachs. But Kristof shows no awareness of them either.
It's a shame that Nicholas Kristof seems to think the research is only worthwhile when it comes out of Harvard (and maybe a tiny handful of other schools). It's also curious that Jisung Park's paper should have come to Mr. Kristof's attention when it is not yet published and has a date of September 9, 2016, on it. It's also a job market paper, so my guess is that some professor at Harvard, keen to advance Mr. Park's job prospects, made a point of bringing it to Mr. Kristof's attention. Would work from a PhD candidate at any school other than his alma mater command get his attention?
That aside, Mr. Park's work is likely to find an audience because many who tend to put aside concerns about climate change won't put aside concerns about their kids doing well enough to get into elite schools (like Harvard). And students at wealthier schools will enjoy air conditioning while poorer students certainly won't (a point Mr. Park acknowledges).
It's a shame that Nicholas Kristof seems to think the research is only worthwhile when it comes out of Harvard (and maybe a tiny handful of other schools). It's also curious that Jisung Park's paper should have come to Mr. Kristof's attention when it is not yet published and has a date of September 9, 2016, on it. It's also a job market paper, so my guess is that some professor at Harvard, keen to advance Mr. Park's job prospects, made a point of bringing it to Mr. Kristof's attention. Would work from a PhD candidate at any school other than his alma mater command get his attention?
That aside, Mr. Park's work is likely to find an audience because many who tend to put aside concerns about climate change won't put aside concerns about their kids doing well enough to get into elite schools (like Harvard). And students at wealthier schools will enjoy air conditioning while poorer students certainly won't (a point Mr. Park acknowledges).
9
It's a lot more serious than he thinks. Within a decade most of the equatorial Earth will be uninhabitable to humans. See Guy McPherson's blog.
17
An eye opener for both the developing and developed countries. Worth reading it, so please make your voice louder to be heard by the policy makers.
9
It's been said here many times, and it bears repeating...
Mother Nature always bats last, and she always bats 1.000.
Mother Nature always bats last, and she always bats 1.000.
11
Society will do nothing effective to slow or stop global warming. All it can do is try to adjust.
1
Drill baby drill. Drive baby drive. Cook baby cook.
7
I'm from Buffalo, a place often mocked for its historically long and snowy winters, fanned by a stiff Canadian breeze blowing across Lake Erie. But the truth is, that's not so true anymore. I may not be able to see the loss of sea ice or rising water levels in Florida, but Buffalo is not that snowy anymore. Whenever I run into folks from my hometown, inevitability we remember winters when we were kids as far more severe. You walked to school through a tunnel of snow piled up over your head on both sides. You didn't see a speck of pavement until March. You could bet you'd get at least a couple of days when school would have to close. Completely unscientific observation, but it tends to make me believe that climate change is very real, and happening faster than we may have thought.
14
40% of the earth's population lives less than 100 miles from an ocean. When seas rise and that population is displaced, where will they live?
Answer: Your living room.
Get it?
Answer: Your living room.
Get it?
7
Co2 levels rising. Bad for humans and other living things,
But my, aren't the trees and plant looking happy now a days !
But my, aren't the trees and plant looking happy now a days !
1
So global warming is planet earth with a fever from its human virus.
12
Yes.
And the great God Obama is able to make the weather cooler.
And the great God Obama is able to make the weather cooler.
1
How about the NYT do it's bit by eliminating the printed version of its product? Everything I read in the Sunday Times, which i just heard land on my doorstep, I already saw at some point this past week. Otherwise stop telling me that I am destroying the Earth because I'm alive.
6
Hurry, hurry, we need to turn even more aspects of our lives over to the government before it's too late. Really? When has that ever worked out well for anyone other than our those that rule us? I have no doubt that the "climate" is warming a smidge but I doubt that it's caused by humans and even if it is, I doubt that there is anything that we can do about it.
2
This why the coal region of this country is in trouble. Nothing anybody does will make coal the dominate heating source of the future. It is time someone speaks the truth to the people of Appalachia.
11
Gee! Americans have been looking for the perfect President for 244 years. Maybe Trump is it. We all know that he will not do anything he says because everything he says is a lie. So in truth he will not build a wall or even talk with the generals for his 30 day plan.
However we probably are not sure what he will do on those times when he said he was being "funny" or "sarcastic"
Yep, finally, The Perfect President. Now guess who's lying or. is it being funny or sarcastic.
However we probably are not sure what he will do on those times when he said he was being "funny" or "sarcastic"
Yep, finally, The Perfect President. Now guess who's lying or. is it being funny or sarcastic.
2
"The average Indian now endures about 33 days a year above 90 degrees"???
Ok, but that doesn't sound too extreme.
We've had over 30 in upstate SC (the cooler part) since July 1st
Ok, but that doesn't sound too extreme.
We've had over 30 in upstate SC (the cooler part) since July 1st
5
I was unaware that Kristof had gone back to college and studied meteorology or earth sciences. His entire article is nonsense. He knows it and basically is a prime example why people don't think much of the man made climate change theory. The NYT will do anything to denigrate Trump while promoting Hillary, the lying criminal. In November, we are going to see just how sick and tired America is of the radical left wing agenda pushed by the editorial board of your newspaper.
1
"Do The Right Thing" - Spike Lee knew things in 1989 what "big shot economists" are finding today!
2
Don't we all wish that bad joker would stop kidding around and tell us what he really thinks, what his real plan is, what he read last, what he paid in taxes the last three years, and where he's going with all this formless cant?
2
"There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. "
— Raymond Chandler, "Red Wind"
— Raymond Chandler, "Red Wind"
10
Kristof's column is spot on. To all the climate change deniers, and those who ascribe politics to the science, just go to http://www.skepticalscience.com/ where you'll find each and every one of your points utterly rejected and debunked quite thoroughly. It's not the sun. It's not natural cycles. It's not flawed models. It's not actually cooling.
Lastly, it will likely be noted by others in this section that folks in the southern US states, where fewer Americans believe the science, are apparently too hot to be able to reason correctly on this matter.
Lastly, it will likely be noted by others in this section that folks in the southern US states, where fewer Americans believe the science, are apparently too hot to be able to reason correctly on this matter.
10
So now global warming causes people not to get into Harvard?
I'm really confused, because more people die from frigid temperatures, than warm ones.
You must have been really bored this week Kristof.
I'm really confused, because more people die from frigid temperatures, than warm ones.
You must have been really bored this week Kristof.
3
I love to go to outdoor fairs of all types. Ask any vendor when they sell the least amount. It is on hot days. as people walk around in a quiet daze too hot to think about buying anything.
2
Extreme east coast heat has been known to turn some people's hair a spooky shade of orange. And as Lucy van Pelt might say: "Orange is the new blech!"
7
Too boring, a photo essay more like the melting asphalt in India would be better. We know about the hot deadly summer in Europe already. Ok India too. Stringing together disparate facts makes a very boring article. Poorly written and without standing or passion, unlike the doers: EDF, Nature Conservancy, WWF, NOAA, NASA, Al Gore and Present Obama.
Kristof writes "we are creating a hotter world for which we humans are poorly adapted". False! Humans are adapted to live in any environment. We live from outer space to the poles to the equator. We adapt the environment to our comfort rather than adapt ourselves to the environment. Kristof's statement is the "hoax" of climate change, not the consensus prediction of "scientists", of which I am one.
1
All of these pundits like continue to inform us Global Warming is serious. Which it is! They blame are leaders for not acting. Why don't you write about tangible solutions and would actually work? The reason why they don't do this is because it would actually take some serious science and thinking. But it easier for Mr. Kristof to tell us Mr. Trump is an idiot. We signed the Kyoto last year. You never hear about our Federal in a collaborative way work with all aspects of global warming and come up with a plan. NOT once. Instead they threaten the coal industry and blame them for our ills. PLEASE.
In the "we're cooked" category, most the people on the planet will not really see a problem due to anthropogenic climate change since they will be dust before the major issues hit. This includes most people in congress. Climate change has a relatively "soft" warning indication. The real problems with sea level changes are decades away. Intervening periods of mild weather move any action to the back of the line as there are too many other immediately nasty issues going on in the world. It is likely a tipping point has essentially been passed since the thermal inertia build up with CO2 will have centuries of heat trapping effects.
The planet is starting to see the problems with global warming now, but the severity is insufficient to initiate change. It won't stay that way and the non-science climate denier crowd still prefer to bury their brains in the sand.
The planet is starting to see the problems with global warming now, but the severity is insufficient to initiate change. It won't stay that way and the non-science climate denier crowd still prefer to bury their brains in the sand.
34
"So it’s time for Trump — and all Americans — to re-evaluate. Climate change isn’t a hoax, and it certainly isn’t a Chinese conspiracy. Unless we act, we’re cooked!"
Quick, act! Trump or Hillary what exactly can they do as president, stop industrialization, stop transportation, stop production, stop heating and cooling our houses and businesses until someone, somewhere invents a system of low cost renewable energy that can be plugged into the grid.
Until that day arrives and we can power say NYC on cheap renewables can either Trump or Hillary do more than has already been done during the past seven and one half years? Shouldn't one expect great leaps in technology to come from private, for profit, businesses rather from lumbering government bureaucracy? Of course businesses that haven't been saddled and controlled by that same lumbering government bureaucracy.
Quick, act! Trump or Hillary what exactly can they do as president, stop industrialization, stop transportation, stop production, stop heating and cooling our houses and businesses until someone, somewhere invents a system of low cost renewable energy that can be plugged into the grid.
Until that day arrives and we can power say NYC on cheap renewables can either Trump or Hillary do more than has already been done during the past seven and one half years? Shouldn't one expect great leaps in technology to come from private, for profit, businesses rather from lumbering government bureaucracy? Of course businesses that haven't been saddled and controlled by that same lumbering government bureaucracy.
4
I believe in climate change but I do not know if a little warming will be good or bad for the world. World temperatures have varied over tens of millions of years and there is no earth manual which identifies the ideal.
In the article, Kristof wants us to extrapolate from a couple of studies that show performance and mental deficiencies in warmer temperatures. At last Kristof has unintentionally convinced me of the inferiority of the various minorities born and raised around the equator. Next week I expect Mr. Kristof to expound upon the scientific basis for slavery (of non-whites of course).
In truth, climate change is simply a catalyst for political speculation about world cooperation on economic and alternative energy issues. Unfortunately, most of the discussion is an effort to keep cheap energy (coal) from the poor, allow rich corporations to do what they want (carbon tax) and inflate the market price of (white-owned) green energy companies – (which politically support the left).
At least Trump understands the financial consequences of the climate change hype. China, after all, builds coal plants and exports wind turbines. The hypocrisy has not prevented China, rather than Russia, from being Mr. Obama’s best friend.
In the article, Kristof wants us to extrapolate from a couple of studies that show performance and mental deficiencies in warmer temperatures. At last Kristof has unintentionally convinced me of the inferiority of the various minorities born and raised around the equator. Next week I expect Mr. Kristof to expound upon the scientific basis for slavery (of non-whites of course).
In truth, climate change is simply a catalyst for political speculation about world cooperation on economic and alternative energy issues. Unfortunately, most of the discussion is an effort to keep cheap energy (coal) from the poor, allow rich corporations to do what they want (carbon tax) and inflate the market price of (white-owned) green energy companies – (which politically support the left).
At least Trump understands the financial consequences of the climate change hype. China, after all, builds coal plants and exports wind turbines. The hypocrisy has not prevented China, rather than Russia, from being Mr. Obama’s best friend.
8
Trump's ever increasing excuse for his statements is: "He is Kidding". I would like him to tell us when he is serious and when he is kidding. Is he kidding when he tells his fans club "he will make America Great Again". Donald, if we want a joer we will go to a bat man movie. Please take your audience seriously and treat us like adults. I am not Kidding.
2
I think he will when Mrs Clinton will. Shall we focus on her robust health as evidenced by today's collapse at the WTC memorial service?
1
The planet is burning up and the cause is human over population and their burning of fossil fuels.
We are far past the point of doing anything about it.
Human over population? who cares?
Yesterday in Central Park it was oppressive heat advisory weather in the second week of September. It was so hot my dog refused to go for his usual walk -
however, there were wall to wall strollers with the babies who are going to have to live in the coming world of oppressive heat almost every day.
It don't think I will live long enough to be cooked, but they are.
We are far past the point of doing anything about it.
Human over population? who cares?
Yesterday in Central Park it was oppressive heat advisory weather in the second week of September. It was so hot my dog refused to go for his usual walk -
however, there were wall to wall strollers with the babies who are going to have to live in the coming world of oppressive heat almost every day.
It don't think I will live long enough to be cooked, but they are.
21
I believe, just as there are millions who are dumb enough to vote for Trump, there are millions who believe Hillary is, except for that little thing called a criminal conviction, guilty of espionage, treason, murder and an assortment of high crimes, President Obama is a Muslim, 9/11/01 was a government operation, and Climate Change is a hoax perpetrated by the vast Left Wing conspiracy (according to the vast Right Wing conspiracy which they claim does not exist), whose purpose seems to be to hellbent on restoring and reusing for some devious as yet unexplained devious reasons.
When we can finally convince "those people", which includes many members of the ultra-Right Wingers in Congress, that Climate Change is not is not another Communist plot, and maybe worth trying to work at alleviating, considering they vaunt their conservatism in everything else except conservation, then perhaps we can put up a more united front.
Let's label the whole approach to preserving our planet's resources under the umbrella as something like Liberals and Conservatives United for Conservation. Ya' think that might work?
DD
Manhattan
When we can finally convince "those people", which includes many members of the ultra-Right Wingers in Congress, that Climate Change is not is not another Communist plot, and maybe worth trying to work at alleviating, considering they vaunt their conservatism in everything else except conservation, then perhaps we can put up a more united front.
Let's label the whole approach to preserving our planet's resources under the umbrella as something like Liberals and Conservatives United for Conservation. Ya' think that might work?
DD
Manhattan
9
Dennis - "I believe, just as there are millions who are dumb enough to vote for Trump,"
Have "things" concerning climate change improved during the past seven and one half years? Are you "dumb" enough to believe that the other candidate will change that when she has already stated for the record that her administration will be a continuation of the last? Do you honestly think she will put her billionaire donors out of business if those businesses contribute to climate change even after they have contributed to the foundation?
Have "things" concerning climate change improved during the past seven and one half years? Are you "dumb" enough to believe that the other candidate will change that when she has already stated for the record that her administration will be a continuation of the last? Do you honestly think she will put her billionaire donors out of business if those businesses contribute to climate change even after they have contributed to the foundation?
Kristof's last sentence ("Unless we act, we’re cooked!") reveals a level of ignorance that is difficult to put into words.
It is true that mankind's activities have effects on climate. It would be scientifically dishonest to claim otherwise.
The type of climate change evidenced by the onset, and the reversal, of an "ice age" is a large scale, long period phenomenon.
Careful study of the CO2 content charts prove definitively that man's contribution is basically at noise level - relative to - documented natural changes that are several orders of magnitude larger.
That those large changes occurred, is a matter of fact and the evidence is concrete. However, no honest scientist can claim that we know WHY those cycles occur. Some correlation with solar activity is hypothesized but is based on indirect evidence.
So, some change in man's behavior may possibly reverse our small scale shifts (assuming that reversing them is a good idea). But if there is anyone out there who actually believes there is ANYTHING that man can do to stop these cycles, they I say: You are a fool.
It's the big changes that kill off entire taxonomic classes, not the small ones. And, if you think "global warming" is bad, mull over global cooling (they both occur, regularly).
With an ice age, all the fresh water becomes sequestered in ice. There is very little left to drink.
With global warming, Mongolia can actually have a full growing season once a year.
BTW, Global warming cannot be stopped.
It is true that mankind's activities have effects on climate. It would be scientifically dishonest to claim otherwise.
The type of climate change evidenced by the onset, and the reversal, of an "ice age" is a large scale, long period phenomenon.
Careful study of the CO2 content charts prove definitively that man's contribution is basically at noise level - relative to - documented natural changes that are several orders of magnitude larger.
That those large changes occurred, is a matter of fact and the evidence is concrete. However, no honest scientist can claim that we know WHY those cycles occur. Some correlation with solar activity is hypothesized but is based on indirect evidence.
So, some change in man's behavior may possibly reverse our small scale shifts (assuming that reversing them is a good idea). But if there is anyone out there who actually believes there is ANYTHING that man can do to stop these cycles, they I say: You are a fool.
It's the big changes that kill off entire taxonomic classes, not the small ones. And, if you think "global warming" is bad, mull over global cooling (they both occur, regularly).
With an ice age, all the fresh water becomes sequestered in ice. There is very little left to drink.
With global warming, Mongolia can actually have a full growing season once a year.
BTW, Global warming cannot be stopped.
9
"Careful study of the CO2 content charts prove definitively that man's contribution is basically at noise level - relative to - documented natural changes that are several orders of magnitude larger."
Careful study proves nothing of the sort. That is a false statement. Period. Full stop.
Careful study proves nothing of the sort. That is a false statement. Period. Full stop.
26
Don't believe in science huh.
1
I don't know, Nick. It really does seem to me that "rising seas, more intense hurricanes, acidification of oceans, drought and crop failures" plus increasing floods in flood prone areas, are more important than whether a few students have to take exams again, or irritated drivers honk their horns more on hot days.
But in my view, moving away from the burning of fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy is only part of the solution. The big challenge is how to deal with the unrestrained growth of human populations. If humans cannot restrain population growth, nature will do it for us. The best solution is universal family planning. If women world wide had the power to choose when, and how many children they have, the problem will eventually solve itself. Unfortunately, politics and religion stand in the way of the only humane solution.
But in my view, moving away from the burning of fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy is only part of the solution. The big challenge is how to deal with the unrestrained growth of human populations. If humans cannot restrain population growth, nature will do it for us. The best solution is universal family planning. If women world wide had the power to choose when, and how many children they have, the problem will eventually solve itself. Unfortunately, politics and religion stand in the way of the only humane solution.
36
re test scores varying by the heat of the day the test was taken -- if you extrapolate that -- then students in Vermont should do better than those in Florida, Students in Canada should do better than those in New York. Students in general should perform better in the fall semester... I think we need to see if that study can be replicated.
As far as heat goes -- yeah, it can be a doozy. I grew up in Texas and me and my buddies in high school and college worked summer jobs like clearing land, bailing cotton, brick hogging, construction, moving furniture -- in heat far above 85 degrees. And when we practiced football, it was in August, in the afternoon, in full pads. You'd think we all would be brain dead by now but somehow, despite the heat, most are doctors, lawyers, successful businessmen, academics. Ain't that crazy.
So for the uninformed -- if you check the NOAA data base -- across most sections of the US the rise in temps is not uniform, it is primarily in urban areas and the average temp rise is not the result of higher highs, but higher lows - and most of the heating effect occurs in winter months. So it is unlikely that anyone is experiencing higher highs in the summer months than back in the 1930's --
and as far as more intense storms -- nice myth -- no evidence.
More anecdotes from Kristof.
As far as heat goes -- yeah, it can be a doozy. I grew up in Texas and me and my buddies in high school and college worked summer jobs like clearing land, bailing cotton, brick hogging, construction, moving furniture -- in heat far above 85 degrees. And when we practiced football, it was in August, in the afternoon, in full pads. You'd think we all would be brain dead by now but somehow, despite the heat, most are doctors, lawyers, successful businessmen, academics. Ain't that crazy.
So for the uninformed -- if you check the NOAA data base -- across most sections of the US the rise in temps is not uniform, it is primarily in urban areas and the average temp rise is not the result of higher highs, but higher lows - and most of the heating effect occurs in winter months. So it is unlikely that anyone is experiencing higher highs in the summer months than back in the 1930's --
and as far as more intense storms -- nice myth -- no evidence.
More anecdotes from Kristof.
5
Got the complaint - climate change - nuclear is the solution. Already supplying 25% of electrical energy need for the US. Most scientists believe that the nation has made a mistake turning from nuclear. Why? Clean, carbon-free, relatively small footprint. That doesn't preclude alternatives such as windmills and solar; but neither of these are guaranteed sources and each require enormous footprint.
A single nuclear plant produces 2500 megawatt; while modern huge windmills - if the wind is blowing is best at 2.5 megawatt. So it takes 1,000 windmills - under perfect conditions - to equal a single nuclear plant. But conditions rarely are - so it takes 2X to get a 90% or 4X to get at 99% of assuring power from wind vs. what a nuclear plant does 24/7. That's 2,000 to 4,000 windmills to just equal a single plant!
To replace all the nuclear plants in the country would easily require over a million windmills! Pretty horrendous to the landscape when modern plants can be made fail safe.
A single nuclear plant produces 2500 megawatt; while modern huge windmills - if the wind is blowing is best at 2.5 megawatt. So it takes 1,000 windmills - under perfect conditions - to equal a single nuclear plant. But conditions rarely are - so it takes 2X to get a 90% or 4X to get at 99% of assuring power from wind vs. what a nuclear plant does 24/7. That's 2,000 to 4,000 windmills to just equal a single plant!
To replace all the nuclear plants in the country would easily require over a million windmills! Pretty horrendous to the landscape when modern plants can be made fail safe.
5
...because we've got that nuclear waste problem so very well handled.
11
"Pretty horrendous to the landscape when modern plants can be made fail safe."
Nuclear power plants are not exactly beautiful. And fail safe? Are you serious?
Nuclear power plants are not exactly beautiful. And fail safe? Are you serious?
2
As long as the masters of the universe have planes to move them from the heat to cooler resorts as they pollute the planet, nothing will be done. When the Koch Brothers realize that eventually there is no where for even them to go anymore, will anything be done; however, by then, millions of "little people" will be dead.
7
If increasing heat causes violent crime, then why has violent crime in the US dropped 75% over the last 30 years just when the temperatures are allegedly being driven higher by global warming? Chicago, one of our coldest cities has about the highest murder rate. All studies show on net warming saves lives from temperature related death because cold kills far more people than heat. Even the most extreme predictions for warming never put the US as hot as Singapore is right now and it has among the highest test scores and life expectancy and very close to zero violence. The NYT goes on and on with these editorials and advocacy "news" stories. It's not working.
3
Only when the last tree has died
And the last river been poisoned
And the last fish been caught
Will we realize that we cannot eat money.
Cree Indian proverb
And the last river been poisoned
And the last fish been caught
Will we realize that we cannot eat money.
Cree Indian proverb
23
Just curious if this applies to kids who live year-round in warm weather. When it's over one hundred degrees every day for three or four weeks in a row, ninety feels pleasantly cool here. Kids take tests and do well on hot days, because that's basically the only kind of weather we have in central Texas, apart from a few cold weeks from late December to early February. When it gets down to thirty here, everyone freezes!
So what about acclimatization? Does warm weather affect kids who grow up in it and are used to it, as much as it affects kids who grow up in colder zones?
So what about acclimatization? Does warm weather affect kids who grow up in it and are used to it, as much as it affects kids who grow up in colder zones?
3
We need more informed articles like this one, that demonstrate the effects of climate change go far beyond the rising sea levels and increasing temperatures. Climate change is fundamentally altering both the environment and human reactions to it. And the longer it takes governments and cultures to respond with hard-core, capitalist-unfriendly reactions, the quicker and more far-ranging the consequences will be. Any politician, anywhere on the face of the globe, who denies that climate change is happening NOW, and that we cannot act to ameliorate it, should be disqualified from public office. As holocaust deniers are in countries such as Germany, because they are either stone-ignorant or liars. We need politicians across this good green planet to work for solutions to this horrifying problem, not politicians who serve the interests of evil corporations. And we need to start going after these evil corporations--nationalize them, if necessary--so they become part of humankind and our globe's survival.
4
Regardless of what happens to the weather, believing that men in government have the ability to control the temperature on earth is idiotic and narcisstic.
6
"Even in auto factories, most presumably air-conditioned, a week of six days above 90 degrees reduces production by 8 percent."
Uh, no. It's only the newer ones that might be air-conditioned. I've worked in 2 different plants owned by one of the Big 3 (now the Big 2?). One, the newer one, was semi-air-conditioned; it was nothing like the AC in your home but was better than nothing. The other was built decades ago and you could count on the temperature inside being about 30 degrees higher than the outside temp. Out of curiosity, I took a thermometer to work. The night it pegged out at 120 I took it home; I didn't want to know. And it was steamy in there; you could see the mist hanging in the air. At the time we were working seven twelves (7 days a week, 12 hours a day) with every 3rd Sunday off. But hey, those American auto workers are so damn lazy, aren't they?
But you do have a point. People don't function very well in intense heat. Every summer workers at my plant were hospitalized for heat exhaustion. Now I work in an office with AC, a desk, and a chair. I greatly appreciate the amenities of office work and I don't think those who have never worked on their feet in 100 degree plus heat for an entire shift can even conceive of what that's like. Yet they are the ones who are making climate change related decisions. Certainly Trump has never known such conditions. Maybe we should invite him to run a machine in my former plant for a week. Not that he'd last that long.
Uh, no. It's only the newer ones that might be air-conditioned. I've worked in 2 different plants owned by one of the Big 3 (now the Big 2?). One, the newer one, was semi-air-conditioned; it was nothing like the AC in your home but was better than nothing. The other was built decades ago and you could count on the temperature inside being about 30 degrees higher than the outside temp. Out of curiosity, I took a thermometer to work. The night it pegged out at 120 I took it home; I didn't want to know. And it was steamy in there; you could see the mist hanging in the air. At the time we were working seven twelves (7 days a week, 12 hours a day) with every 3rd Sunday off. But hey, those American auto workers are so damn lazy, aren't they?
But you do have a point. People don't function very well in intense heat. Every summer workers at my plant were hospitalized for heat exhaustion. Now I work in an office with AC, a desk, and a chair. I greatly appreciate the amenities of office work and I don't think those who have never worked on their feet in 100 degree plus heat for an entire shift can even conceive of what that's like. Yet they are the ones who are making climate change related decisions. Certainly Trump has never known such conditions. Maybe we should invite him to run a machine in my former plant for a week. Not that he'd last that long.
22
Good work by Park! Would that the parents of children affected by climate-related performance could all see this report.
Good work by Edward Miguel too. One aspect of the Syria carnage is that internal migration and unrest were sparked by drought--and here we are. Yet the commentators rarely, if ever refer to this aspect.
Good work by Edward Miguel too. One aspect of the Syria carnage is that internal migration and unrest were sparked by drought--and here we are. Yet the commentators rarely, if ever refer to this aspect.
5
Sadly it all boils down to one thing: there are just too damn many humans on this planet. We are like a cancer, spreading and destroying until we kill off the host body - our planet. But our planet has many means to maintain its equilibrium (not an equilibrium as perceived by us humans, but its own often mysterious equilibrium). Higher mortality rates among humans due to heat stress may be just another way our planet tries to maintain its equilibrium, trying to fight back against the cancer which is us.
14
The LGBT movement may also be a response to our overpopulation.
1
So, are people in the tropics much less successful?
Climate change as predicted is higher temperatures, not (or less obviously) more variability in temperature. If higher temperatures / days over 90 matter for human behavior, people living in warmer climates or, at the very least people who as adults, move to warmer climates ought to be substantially less successful than persons who live (or move to) cooler climates. The effect ought to be striking, if we believe the implications of this op-ed. I find no evidence for this, either in this article or a brief review of other literature. So, it seems likely, its just if you are unusually hot TODAY you are stressed and bad things happen, not if you are on average hotter.
This is not to imply that absolute temperature does not matter, or that global warming is unimportant. Only that the facts cited in this op-ed seem unrelated to the likely effects of global warming
Climate change as predicted is higher temperatures, not (or less obviously) more variability in temperature. If higher temperatures / days over 90 matter for human behavior, people living in warmer climates or, at the very least people who as adults, move to warmer climates ought to be substantially less successful than persons who live (or move to) cooler climates. The effect ought to be striking, if we believe the implications of this op-ed. I find no evidence for this, either in this article or a brief review of other literature. So, it seems likely, its just if you are unusually hot TODAY you are stressed and bad things happen, not if you are on average hotter.
This is not to imply that absolute temperature does not matter, or that global warming is unimportant. Only that the facts cited in this op-ed seem unrelated to the likely effects of global warming
1
What's happening to the planet shouldn't be called climate change or global warming but instead it should be called global heating instead. Mainly because "global warming" masks the distinct probability that temperatures will rise to the point that humans, plant and animal life will no longer be sustainable. Just imagine going outside when the temperature is 140 degrees or higher. Our atmosphere is headed in that direction and nobody with the power to change things gives a damn. All they worry about is making a buck!
5
140 degrees? ABSURD!
1
Climate change is unquestionable, quantifiable, hard scientific evidence of the existence of god...and his battle with Lucifer. Apparently god is losing. Lucifer has broken open the gates of Hell, releasing a warm caress from his kingdom. Or.
God is in full control of his creation and once again is disgusted with our failure to worship his love and goodness. So ticked off, god has chosen to punish us by turning up the heat. Or.
Man's thirsty greed is so unquenchable that we are willing to consume our home. Climate change is here. There is no question that burning fossil fuels pours pollutants into our atmosphere, leading to a rise in global temperatures, unleashing an increasing barrage of devastating storms. But we can't help ourselves. The Trumps of the world choose to deny the truth as they grab for all the marbles. In the short-term the Trumps of the world can keep themselves safe by leaving areas under threat; eventually, their decedents will have no place to run to.
God is in full control of his creation and once again is disgusted with our failure to worship his love and goodness. So ticked off, god has chosen to punish us by turning up the heat. Or.
Man's thirsty greed is so unquenchable that we are willing to consume our home. Climate change is here. There is no question that burning fossil fuels pours pollutants into our atmosphere, leading to a rise in global temperatures, unleashing an increasing barrage of devastating storms. But we can't help ourselves. The Trumps of the world choose to deny the truth as they grab for all the marbles. In the short-term the Trumps of the world can keep themselves safe by leaving areas under threat; eventually, their decedents will have no place to run to.
7
Nick, I totally believe in climate change but honestly the statistics you mention do not show the drastic increase in temperature that our planet is seeing. The greatest threats are not to us (we, Americans, have air-conditioning) but the billions who don't and to the trillions of animals who share this planet with us. This is probably the main reason why I don't support the GOP. Unless we take this threat seriously our planet and us humans are doomed.
3
I agree that the statistics don't show the drastic increases in temperature. This temperature "plateua" continues, even despite the last few years of "record" temperatures. Yes, they set records, but just barely. The "plateau" continues, despite all its so-called "explanations" by climate alarmists (choose one: ocean absorption of heat, Pinatubo, Stratospheric warming, etc. etc. But all the models, many of which account for those effects keep predicting exponentially increasing temperatures. Where are they?
1
After reading this article, my daughter thanked me for my generation having killed our only planet which immediately filled me with shame for not having lived a lifestyle with a much smaller carbon-footprint, and her words left me speechless as I tried but failed to articulate a proper apology ... for how does one say sorry for wiping out the human race?
I was able to tell her, though, that I believe her generation will innovate new technologies that will heal the Earth. She suggests starting with a 20-year worldwide moratorium against all warfare. The Times should offer stories of technological hope along with all the doom and gloom; using your platform to share ideas can help spark the imaginations of all generations which could help bring us closer to our ultimate goal--saving the world.
I was able to tell her, though, that I believe her generation will innovate new technologies that will heal the Earth. She suggests starting with a 20-year worldwide moratorium against all warfare. The Times should offer stories of technological hope along with all the doom and gloom; using your platform to share ideas can help spark the imaginations of all generations which could help bring us closer to our ultimate goal--saving the world.
4
Humans will "adapt" to rising temperatures with more air conditioning or perhaps undergound living. A bigger problem than raised temperatures is diseases. Zika is just the beginning.
1
Climate change is increasing disease problems as well, as has been noted about mosquito- and other insect-borne diseases.
When populations move, natural defenses are less effective, and the climate is forcing mass migrations of every sort (human as well, on the increase).
When populations move, natural defenses are less effective, and the climate is forcing mass migrations of every sort (human as well, on the increase).
5
There is no disputing climate change. There is no disputing its rapidity is human influenced. There is no disputing the already tragic effects - droughts, floods, increasingly violent storms, naturally caused forest fires. And yet, we, the nation who could make the greatest contributions are still willing slaves to the denials put forth by politicians and big money interest who want to protect only their power and growing fortunes.
Perhaps it was a blisteringly hot day when the deniers chose their stance...I am trying to be compassionate. For surely no sane person in control of their senses could continue to deny what is happening and refuse to do anything about it.
Perhaps it was a blisteringly hot day when the deniers chose their stance...I am trying to be compassionate. For surely no sane person in control of their senses could continue to deny what is happening and refuse to do anything about it.
7
Nothing functions well when temperatures rise except for thermophile bacteria and extremophiles of the ancient type that thrived when life first appeared on Earth 3.7 billion years ago. See their heirs at Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park.
The greatest of the five recognized mass extinctions was the Great Dying that took place 250 million years ago at the boundary between the Permian-Triassic eras. Heat left over from the birth of the Earth moves land and rocks left from the beginning of the our solar system endlessly threatening life as we know it. But for the fact that 99.9999+% of living things have become extinct there would be no room on the Ark aka Planet Earth.
From bacteria to protozoa to sharks to cockroaches to ants some living things have been much more DNA genetic biologically "wise" and "smart" in the race to prove who is the fittest of us all. Humans are being tested by their nature and nurture by a dynamic benign universe that has no favorites.
The greatest of the five recognized mass extinctions was the Great Dying that took place 250 million years ago at the boundary between the Permian-Triassic eras. Heat left over from the birth of the Earth moves land and rocks left from the beginning of the our solar system endlessly threatening life as we know it. But for the fact that 99.9999+% of living things have become extinct there would be no room on the Ark aka Planet Earth.
From bacteria to protozoa to sharks to cockroaches to ants some living things have been much more DNA genetic biologically "wise" and "smart" in the race to prove who is the fittest of us all. Humans are being tested by their nature and nurture by a dynamic benign universe that has no favorites.
3
Did Al Gore ghost write this piece? Kidding.
Climate change is one of those issues the GOP base used their distorted blogs rather than their logical brains. Sure the Demos likely have their blond spots, but it is time to rise above ideology and use some horse sense about this. In fact the time was yesterday, and may be indeed too late to stop much damage. Climate change and the serious consequences will be textbook some day on how blind ideology and obsessive opposition to one party's whatever in spite of devastating negative consequences.
Power is nothing without a constituency, a Easter Island demonstrates.
Climate change is one of those issues the GOP base used their distorted blogs rather than their logical brains. Sure the Demos likely have their blond spots, but it is time to rise above ideology and use some horse sense about this. In fact the time was yesterday, and may be indeed too late to stop much damage. Climate change and the serious consequences will be textbook some day on how blind ideology and obsessive opposition to one party's whatever in spite of devastating negative consequences.
Power is nothing without a constituency, a Easter Island demonstrates.
6
It is indeed "too late" to stop the vast majority of effects of climate change. All that is left is to learn how to adapt to it and seek to reduce the future damage caused by our continuing to burn our stocks of coal, gas and oil. I don't think any of us would recognize what future life will be like on planet earth. I expect much of it will be uninhabitable. Those with the money and the means will always find a place to live and thrive. Not so the masses. What so many fail to recognize is that most of us, the 99%, are part of the teeming masses.
2
The one solution that is seldom if ever mentioned is population control. I know that it kicks in slowly and will take time for its effects to be felt. But we need to start now. Instead of giving deductions on taxes for dependents, we should give huge deductions for zero children, moderate deductions for one child and graduated tax penalties for two or more children. I will be happy to pay more for food, housing, and higher taxes on my too many cars and too big of a house. I want demanding science education and subsidies for science and engineering education. Oh, and lets stop wasting non-renewable money on endless wars. We should be in emergency mode and instead we are in denial or I cannot as an individual make a difference mode. There is no real leadership on this issue I want my children and grandchildren to have a decent life.
14
We could start by providing free birth control to everyone, anywhere in the world, who wants it. You would see a huge drop in abortions and pregnant women.
3
The globe is a petri dish, and it is nearly full. We are the bacteria ravenously consuming the nutrient soup left in the dish. Bacteria cannot stop growing, nor can they stop feeding themselves. They are doomed and so are we. The issue now is not reversing global warming. That is too late. The issue is who can survive and how. And in what manner humanity can decide which civilizations and which cultures will survive. In the past, the strong, the brutal and the ruthless were the survivors. Probably that will be the case this time.
7
Why don't coal and oil producers change over to non-fossil based energy production?
There must be scads of money to be made there.
We should pass laws greatly restricting use of fossil fuels.
There must be scads of money to be made there.
We should pass laws greatly restricting use of fossil fuels.
13
Greed, power, politics. Humans are strange, they put greed and politics before fellow humans. I want my McMansion, I don't care how much it costs others who share the planet with me. My lifestyle is my own, I earned it so I will live the way I want, because I can -- this is the attitude.
3
I just hope we can learn!?!?
I actually perform better in the heat in all respects, and always have. Perhaps I represent a latent trait in the population genome. I should probably push to increase global warming because my progeny will have an advantage.
6
Sadly, the stats and phenomena described in this article point to a conclusion I hate to have to admit: after 30+ years of ineffective efforts to change the climate change trajectory, we are now beyond the point of prevention. The discussion needs to shift to figuring out how to manage the consequences, how to use our ingenuity to protect humanity and the natural world. This approach might also bring the "deniers" and "admitters" together. Both sides can agree that the world is heating up (although they disagree about the cause).
9
They are called deniers because they refuse to acknowledge that it could be real.
1
If hatred, anger and violence increase with rising temperature, maybe we are already seeing the effect on our politics. How else to explain the Trump phenomenon?
24
Its not an excuse. By the same token, all over the tropical humid countries of the world, people would suddenly become nasty, turn to hatred, anger and violence. Not true.
1
We have amassed more than we can protect and maintain. The definition of a struggling Empire. Our actions maintaining and protecting wealth create more problems than solutions. We've reached entropy.
16
We have reached entropy and it is us!
This is a strange assertion considering that the rise of homo sapiens as thedominant species dates from the end of the last ice age. There has been a lot of global warming since then.
1
So, let us stay ensconced in our cooker as the temperature continues to march toward the boiling point. Ask a lobster what the last paragraph of the story says!
2
The article is very one sided in that all the example sited pertain to dangers from heat. How about danger from cold like getting a heart attack shoveling your drive way, getting in an accident because the road has snow and ice. Cold weather can slow transportation to a crawl, and this can not only delay fire trucks and ambulances, but can steal large amount of commuters time from essential and productive activities.
I am not arguing that hot is better cold. I am just saying this article does not seem to be about which is better, but rather example of how hot is bad. There are numerous examples of the danger of cold and they are not included.
I am not arguing that hot is better cold. I am just saying this article does not seem to be about which is better, but rather example of how hot is bad. There are numerous examples of the danger of cold and they are not included.
2
I believe he concentrated on heat because the world is warming.
What you describe are human activities that take place in cold weather that create a threat to humans - driving, shoveling, etc. - not the effects of the actual cold weather/temperature itself. There's a difference.
1
Don't confuse more snow with cold. Greater amounts of snow are the result of higher temperatures.
2
While I accept the fact of a warming climate, I do not accept the level of alarm with which it is viewed and treated.
Moreover, I cannot accept the scientific consensus that attributes every heavy rainstorm, every hurricane (very few which have impacted the US since predictions of impending doom), every drought, every whale stranding to the effects of global warming.
While many of the actions proposed for the energy market - more solar, wind power, and wave energy - make good energy and economic sense, they do not need a continuing and consistent dose of government subsidies in the name of climate change. Economics should dictate the rate at which these new technologies are introduced.
Nuclear power offers an excellent answer to the need for consistent power and lower GHG emissions. Yet, the climate change lobby cannot seem to find common cause with those who seek a simpler and economically sound means of constructing and operating new facilities.
Finally, this new attribution by Mr. Kristof. My students did perform more poorly when the temperature was 90 degrees than 72 degrees.
My students also performed worse on Fridays, and especially late on Friday afternoons. They performed worse in June than in March, in December than in October. My students performed worse when they did not study, or when I gave a pop quiz rather than an announced quiz. And they performed worse when the test asked for information that was not well covered.
Climate change? Not so much.
Moreover, I cannot accept the scientific consensus that attributes every heavy rainstorm, every hurricane (very few which have impacted the US since predictions of impending doom), every drought, every whale stranding to the effects of global warming.
While many of the actions proposed for the energy market - more solar, wind power, and wave energy - make good energy and economic sense, they do not need a continuing and consistent dose of government subsidies in the name of climate change. Economics should dictate the rate at which these new technologies are introduced.
Nuclear power offers an excellent answer to the need for consistent power and lower GHG emissions. Yet, the climate change lobby cannot seem to find common cause with those who seek a simpler and economically sound means of constructing and operating new facilities.
Finally, this new attribution by Mr. Kristof. My students did perform more poorly when the temperature was 90 degrees than 72 degrees.
My students also performed worse on Fridays, and especially late on Friday afternoons. They performed worse in June than in March, in December than in October. My students performed worse when they did not study, or when I gave a pop quiz rather than an announced quiz. And they performed worse when the test asked for information that was not well covered.
Climate change? Not so much.
10
Some good thought here and some bad ones.
You miss the point on the "the level of alarm." Read some more and read my other comment here on agriculture. If agriculture deteriorates and food production drops - very likely to happen -- grave results occur. "Every rainstorm" cannot be attributed to GC change. No scientists would assume that.
Nuclear: Yes, we need it and we should push forward with it. But try to sell that to the public. There is so much ignorance, emotion and near term economics interfering with progress here that I have little hope.
Example: Someone made a comment here and said "there has been much warming since the ice age before humans had much influence." So they dismiss human caused climate change. Obviously they have the understanding of a child. What can we do with that?
You miss the point on the "the level of alarm." Read some more and read my other comment here on agriculture. If agriculture deteriorates and food production drops - very likely to happen -- grave results occur. "Every rainstorm" cannot be attributed to GC change. No scientists would assume that.
Nuclear: Yes, we need it and we should push forward with it. But try to sell that to the public. There is so much ignorance, emotion and near term economics interfering with progress here that I have little hope.
Example: Someone made a comment here and said "there has been much warming since the ice age before humans had much influence." So they dismiss human caused climate change. Obviously they have the understanding of a child. What can we do with that?
2
The gas and oil industry is still receiving subsidies but that doesn't seem to bother you. We've always subsidized new industries and the old ones always fight it. I'd be ok with nuclear if we could solve the waste problem. How long can you just keep storing it somewhere?
1
Wow
There is no scientific consensus (as you put it) to blame every quirk of weather on climate change. Hope youre not teaching that.
Go back and re-read the 'scientific consensus' which indicates broad trends in climate alterations, but not little tweaks of weather (which naturally oscillates) on a changing climate.
There is no scientific consensus (as you put it) to blame every quirk of weather on climate change. Hope youre not teaching that.
Go back and re-read the 'scientific consensus' which indicates broad trends in climate alterations, but not little tweaks of weather (which naturally oscillates) on a changing climate.
3
Biological systems always find ways to re-balance. If one species (e.g., homo sapiens) so aggressively exploits the planet's finite resources that myriad other species cannot survive, nature will re-balance.
3
Our dilemma is multi-facetted.
The Earth's climate has been fluctuating from hot to cold and cold to hot long before man even appeared.
But we humans have done an especially good job of accelerating this process
by polluting just about everything in our environs.
If we could perhaps address this issue as one of 'Clean Up and Enviornmental Sustainability" (since the label "Climate Change" has become too political charged) perhaps we would be able bridge the gap between believers and deniers.
I wish more people cared about the air they breath the water they drink and the soil in which our food is grown. Sadly for some if you can not see it (pollution, and soil depleted of minerals and laden with cancerous chemicals) therefore it does not exist.
For the deniers it may take some personal devastation to hear the clarion call to wake up.
The Earth's climate has been fluctuating from hot to cold and cold to hot long before man even appeared.
But we humans have done an especially good job of accelerating this process
by polluting just about everything in our environs.
If we could perhaps address this issue as one of 'Clean Up and Enviornmental Sustainability" (since the label "Climate Change" has become too political charged) perhaps we would be able bridge the gap between believers and deniers.
I wish more people cared about the air they breath the water they drink and the soil in which our food is grown. Sadly for some if you can not see it (pollution, and soil depleted of minerals and laden with cancerous chemicals) therefore it does not exist.
For the deniers it may take some personal devastation to hear the clarion call to wake up.
16
The right wing will politicize any term you use. They don't believe in science but they use the benefits of science all the time.
2
This article goes a long way in explaining Florida where I witnessed two road rage incidents in a 5 minute period miles apart. The Donald will bring nuclear winter and cool things down. It will be the best and most fine winter the world has ever seen.
5
I generally respect Kristof. But this is one of the most disingenuous pieces I have read in a while. "He found that students taking a New York State Regents exam on a 90-degree day have a 12 percent greater chance of failing than when the temperature is 72 degrees."
Come on ! Even the most alarmist environmentalist is warning of about a 4 degree change in 100 years. And the more pragmatic expectation is about 2 degrees. Again, that's in 100 years or about 0.02 degrees per year. By contrast, Kristof is talking about changes in exam results based on an 18 degree difference (90 degrees to 72 degrees). That's 900 times the projected change next year.
However, it is illustrative of the liberal mindset. Kristof blames everything from poor test scores to violence on external factors like weather. Of course, he entirely ignores the far more basic (and important) effect of choice and hard work on scores and violence. Liberals never want to consider that principle that living in freedom means that an individual's reason and action are the paramount drivers for how they will fare - not a fraction of a degree on the thermometer.
Come on ! Even the most alarmist environmentalist is warning of about a 4 degree change in 100 years. And the more pragmatic expectation is about 2 degrees. Again, that's in 100 years or about 0.02 degrees per year. By contrast, Kristof is talking about changes in exam results based on an 18 degree difference (90 degrees to 72 degrees). That's 900 times the projected change next year.
However, it is illustrative of the liberal mindset. Kristof blames everything from poor test scores to violence on external factors like weather. Of course, he entirely ignores the far more basic (and important) effect of choice and hard work on scores and violence. Liberals never want to consider that principle that living in freedom means that an individual's reason and action are the paramount drivers for how they will fare - not a fraction of a degree on the thermometer.
4
You missed a big point of climate change that we see occurring now. We are getting more extreme weather. I believe you'll find a lot of liberals who work hard and make decent livings. That doesn't mean we have to be ignorant.
1
You've got the science wrong. A 4-degree global rise does not mean the temperature on a given day in New York will rise only by 4 degrees.
There is no man-made climate change. Man can no more alter the climate than change the course of the oceans.
It's the sun that controls all things climate. Gamma rays, sun spots, solar flares, etc., control the earth.
The sun. It is only the sun. So when these masterminds find a way to control the sun, wake me up.
It's the sun that controls all things climate. Gamma rays, sun spots, solar flares, etc., control the earth.
The sun. It is only the sun. So when these masterminds find a way to control the sun, wake me up.
5
We are all in it together. Our sun too is not an independent entity, it too is part of a larger galaxy and so on. It's your choice to ignore the cosmos...and our role in it. We may be tiny specks but we are each powerful in our contribution to the big picture. Do not underestimate the role of humans in influencing not just our planet, or solar system, or galaxy but beyond it.
8
"Over the last 35 years the sun has shown a slight cooling trend. However global temperatures have been increasing. Since the sun and climate are going in opposite directions scientists conclude the sun cannot be the cause of recent global warming.
"The only way to blame the sun for the current rise in temperatures is by cherry picking the data. This is done by showing only past periods when sun and climate move together and ignoring the last few decades when the two are moving in opposite directions."
That and other nonsense are thoroughly answered, with backup information, here:
www.skepticalscience.com
"The only way to blame the sun for the current rise in temperatures is by cherry picking the data. This is done by showing only past periods when sun and climate move together and ignoring the last few decades when the two are moving in opposite directions."
That and other nonsense are thoroughly answered, with backup information, here:
www.skepticalscience.com
17
"There is no man-made climate change."
I think you have to be careful about use the word NO. I personally think there is some, even if tiny and the question is more if the things like cheap energy that may cause climate changes do more good than any harm. By far, most houses are heated by fossil fuels weather burned in a furnace or power plant miles away for electrical heating. My Natural gas heat does me a world of good in my house compared to indoor temperatures below freezing.
The issue I have with global warming is that people can profit financially from it through crony capitalism, and politically/ ideologically through an increased role of government, transfers of wealth between developed and undeveloped countries etc.
When I think of government actions fighting climate change, I think of things like Solyndra.
I think you have to be careful about use the word NO. I personally think there is some, even if tiny and the question is more if the things like cheap energy that may cause climate changes do more good than any harm. By far, most houses are heated by fossil fuels weather burned in a furnace or power plant miles away for electrical heating. My Natural gas heat does me a world of good in my house compared to indoor temperatures below freezing.
The issue I have with global warming is that people can profit financially from it through crony capitalism, and politically/ ideologically through an increased role of government, transfers of wealth between developed and undeveloped countries etc.
When I think of government actions fighting climate change, I think of things like Solyndra.
1
No problem. No homes larger than 2000 square feet. One home per family. Two diesel cars maximum. No private planes, no yachts, no gasoline engines, no barbecues, no energy produced by combustion of any kind. As these steps impact the wealthy donor classes that support liberal activism, subscribe to this paper, live on both fragile coasts at the same time and push papers for a living rather than actually perform any labor, they will never happen. What might happen is the restriction of the 99%'s small pleasures while the rich, white liberals go blithely about their polluting ways. Just another scam her defeat will stall a bit.
5
Attacking individuals who live in modern society for their lifestyles neither addresses the problem nor discredits reality. We are stuck with the way things work; the sum of individual choices in isolation will not solve the problem.
Saying there is no problem is just plain nonsense. It is getting so obvious that anyone paying attention is can take note of increases in extremes, rising seas, melting Arctic/glaciers/Greenland/West Antarctic, species migration and changing seasons, wildfires, ocean acidification, etc. etc. As Mr. Kristof writes, heat is not good for anger management either.
Climate change is a threat multiplier; the military (also paying attention to sea level rise at Norfolk and elsewhere) are planning for it. In places like the Middle East and Africa where the food supply is also threatened, it exacerbates conflict and is at the root of human migration as well. As more and more climate refugees are created, this too will get worse. No amount of exclusionary hate mongering is going to solve it as millions and billions seek refuge.
Yes, much of it is already baked in, but that does not excuse us from trying to keep it from getting worse. That means clean energy now, and stopping the manifold forms of pollution - not just heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions but actual local pollution and phony skeptic tactics - coming from fossil fuel profiteers.
At the least, we can cut back billions in subsidies given to the wealthiest industries on earth.
Saying there is no problem is just plain nonsense. It is getting so obvious that anyone paying attention is can take note of increases in extremes, rising seas, melting Arctic/glaciers/Greenland/West Antarctic, species migration and changing seasons, wildfires, ocean acidification, etc. etc. As Mr. Kristof writes, heat is not good for anger management either.
Climate change is a threat multiplier; the military (also paying attention to sea level rise at Norfolk and elsewhere) are planning for it. In places like the Middle East and Africa where the food supply is also threatened, it exacerbates conflict and is at the root of human migration as well. As more and more climate refugees are created, this too will get worse. No amount of exclusionary hate mongering is going to solve it as millions and billions seek refuge.
Yes, much of it is already baked in, but that does not excuse us from trying to keep it from getting worse. That means clean energy now, and stopping the manifold forms of pollution - not just heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions but actual local pollution and phony skeptic tactics - coming from fossil fuel profiteers.
At the least, we can cut back billions in subsidies given to the wealthiest industries on earth.
18
False choice between two extremes.
Lots of middle ground in between where effective action can be taken without giving up barbecues.
Just throwing more sand in the eyes to distract from real science and real choices.
Lots of middle ground in between where effective action can be taken without giving up barbecues.
Just throwing more sand in the eyes to distract from real science and real choices.
4
Your last point about the subsidies to the fossil fuel industry is the key. While they whine about incentives for solar, wind, etc. as people try to help us convert to sustainable living, the other hand of government gives billions to oil and gas and to big ag, and on and on it goes.
After the big fight about the XL pipeline, they are still at it in North Dakota, this time sticking it to the Native American tribes who seem to be the last, best large group caring about the water and rest of the environment.
After the big fight about the XL pipeline, they are still at it in North Dakota, this time sticking it to the Native American tribes who seem to be the last, best large group caring about the water and rest of the environment.
4
>>
"Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of humanity in Europe, who had no sort of connection with that part of the world, would react upon receiving intelligence of this dreadful calamity. He would, I imagine, first of all express very strongly his sorrow for the misfortune of that unhappy people, he would make many melancholy reflections upon the precariousness of human life, and the vanity of all the labours of man, which could thus be annihilated in a moment. He would, too, perhaps, if he was a man of speculation, enter into many reasonings concerning the effects which this disaster might produce upon the commerce of Europe, and the trade and business of the world in general. And when all this fine philosophy was over, when all these humane sentiments had been once fairly expressed, he would pursue his business or his pleasure, take his repose or his diversion, with the same ease and tranquillity as if no such accident had happened. The most frivolous disaster which could befall himself would occasion a more real disturbance. If he was to lose his little finger tomorrow, he would not sleep to-night; but provided he never saw them, he would snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a hundred million of his brethren."
Adam Smith
"Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of humanity in Europe, who had no sort of connection with that part of the world, would react upon receiving intelligence of this dreadful calamity. He would, I imagine, first of all express very strongly his sorrow for the misfortune of that unhappy people, he would make many melancholy reflections upon the precariousness of human life, and the vanity of all the labours of man, which could thus be annihilated in a moment. He would, too, perhaps, if he was a man of speculation, enter into many reasonings concerning the effects which this disaster might produce upon the commerce of Europe, and the trade and business of the world in general. And when all this fine philosophy was over, when all these humane sentiments had been once fairly expressed, he would pursue his business or his pleasure, take his repose or his diversion, with the same ease and tranquillity as if no such accident had happened. The most frivolous disaster which could befall himself would occasion a more real disturbance. If he was to lose his little finger tomorrow, he would not sleep to-night; but provided he never saw them, he would snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a hundred million of his brethren."
Adam Smith
4
To Kristof's litany of "climate change" horrors, I posit the question - so what?
Short sighted, a narrow-minded perspective and small thinking is how I would characterize Kristof's piece.
Kristof is being shortsighted since during Earth’s long existence there was time when there were no polar ice caps. There were other times where the planet was covered in ice. In both instances, some species died, some flourished. Such is nature over the billions of year that Earth has been in existence. So to bloviate on about 90+ degree-days is laughable.
Kristof is being narrow minded in looking at this all from the perspective of man. All other creatures and life forms on Earth are merely looking to survive. Our human-centric concerns, and mainly first world at that, for comfort such as education in air-conditioned settings is to be scoffed at.
Kristof is being small in his thinking since we, as humans have already transformed the planet. There is no going back. Throw out all this nonsense about carbon sinks and emissions controls. These are expensive solutions that will not solve a modicum of what man has wrought. Now, all we can do is adapt and survive in the new world that we've created.
The Age of Man truly has begun. And it will be a mere blip in the Earth's continuum, and the Universe's, as we soon enter the Age of Machines. They will be the Godhead we have long sought - omnipotent, completely logical, soulless, eternal - and we will be mere vassals to them.
Short sighted, a narrow-minded perspective and small thinking is how I would characterize Kristof's piece.
Kristof is being shortsighted since during Earth’s long existence there was time when there were no polar ice caps. There were other times where the planet was covered in ice. In both instances, some species died, some flourished. Such is nature over the billions of year that Earth has been in existence. So to bloviate on about 90+ degree-days is laughable.
Kristof is being narrow minded in looking at this all from the perspective of man. All other creatures and life forms on Earth are merely looking to survive. Our human-centric concerns, and mainly first world at that, for comfort such as education in air-conditioned settings is to be scoffed at.
Kristof is being small in his thinking since we, as humans have already transformed the planet. There is no going back. Throw out all this nonsense about carbon sinks and emissions controls. These are expensive solutions that will not solve a modicum of what man has wrought. Now, all we can do is adapt and survive in the new world that we've created.
The Age of Man truly has begun. And it will be a mere blip in the Earth's continuum, and the Universe's, as we soon enter the Age of Machines. They will be the Godhead we have long sought - omnipotent, completely logical, soulless, eternal - and we will be mere vassals to them.
3
Nice science fiction, but nope. Without cheap energy, the machines have nothing. And anyone thinking geoengineering might work, that's another dangerous copout. "Climate hacking is barking mad": http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/02/nrc_geo...
Meanwhile, apathy and despair are laziness in disguise. We have to solve our individual and community ethical dilemma fast, and recognize that the family of humankind cannot evade responsibility with and for each other.
The idea that there is a technocratic solution that absolves us, aside from being unrealistic, falls apart.
Meanwhile, apathy and despair are laziness in disguise. We have to solve our individual and community ethical dilemma fast, and recognize that the family of humankind cannot evade responsibility with and for each other.
The idea that there is a technocratic solution that absolves us, aside from being unrealistic, falls apart.
9
I reject the premise that CO2 causes global warming. Global Warming is currently a $22 Billion Scam paid by the American taxpayer every year.
The Norwegian Institute for Energy Technics tested Ice cores samples showing rising CO2 always follows warming at an average of 800 years. Because most of the earth's CO2 is stored in ocean carbon sinks it takes a very long time for it to warm up enough to emit its CO2. When an ice age begins, a global warming occurs exactly as it is doing now.
The oceans may be heating up much quicker than ice core samples show of the past. Today, the oceans’ heating could result from millions of active volcanoes at the bottom of oceans. It could have something to do with alignment of solar system with the elliptical plane of the galaxy, heating up the core of all the planets in our solar system. Of special interest should be the active volcano recently discovered near the Arctic Circle basin. The ice shelf around the article circle is melting faster and sea-lanes expected to stay open longer, perhaps through the winter. There has been a push for the past decade to exploit the region around the artic. Active volcano increases evaporation (water vapor) followed by precipitation. Eventually, we will have an increase of snowfall that will reflect away solar energy and trigger a cool-down.
Dr. Will Happer told Congress, Climate models only work to show global warming by adding water vapor or some other greenhouse gas, but not CO2.
The Norwegian Institute for Energy Technics tested Ice cores samples showing rising CO2 always follows warming at an average of 800 years. Because most of the earth's CO2 is stored in ocean carbon sinks it takes a very long time for it to warm up enough to emit its CO2. When an ice age begins, a global warming occurs exactly as it is doing now.
The oceans may be heating up much quicker than ice core samples show of the past. Today, the oceans’ heating could result from millions of active volcanoes at the bottom of oceans. It could have something to do with alignment of solar system with the elliptical plane of the galaxy, heating up the core of all the planets in our solar system. Of special interest should be the active volcano recently discovered near the Arctic Circle basin. The ice shelf around the article circle is melting faster and sea-lanes expected to stay open longer, perhaps through the winter. There has been a push for the past decade to exploit the region around the artic. Active volcano increases evaporation (water vapor) followed by precipitation. Eventually, we will have an increase of snowfall that will reflect away solar energy and trigger a cool-down.
Dr. Will Happer told Congress, Climate models only work to show global warming by adding water vapor or some other greenhouse gas, but not CO2.
5
"Kristof is being narrow minded in looking at this all from the perspective of man."
So true! From a non-human perspective, mosquitos, rats and cockroaches have as much right to flourish as we humans. The biosphere may be getting warmer but it is just as hard at work as ever evolving new life forms to fill the new environmental niches we humans are helping to create with our contributions to global warming.
So true! From a non-human perspective, mosquitos, rats and cockroaches have as much right to flourish as we humans. The biosphere may be getting warmer but it is just as hard at work as ever evolving new life forms to fill the new environmental niches we humans are helping to create with our contributions to global warming.
3
Trump said, "Well, I think the climate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax. A lot of people are making a lot of money. I know much about climate change. I'd be — received environmental awards. And I often joke that this is done for the benefit of China. Obviously, I joke. But this is done for the benefit of China, because China does not do anything to help climate change. They burn everything you could burn; they couldn't care less. They have very — you know, their standards are nothing. But they — in the meantime, they can undercut us on price. So it's very hard on our business."
It's Hillary, not Trump who supports globalists' controlling the world's economy using carbon-taxes, and trade agreements that eliminate tariffs, while you and I end up paying the costs.
Hillary wants to expand the use of free-trade agreements, so mega-corporations and banks can set up shop wherever they please. They can bankroll and build production facilities, produce cheap goods, and sell them anywhere in the world without paying tariffs. Hillary actions will give away American jobs through free trade agreements like Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) favoring the globalists over needy people.
While I don't believe what either candidate says, at least Trump says he wants to impost tariffs and change one-sided trade agreements. 'The Donald' recognizes the problem, while 'slippery Hillary' is part of the problem. However, we don't need a s/he self-centered president.
It's Hillary, not Trump who supports globalists' controlling the world's economy using carbon-taxes, and trade agreements that eliminate tariffs, while you and I end up paying the costs.
Hillary wants to expand the use of free-trade agreements, so mega-corporations and banks can set up shop wherever they please. They can bankroll and build production facilities, produce cheap goods, and sell them anywhere in the world without paying tariffs. Hillary actions will give away American jobs through free trade agreements like Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) favoring the globalists over needy people.
While I don't believe what either candidate says, at least Trump says he wants to impost tariffs and change one-sided trade agreements. 'The Donald' recognizes the problem, while 'slippery Hillary' is part of the problem. However, we don't need a s/he self-centered president.
2
Those of us who work up the courage to read articles detailing the effects of climate change are at feeling overwhelmed. Of throwing up our hands and deciding we are all doomed. I suggest we can fix this the way we created it; with all of us together. None doing everything, but everyone doing something.
97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is human-caused. Luckily, it is not just the problem that enjoys consensus, there is also a solution; 98% of economists agree that a market based solution can successfully lower carbon emissions. A steadily rising fee on carbon, returned in equal shares to all households is solid plan. And we can make it happen.
Rather than throwing up our hands, if each person that reads this takes action towards pricing carbon our markets can work to shift is to clean energy while creating jobs. You can start here by writing to congress:
https://citizensclimatelobby.org/write-congress-about-climate-change/#/7/
If that isn't your strength then start by joining the Citizens Climate Lobby. There are 14 other actions you can choose from, and once you find your political power you will think of others:
https://citizensclimatelobby.org
97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is human-caused. Luckily, it is not just the problem that enjoys consensus, there is also a solution; 98% of economists agree that a market based solution can successfully lower carbon emissions. A steadily rising fee on carbon, returned in equal shares to all households is solid plan. And we can make it happen.
Rather than throwing up our hands, if each person that reads this takes action towards pricing carbon our markets can work to shift is to clean energy while creating jobs. You can start here by writing to congress:
https://citizensclimatelobby.org/write-congress-about-climate-change/#/7/
If that isn't your strength then start by joining the Citizens Climate Lobby. There are 14 other actions you can choose from, and once you find your political power you will think of others:
https://citizensclimatelobby.org
8
Senator Inhofe calls 'global warming' a hoax and states that it is absurd to worry because "God is up there protecting us". While misinformation from political leaders and industry (Koch) help delay any logical response to this emergency, I believe faith based religion adds to our 'heads in the sand' inability to react to science based 'facts'. The ability to think critically, and either read or listen to facts and information is discouraged by religion. Doctrine, theological nonsense, ideology all come from this cultural miasma.
31
The Catholic school system of decades, and other parochial K-12 schools, and colleges that are related to a specific faith, stand as proof that your notion about science-based facts and critical thinking being the property of those who do not have faith-based beliefs is a hypothesis that was proven untrue before you even voiced it.
3
The CC's "critical thinking" includes open misogyny and homophobia, opposition to modern medical care for women and widespread known sexual exploitation of children. But at least they finally exonerated Galileo after 4 centuries.
The CC has spent money and political pressure to oppose women's suffrage, women's modern health care, and the use of condoms to stop HIV transmission.
Their critical thinking includes entitlement to force their views on many populations that are not catholic. The CC owns about 16% of US hospitals, where even a non Catholic cannot choose or receive some legal medical procedures.
The CC has spent money and political pressure to oppose women's suffrage, women's modern health care, and the use of condoms to stop HIV transmission.
Their critical thinking includes entitlement to force their views on many populations that are not catholic. The CC owns about 16% of US hospitals, where even a non Catholic cannot choose or receive some legal medical procedures.
10
People bring themselves to their religion; it is not a signifier of wrong or right. There is much in the gospels that I wish Christians would heed; the current "brand" that blames victims, promotes hate, and encourages exclusion is not what I would call Christian. Since the beginning of time, humans have found religion; my opinion that people make god in their own image rather than the reverse is hardly relevant; we have to work with it rather than against it.
Katherine Hayhoe does a superb job of speaking to evangelicals: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/for-katharine-hayhoe-climate-change-n...
"I’m an optimist by nature, but the more time that passes without doing anything enormously large to solve this problem, the more concerned I get. The further down the path we go, the more effort that’s required."
http://whatweknow.aaas.org/katharine-hayhoe/
Katherine Hayhoe does a superb job of speaking to evangelicals: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/for-katharine-hayhoe-climate-change-n...
"I’m an optimist by nature, but the more time that passes without doing anything enormously large to solve this problem, the more concerned I get. The further down the path we go, the more effort that’s required."
http://whatweknow.aaas.org/katharine-hayhoe/
4
It is clear that climate change is real and that there are plenty of disastrous results of climate change. When will the GOP stop being the party of misinformation and greed that provides shelter for climate change deniers? How can there still be climate change deniers? The denial of climate change, and the refusal to do anything about it, illustrates the standard selfishness and lack of empathy for the lower classes around the world that is a theme of the modern GOP.
18
Nick it is no use approaching this with reason. It is an irrational situation. Everyone is in denial. Our leaders have all been bought off and will never take the necessary measures. The Rs are frankly in denial. The Ds pretend to care but since they won't take action it is clear they don't. We just lifted the ban on oil exports and no one even noticed. We deserve to perish and we will.
22
Paul: It must be very comforting to know that all our leaders have been bought off. Sort of absolves you of the duty to make a decision and to participate rationally in democracy.
2
Paul, were any fossil fuels involved in your wish to be heard via internet?
2
America and the rest of the planet are doomed. Both by manmade climate change that is already proving detrimental and inimical to human life. And by the fascist flat-earth mentality that prevails in one of America's ruling political parties that has as one of its platforms the intention to permit industry and individuals to belch forth as much carbon and greenhouse gases as they can, like those newly faddish smokestack pickup trucks. We are the most self-destructive of animals and in our own lifetimes we can expect to see a Mad Max-style disintegration of the political and social order in direct consequence of dire environmental change.
36
Among violent crimes, you omitted suicide. Among cooler climates and violent crime, you left out Chicago. Generalizing the data to fit the idea. You hang your argument chiefly on Park's research paper. A PhD research paper is a report and discussion on a focused hypothesis, it is not it itself the proof. That said, I took a course in environmental science in 2003 that put forth a very reasonable concept about climate change. Climate change occurs naturally and also by human engineering, and a climate change trend takes place over a great deal of time. When a marked climate change is occurring, it cannot be predicted when it will stop; it can only be hypothesized. It can be difficult to ascertain unquestionably what extent of the change is man-caused and which is natural. To try to ascertain if it were man made would take too long - by the time that was a certainty, the change would be permanent. So, in order to stop man-made climate change (and live only with change caused by natural forces), we must behave as if the climate change is cause by humans and adjust accordingly.
I believe that the above idea is one that everyone can live with. It ends the arguments and gives a reasonable solution for how to frame climate change and how to react.
I believe that the above idea is one that everyone can live with. It ends the arguments and gives a reasonable solution for how to frame climate change and how to react.
7
Nothing like a false assertion as your major presume.
It has been proven that man-made climate change is real. Taking a course in 2003 and your conclusions from that do not balance the substantive knowledge pouring in from all corners of the globe from the vast majority of experts.
Here's one place to check the facts: http://climate.nasa.gov/
Here's a good place to connect it with real-time developments:
www.climatecentral.org
Katherine Hayhoe provides a Christian take: http://www.climateforchangethebook.com/
(Pope Francis is also good at that, see his Laudato Si, for example. And the Islamic central council agrees as do central authorities in all the world's great religions (not the fringe and crazies, mind you, the Christian Taliban and ISIS.)
It has been proven that man-made climate change is real. Taking a course in 2003 and your conclusions from that do not balance the substantive knowledge pouring in from all corners of the globe from the vast majority of experts.
Here's one place to check the facts: http://climate.nasa.gov/
Here's a good place to connect it with real-time developments:
www.climatecentral.org
Katherine Hayhoe provides a Christian take: http://www.climateforchangethebook.com/
(Pope Francis is also good at that, see his Laudato Si, for example. And the Islamic central council agrees as do central authorities in all the world's great religions (not the fringe and crazies, mind you, the Christian Taliban and ISIS.)
5
I agree. The disagreement about what causes climate change just gets in the way of doing anything. It is changing, period. Whether it is all natural or partly human-caused is irrelevant.
If we can slow it or halt it by sensible actions, we should take those actions for the good of us all, everywhere on the planet. Americans are not the only people that count! We are a first-world nation and as such, are responsible for leading the way.
If we can slow it or halt it by sensible actions, we should take those actions for the good of us all, everywhere on the planet. Americans are not the only people that count! We are a first-world nation and as such, are responsible for leading the way.
4
Deniers aren't moved by your moderation.
1
Focusing upon the physiological impact on humans and other fellow creatures is not often done. The scanty evidence at this point already shows its importance and image what the impacts are going to be more study and particularly larger period of higher global temperatures. Unless we act, we’re cooked.
How to act? In drastic and unheard ways. One of such ways is to resolve the looming climate catastrophe by transforming the unjust, unsustainable and, therefore, unstable international monetary system which as glue binds together the monetary, financial, economic and commercial systems and thus can function as a pivot for transformation change. The conceptual, institutional, ethical and strategic dimensions of such carbon-based international monetary system are presented in Verhagen 2012 "The Tierra Solution: Resolving the climate crisis through monetary transformation" and updated at www.timun.net.
Bill McKibben’s opinion of this transformational proposal is reflected in his May 2011 statement: “The further into the global warming area we go, the more physics and politics narrows our possible paths of action. Here’s a very cogent and well-argued account of one of the remaining possibilities.”
How to act? In drastic and unheard ways. One of such ways is to resolve the looming climate catastrophe by transforming the unjust, unsustainable and, therefore, unstable international monetary system which as glue binds together the monetary, financial, economic and commercial systems and thus can function as a pivot for transformation change. The conceptual, institutional, ethical and strategic dimensions of such carbon-based international monetary system are presented in Verhagen 2012 "The Tierra Solution: Resolving the climate crisis through monetary transformation" and updated at www.timun.net.
Bill McKibben’s opinion of this transformational proposal is reflected in his May 2011 statement: “The further into the global warming area we go, the more physics and politics narrows our possible paths of action. Here’s a very cogent and well-argued account of one of the remaining possibilities.”
2
One thing I've often puzzled over is why in general, in the US, the northern states seem to have higher levels of education, affluence, health, living standards etc. Poverty, poor health, etc is often found in the south. And yes, I know it's a generality, but any look at stats by state and regions overall bear this point out.
The same holds true for countries, with the northern European states out performing hotter southern countries. In general that also holds true for Europe as compared to the Middle East, Central and South America etc.
It appears as if living in a place with cooler weather seems to confer more wealth, health, less crime etc. If this is so, that the world is warming doesn't bode well.
The same holds true for countries, with the northern European states out performing hotter southern countries. In general that also holds true for Europe as compared to the Middle East, Central and South America etc.
It appears as if living in a place with cooler weather seems to confer more wealth, health, less crime etc. If this is so, that the world is warming doesn't bode well.
48
I think the need to create shelter from the elements is not insignificant in the development of less hospitable locations as well.
1
Heat can be debilitating and make people sluggish.
1
Telling us what bad things will happen because of something that happening isn't happening isn't going to do anything.
I'm not serious. But that's the fundamental flaw in this article. There nothing in it that can persuade anyone who has been indoctrinated to believe that the earth is not warming, much less that the warming is due to human activity, to change their beliefs about that basic issue.
You can, and others have, created excellently detailed depictions of the consequences of a large extraterrestrial body impacting the earth, or of a severe volcanic eruption occurring. If the Tunguska object hit Moscow instead of Siberia, there wouldn't have been a Soviet Union. If a Toba-scale eruption happened, billions would die. Repeat for "the big one" in LA, SF, or our dark horse contender, New Madrid.
But like climate change, none of those things are happening. The consequences of what's not happening may be interesting, or horrifying, but they don't increase the belief that the thing that's not happening is actually happening.
They may even cause a shift that strengthens the belief that the causal agent of these terrible things isn't occurring because they would require a radical negative shift in worldview, and an admission that one has been wrong about something very important. Something that other people have been saying is true for a very long time. We may be dealing with a religious-conversion scale psychological event, and that's not common or easy.
I'm not serious. But that's the fundamental flaw in this article. There nothing in it that can persuade anyone who has been indoctrinated to believe that the earth is not warming, much less that the warming is due to human activity, to change their beliefs about that basic issue.
You can, and others have, created excellently detailed depictions of the consequences of a large extraterrestrial body impacting the earth, or of a severe volcanic eruption occurring. If the Tunguska object hit Moscow instead of Siberia, there wouldn't have been a Soviet Union. If a Toba-scale eruption happened, billions would die. Repeat for "the big one" in LA, SF, or our dark horse contender, New Madrid.
But like climate change, none of those things are happening. The consequences of what's not happening may be interesting, or horrifying, but they don't increase the belief that the thing that's not happening is actually happening.
They may even cause a shift that strengthens the belief that the causal agent of these terrible things isn't occurring because they would require a radical negative shift in worldview, and an admission that one has been wrong about something very important. Something that other people have been saying is true for a very long time. We may be dealing with a religious-conversion scale psychological event, and that's not common or easy.
8
I see your point, but 'belief" in climate change isn't the only issue in trying to move America and the rest of the world to the hard task of radically reducing carbon emissions over the next decades. As of a march Gallup poll the number of Americans who worry about climate change is at 64% an 8 year high, and those who don't down to 36%. Is that affecting their vote or personal actions? We need people to understand the consequences are real and some of them are producing serious effects right now. This column is a small push in that direction.
13
Quilty: I understand your point. But a very wise person told me long ago that people ignore issues until they actually bite. Parents would be shocked if they thought the success of their kids depended on the temperature on the subway platform. Those who mourn for Syria would be far more receptive to the science did they but know that drought was a trigger for the wars there.
1
This may seem to be a trivial observation in the grand scheme of things, but here goes...The United States Tennis Association spent $150 million to install a retractable roof at its showcase Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens. Its ostensible purpose was to avoid the persistent rain delays of recent years. Yet, the men's semifinals were played Friday afternoon in 92 degree temperature with very high humidity. Not only were the players' compromised in their performances (the matches were still remarkable despite the players' constant need to towel off and obvious distress) but the cameras showed persistent "fanning" by the 23,000 in attendance. Similar conditions were in effect for yesterday aft's women's final.
Why didn't the organizers close the roof to shield the players and paying customers from the heat and humidity? The AC would have kicked in with the closed roof and the conditions would have ensured a much more comfortable experience for both players and fans who paid upwards of hundreds of dollars for tickets. The organizers at the Australian Open in Melbourne close the roofs of their stadiums when the heat and humidity are excessive.
Just wondering....
Why didn't the organizers close the roof to shield the players and paying customers from the heat and humidity? The AC would have kicked in with the closed roof and the conditions would have ensured a much more comfortable experience for both players and fans who paid upwards of hundreds of dollars for tickets. The organizers at the Australian Open in Melbourne close the roofs of their stadiums when the heat and humidity are excessive.
Just wondering....
5
Good news for Texas Republicans: it's the heat, not their policies, causing the low test scores!
20
Climate change or no climate change.... the studies cited in this article are meaningless and bordering on idiotic. Give me a break.
2
" Professor Miguel has found that unusual weather linked to climate change — either drought or heavy rainfall — is associated with a doubling in the number of these “witch” killings."
Sorry that is a bunch of baloney. You can't link weather - unusual or otherwise - to climate change.
Sorry that is a bunch of baloney. You can't link weather - unusual or otherwise - to climate change.
Climate is weather over space (whole earth and atmosphere) and time (decades). They have been linked. It is not baloney. I know this won't make a dent but the evidence is all around us, so people should just ignore foot-dragging false assertions.
4
That is incorrect. You cannot link a single event, such as a severe storm or a warm January, to climate change. You CAN link patterns of unusual weather over time to climate change. That's exactly what models of climate change show will happen over time: change in our weather, along with rising sea levels.
2
Would you care to explain how changes to the underlying global climate would play absolutely no role in subsequent weather conditions?
1
The truly terrifying, little recognized, possibility is that we are approaching a Tipping Point that could begin to end human life within a decade! Evidence suggests earth can become too hot for most humans by 2030.
Equally unrecognized is new science that has made possible surprising technologies that can help to replace fossil fuels fast. One can provide 24/7 cheap green power - with air conditioning as a bonus.
A Ford engine was converted to run without fuel on atmospheric (ambient) heat. This is a huge untapped reservoir of solar energy - larger than all of earth's fossil fuel reserves.
A Mitsubishi V6 engine and a small Briggs & Stratton engine are being converted to run without fuel. New engines have been designed to run 24/7 without fuel. One example will provide 2 kW of electricity and simultaneously air condition a home or office.
These engines circumvent (and will change current understanding of) the Second Law of Thermodynamics. See SECOND LAW SURPRISES on the aesopinstitute.org website.
During WWII 4 engine bombers rolled off the line every hour. That type of effort can give humans a fighting chance to hold climate change down to livable levels. Anything short of that scale of enterprise condemns our children and grandchildren.
Take action! The lives you save may include your own and those of everyone you care about. Survival must be recognized as our primary problem. All else pales in comparison with the challenge to our hearts, bodies and minds.
Equally unrecognized is new science that has made possible surprising technologies that can help to replace fossil fuels fast. One can provide 24/7 cheap green power - with air conditioning as a bonus.
A Ford engine was converted to run without fuel on atmospheric (ambient) heat. This is a huge untapped reservoir of solar energy - larger than all of earth's fossil fuel reserves.
A Mitsubishi V6 engine and a small Briggs & Stratton engine are being converted to run without fuel. New engines have been designed to run 24/7 without fuel. One example will provide 2 kW of electricity and simultaneously air condition a home or office.
These engines circumvent (and will change current understanding of) the Second Law of Thermodynamics. See SECOND LAW SURPRISES on the aesopinstitute.org website.
During WWII 4 engine bombers rolled off the line every hour. That type of effort can give humans a fighting chance to hold climate change down to livable levels. Anything short of that scale of enterprise condemns our children and grandchildren.
Take action! The lives you save may include your own and those of everyone you care about. Survival must be recognized as our primary problem. All else pales in comparison with the challenge to our hearts, bodies and minds.
8
Global temperatures over the last 40 years, when averaged over several years, have gone up fairly linearly. Increases in sea level rise and extreme weather are extremely non-linear and will cause big changes over the next several decades.
Here's a graph of post-glacial sea level rise. Note the part at Meltwater Pulse 1A, it is very non-linear. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Post-Glacial_Sea_Lev...
In the past when the ice sheets have "let go" sea level has risen as much as 3-5m per century for centuries and current ice sheet models indicate we could see those rates again this century if we keep burning fossil fuels.
Here's a graph of post-glacial sea level rise. Note the part at Meltwater Pulse 1A, it is very non-linear. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Post-Glacial_Sea_Lev...
In the past when the ice sheets have "let go" sea level has risen as much as 3-5m per century for centuries and current ice sheet models indicate we could see those rates again this century if we keep burning fossil fuels.
13
The same week that Obama says he expects that his work on climate change may be his most important legacy. Amazing to think that in just a few months, there could be a climate change denier in his place.
15
The IPCC is well known for conservative sea level rise estimates. They reported that it was likely that the most we'd see by 2100 is a meter under business-as-usual emissions.
But their confidence level was only 2/3, likely because excluded from their numbers, which policy makers have been playing with, are “future rapid dynamical changes in the flow of ice sheets" (that notation in the header of the chart tended to get ignored!)
Well, oops the flow of ice sheets is rapidly changing.
The ice sheet modeler Rob DeConto from UMASS gives a recent talk (linked to below), in which he says that this year, after inputing new physics on the collapse of tall, unstable marine-terminating ice cliffs for business-as-usual emissions, the ice sheet models showed several meters of sea level rise in 100 years and more than 10m in 500 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK_8Pfo6wRk
But their confidence level was only 2/3, likely because excluded from their numbers, which policy makers have been playing with, are “future rapid dynamical changes in the flow of ice sheets" (that notation in the header of the chart tended to get ignored!)
Well, oops the flow of ice sheets is rapidly changing.
The ice sheet modeler Rob DeConto from UMASS gives a recent talk (linked to below), in which he says that this year, after inputing new physics on the collapse of tall, unstable marine-terminating ice cliffs for business-as-usual emissions, the ice sheet models showed several meters of sea level rise in 100 years and more than 10m in 500 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK_8Pfo6wRk
4
,When we have our Presidential debate later this month, why isn't the first question about climate change? This issue could destroy life on our planet and time is of the essence in halting it. Shouldn't the candidates' understanding of the issue and whether and how they intend to address it be front and center among all the issues we consider?
22
Because climate change is a global issue, needing to be addressed by developing and developing countries. It's not the Americans; it's many countries. The candidates understand this. Man-made climate change was not such a problem when only the most developed countries burned fossil fuels. It became a global problem when developing countries were also able to burn fossil fuels, and without the environmental caps that were in developed countries, who had already begun to address the issue of atmospheric pollution by carbon. How do you tell developing countries they have no right to a standard and style of living that developed countries enjoyed for decades? This is not a small problem that can be fixed by some solar panels on American houses.
3
Well, for starters you could tell them that to follow the lead of developed countries will kill all life on the planet. Not fair, of course, but all evidence points that way.
1
Bogara: true, but it is Americans who need to protect themselves. Hence the debate about how to do that. If we deny climate change, or if we throw our hands up in horror, nothing will get done. How much of the Florida Keys has to disappear before you realize we need engineers to protect key areas?
Climate change is as old as climate itself.
If you go back in history you will find much hotter periods than we have today, even within the last few decades.
And yes, man is an animal that needs a certain temperate environment to functions properly or it will grow into rather strange behavioural patterns.
It is no wonder that hot countries have much higher than average aggression rates.
But still, what to do?
Apart from the obvious, try to keep human impact on the climate as small as possible, which won't make much difference as the vast majority of climate influential factors are non man made anyway - still, it is the though that counts and maybe it will even lead to more climate conscious technologies in the future, probably even in the US.
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen or cool it down.
Here in Singapore, and quite a few other places, we have, decades ago, started to handle hot days with air conditioning systems.
Most of our pupils do not have the problem of hot days, the class rooms are cooled down to provide the optimum climate to learn and take exams.
So how come a big strong and "modern" country like the US cannot provide simple a/c systems to its most precious product?
The students that will be the future of the country?
Why not take a few millions from defence budgets and build better schools that include better learning and exam environments and an a/c?
Maybe these students then will come up with a way to control climate in the future?
If you go back in history you will find much hotter periods than we have today, even within the last few decades.
And yes, man is an animal that needs a certain temperate environment to functions properly or it will grow into rather strange behavioural patterns.
It is no wonder that hot countries have much higher than average aggression rates.
But still, what to do?
Apart from the obvious, try to keep human impact on the climate as small as possible, which won't make much difference as the vast majority of climate influential factors are non man made anyway - still, it is the though that counts and maybe it will even lead to more climate conscious technologies in the future, probably even in the US.
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen or cool it down.
Here in Singapore, and quite a few other places, we have, decades ago, started to handle hot days with air conditioning systems.
Most of our pupils do not have the problem of hot days, the class rooms are cooled down to provide the optimum climate to learn and take exams.
So how come a big strong and "modern" country like the US cannot provide simple a/c systems to its most precious product?
The students that will be the future of the country?
Why not take a few millions from defence budgets and build better schools that include better learning and exam environments and an a/c?
Maybe these students then will come up with a way to control climate in the future?
4
We are already controlling the climate. Every bit of carbon we burn makes the earth hotter. Simple enough?
Air conditioning can certainly make a room pleasantly cool, by using electricity largely generated by burning fossil fuels.
A popular branding slogan for air conditioning was "Climate Control". A rare case of truth in advertising.
Air conditioning can certainly make a room pleasantly cool, by using electricity largely generated by burning fossil fuels.
A popular branding slogan for air conditioning was "Climate Control". A rare case of truth in advertising.
7
Question: how are your air conditioning systems powered in Singapore? By a big water wheel? Solar power? Fossil fuels? Nuclear power? Any carbon emissions involved in the process? Yes, because most of your power plants are run by oil and gas - fossil fuels.
1
Thomas: and how do your well-off students get from home to exam-hall? In A/C-ed limos? Here in NYC, many have to take a bus or subway. This means standing in the heat, on the street or platform, and then getting on a cold bus or subway car.
2
That obstinacy confronts a new wave of research showing that climate change is much more harmful than we had imagined.
Only by those who do not have the ability to consider future consequences to current actions. Like the cod fishermen, watching the size of the fish and the quantity of the catch decline year after year, it was only a problem until they could no longer make a profit. Then they all had to find a new source of income. When our planet can no longer support us where are we going to find it's replacement?
Only by those who do not have the ability to consider future consequences to current actions. Like the cod fishermen, watching the size of the fish and the quantity of the catch decline year after year, it was only a problem until they could no longer make a profit. Then they all had to find a new source of income. When our planet can no longer support us where are we going to find it's replacement?
10
Ironically, Ed, homesteading is incredibly inefficient and consumes tremendous resources to support a very small number of people.
I used to really want to live that life, but when I did the math on even the simplest (and fairly inefficient) economies of scale and combined that with the number of people on the planet it became obvious that there is no long term benefit to people or the planet from individual homesteading.
Start with the notion that all "green" energy products took a huge amount of energy to produce. Then think about where the components come from and how much fossil fuel was used to get the components to you.
If you live somewhere that is already receiving shipments of these types of components, getting them to you is not a major concern. if you live anywhere but a major city, you've got a truck bringing you everything & anything you need. That amounts to massive energy overhead and the energy for transportation comes almost exclusively from fossil fuels.
I used to really want to live that life, but when I did the math on even the simplest (and fairly inefficient) economies of scale and combined that with the number of people on the planet it became obvious that there is no long term benefit to people or the planet from individual homesteading.
Start with the notion that all "green" energy products took a huge amount of energy to produce. Then think about where the components come from and how much fossil fuel was used to get the components to you.
If you live somewhere that is already receiving shipments of these types of components, getting them to you is not a major concern. if you live anywhere but a major city, you've got a truck bringing you everything & anything you need. That amounts to massive energy overhead and the energy for transportation comes almost exclusively from fossil fuels.
3
Does NYT have a rule that every editorial has to publicize Donald Trump? Is that what sells? I wouldn't vote for him but don't understand all the publicity.
And why do you always avoid the real source of global warming? It's the sun. Your constant Trump bashing is as productive as an editorial recommending turning down the sun, which would be a lot more refreshing than constant Trump editorials.
And why do you always avoid the real source of global warming? It's the sun. Your constant Trump bashing is as productive as an editorial recommending turning down the sun, which would be a lot more refreshing than constant Trump editorials.
2
Today I talked to a Trump supporter at a Republican voter registration table, and asked him whether I should support Trump. He asked me what issues most concerned me. When I said, "Global warming," he said, "Trump is not the candidate for you." He wasn't interested discussing it further.
10
I'll play Devil's Advocate. Perhaps his point was that Trump is running on different issues, such as jobs. One cannot be all things to all people.
I wonder if anyone has studied differences in animal behavior with higher temps. Let's face it, animals don't have A/C and in many parts of the world, they are dealing with a shortage of water. The naysayers may be right, there is no global warming, but can we afford to ignore it? It's a much bigger concern than test scores.
1
no doubt things art getting worse, but the 90/72 degree frame, absent other variables, say humidity, seems hasty if not careless, are does "an unusual number of hot days" and "very hot days."
it seems, anecdotally speaking, that growing up in an air conditioned culture may also have its effect...those of us who got through exams, etc., before a/c (except for the movies) seems to have had no disabling trouble getting by in the most hot and humid of days.
it seems, anecdotally speaking, that growing up in an air conditioned culture may also have its effect...those of us who got through exams, etc., before a/c (except for the movies) seems to have had no disabling trouble getting by in the most hot and humid of days.
1
"We did fine in the old days" just doesn't apply here! We had ninety-degree days, sure. But not for day after day after day.
In addition, the physiological effects of heat haven't changed in the last few decades. I would bet if a study were made of Regents scores over the last century, you would see a correlation between the year's temperatures and passing rates.
As for "air conditioned" culture...maybe downstate schools are air conditioned. But in western NY, and in upstate, too, only the very newest school buildings are air conditioned. My husband's 3rd floor classroom was over 100° this week. Children in my elementary school were sweaty and miserable by 10 AM each day.
Fast forward a couple of decades, and you'll see NY kids losing as much school time to "heat days" as "snow days."
In addition, the physiological effects of heat haven't changed in the last few decades. I would bet if a study were made of Regents scores over the last century, you would see a correlation between the year's temperatures and passing rates.
As for "air conditioned" culture...maybe downstate schools are air conditioned. But in western NY, and in upstate, too, only the very newest school buildings are air conditioned. My husband's 3rd floor classroom was over 100° this week. Children in my elementary school were sweaty and miserable by 10 AM each day.
Fast forward a couple of decades, and you'll see NY kids losing as much school time to "heat days" as "snow days."
1
Agroforestry, aka permaculture or regenerative agriculture, offers the promise of, if not reversing climate change wholesale, at least making human habitats more abundant, more healing and not so damn baking hot.
Permaculture in a nutshell is nicely illustrated by the famed Geoff Lawton short featurette, Greening the Desert ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohI6vnWZmk ), but similar projects exist around the world, from Africa to Australia to New Mexico and beyond.
We used human ingenuity and collective manpower to heat up the planet, we must use human ingenuity and collective manpower to cool it back down.
Permaculture in a nutshell is nicely illustrated by the famed Geoff Lawton short featurette, Greening the Desert ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohI6vnWZmk ), but similar projects exist around the world, from Africa to Australia to New Mexico and beyond.
We used human ingenuity and collective manpower to heat up the planet, we must use human ingenuity and collective manpower to cool it back down.
11
So it is time for not just for The New York Times, but for its Op-Ed writers too, and especially Paul Krugman, to recognize the problem.
See my Blog Letter to Krugman at # 12 at
www.InquiryAbrahgam.com.
See my Blog Letter to Krugman at # 12 at
www.InquiryAbrahgam.com.
1
Paul Krugman has the right stuff on climate change:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/03/opinion/the-id-that-ate-the-planet.html
and http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/01/opinion/wind-sun-and-fire.html which begins "So what’s really at stake in this year’s election? Well, among other things, the fate of the planet."
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/03/opinion/the-id-that-ate-the-planet.html
and http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/01/opinion/wind-sun-and-fire.html which begins "So what’s really at stake in this year’s election? Well, among other things, the fate of the planet."
1
Damn lies and Statistics: 12 percent higher chance of failing.
Instead of 9 in 100 failing we have 10 in 100 failing. 1/9 is about 10 percent.
Lie exposed.
Instead of 9 in 100 failing we have 10 in 100 failing. 1/9 is about 10 percent.
Lie exposed.
Maybe the heat will affect how we make choices, like in Primary and General Elections. Scary!
1
"Global climate change will aggravate problems such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions that threaten stability in a number of countries, according to a report the Defense Department sent to Congress" (July 2015)
No wonder the Republican Party refuses to acknowledge and deal with climate change. The horrible effects of climate change fit right in with the GOP's horrible agenda for this country.
increase poverty: Under GOP leadership, the rich have gotten richer, the middle- and working classes have stagnated or declined, and child poverty is up not down. Check
increase social tensions: A special thanks to Fox News, right-wing media, rising inequality, Donald Trump and GOP politicians for increasing social divisiveness and tensions in this country in order to turn whites against nonwhites, create a white supremacy party, and win elections by any means necessary. Check
environmental degradation: This is a specialty of the GOP. Elevate fossil fuels, obstruct renewable energy sources, bring coal mining back to full capacity (says Trump), support the Koch brothers environmentally damaging enterprises, make every attempt to scrap environmental regulation and the EPA. Check
ineffectual leadership: The GOP is masterful at giving us lots of ineffectual leaders, and it was one of R. Reagan's management principles to staff the EPA, FEMA, etc. with the weakest officials. Check
Want to fry in hell? Vote GOP
No wonder the Republican Party refuses to acknowledge and deal with climate change. The horrible effects of climate change fit right in with the GOP's horrible agenda for this country.
increase poverty: Under GOP leadership, the rich have gotten richer, the middle- and working classes have stagnated or declined, and child poverty is up not down. Check
increase social tensions: A special thanks to Fox News, right-wing media, rising inequality, Donald Trump and GOP politicians for increasing social divisiveness and tensions in this country in order to turn whites against nonwhites, create a white supremacy party, and win elections by any means necessary. Check
environmental degradation: This is a specialty of the GOP. Elevate fossil fuels, obstruct renewable energy sources, bring coal mining back to full capacity (says Trump), support the Koch brothers environmentally damaging enterprises, make every attempt to scrap environmental regulation and the EPA. Check
ineffectual leadership: The GOP is masterful at giving us lots of ineffectual leaders, and it was one of R. Reagan's management principles to staff the EPA, FEMA, etc. with the weakest officials. Check
Want to fry in hell? Vote GOP
7
It is surprising that Krystol does not bring up the Middle East; those wars, those violent disagreements and what not, for the last three millennia are all resultant of heat.
3
Perhaps because he is a respected columnist and wanted to avoid the instant reactions that fact would add. I agree it's a threat multiplier, but he was working on a specific aspect of a larger problem.
That said, here on one aspect in Syria: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/science/earth/study-links-syria-confli...
That said, here on one aspect in Syria: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/science/earth/study-links-syria-confli...
2
I've never done any sort of statistical analysis myself, but this makes a lot of sense to me just based on my own reaction to temperatures. I've always preferred being too cold to being too hot. Being hot makes me feel sluggish and lethargic, being cool makes me feel more alert. I'll take a cloudy, breezy day over a hot and sunny one any day
7
No problem we have worries me or saddens me more than climate change. My friends all know that I detest summer, even as a child I waited impatiently for cool fall days and sharply cold winters-and that was when summers were just normally hot and the season didn't drag on into September and October. This summer's heat and humidity have been so depressing and difficult to contend with and I fear that this type of summer is going to become the norm. An added real concern is drought-we've had very little rainfall this spring or summer and virtually no snow fell here last winter. I wonder how long it will be before we are rationing water like California and fighting fires? The fact that Trump denies climate change simply proves that he is an idiot with a very poor recollection of what normal weather was like 50 years ago and who is simply not in touch with reality.
14
The truly terrifying, little recognized, possibility is that we are approaching a Tipping Point that could begin to end human life within a decade! Evidence suggests earth can become too hot for most humans by 2030. Equally unrecognized is new science that has made possible surprising technologies that can help to replace fossil fuels fast. One can provide 24/7 cheap green power - with air conditioning as a bonus. A Ford engine was converted to run without fuel on atmospheric (ambient) heat. This is a huge untapped reservoir of solar energy - larger than all of earth's fossil fuel reserves. AESOP is converting a Mitsubishi V6 engine and a small Briggs & Stratton engine. Both will run without fuel. New engines have been designed to run 24/7 without fuel. One inexpensive engine will provide 2 kW of electricity and simultaneously air condition a home or office. These engines circumvent (and will change current understanding of) the Second Law of Thermodynamics. See SECOND LAW SURPRISES on the aesopinstitute.org website. During WWII 4 engine bombers rolled off the line every hour. That type of effort can give humans a fighting chance to hold climate change down to livable levels. Anything short of that scale of enterprise condemns our children and grandchildren. Wake up folks! The lives you save may include your own and those of everyone you care about. Survival must be recognized as the primary problem. All else pales in comparison! All of us face a mighty tough task.
3
no engine runs wo fuel
nothing can circumvent th 2nd law of thermodynamics
4
The meek shall inherit the earth – I hope the meek can handle the heat!
But seriously, God should have quit after day five and rested on days six & seven.
But seriously, God should have quit after day five and rested on days six & seven.
7
Sorry Nic, stop worrying. We are creatures of comfort and we won't give up our lifestyles no matter what. We deserve Trump, he represents the worst of humanity and we deserve every second of the emperor without clothes. Maybe he knows how to fiddle?
4
Remember, Trump has said that he "knows more than the generals about ISIS, believe me." So, of course, he must know more about climate change than the scientists, "believe me" (you can always tell when someone's either lying or simply has no clue what they are talking about when they feel compelled to add, "believe me" which Trumplethinskin does constantly).
But maybe Nick Kristoff has discovered money-boo-boo's real problem --- he's suffering from "heat stress." If we could only get him out of that tanning bed (or whatever it is that makes his skin, and hair, that ghastly orange color), he'd actually turn out not to be quite the freakish nightmare he otherwise now appears to be to anyone with a brain and a heart.
But maybe Nick Kristoff has discovered money-boo-boo's real problem --- he's suffering from "heat stress." If we could only get him out of that tanning bed (or whatever it is that makes his skin, and hair, that ghastly orange color), he'd actually turn out not to be quite the freakish nightmare he otherwise now appears to be to anyone with a brain and a heart.
4
While I respect and believe in the science behind climate change, I cannot help but consider this article and its referenced reports, such as the Tanzania case, as hyperbolic. Perhaps, climate change will soon be the reason for North Korea's belligerence? Give me break!!!
Do you think Donald Trump has been spending too much time out of his air-conditioned towers? That might account for some of his behavior and statements.
1
Trump believes in climate change enough to protect his Scotland golf club.
1
I'm happy to hear that "most" schools in NYC are air conditioned but in my school in Queens only about 6 out of 45 classrooms are air conditioned. The first two days of school this year were excruciating. So was last June. So is every June.
2
Nicholas, I urge you to do some research on the history of "acclimatization." This is a 19th century theory that the reason that non-Europeans are less advanced than Europeans is that the hot climates they live in stultify the mental energies. It was even argued that when Europeans move to tropical climates, they degenerate to the level of the natives.
Of course, this is all very offensive by modern standards and demonstrably false in many instances. But ignorance of history allows columnists looking for a quick column based on some half-digested study they read somewhere to inadvertently revive old, racist theories from the past.
Yes, NY students accustomed to constant AC probably do worse on tests when it's hot because they're used to first-world levels of comfort. But your piece would seem to imply--without actually following through--that residents of hotter climates have poorer mental performance than those in more temperate or cooler ones. Again, research a topic before you spout off about it.
Of course, this is all very offensive by modern standards and demonstrably false in many instances. But ignorance of history allows columnists looking for a quick column based on some half-digested study they read somewhere to inadvertently revive old, racist theories from the past.
Yes, NY students accustomed to constant AC probably do worse on tests when it's hot because they're used to first-world levels of comfort. But your piece would seem to imply--without actually following through--that residents of hotter climates have poorer mental performance than those in more temperate or cooler ones. Again, research a topic before you spout off about it.
Earlier this week the NYT published an article documenting a thus far unexplained significant rise in murder rates in 25 of the 100 largest US cities. Cities should be particularly prone to heat stress: They are "heat islands", warmer than surronding suburbs and rural areas. The people are packed closer together and thus more likely to get on each other's nerves: anyone on a subway car with broken air conditioning can attest to that. And the urban poor who account for most of the murders are the group least likely to be able to afford air conditioning.
The obvious question is how much of the increased murder rate can be attributed to rising temperatures.
The obvious question is how much of the increased murder rate can be attributed to rising temperatures.
1
Let's discuss this 'warming' in the middle of the next blizzard.....
Weather and Climate Change are not the same.
Read: The History of Ice.
Read: The History of Ice.
1
It's worth noting that a percentage of people are throwing their vote away on Gary Johnson, Libertarian, who doesn't think climate change matters very much.
2
Perhaps the rise in temperatures and tempers explains the rise of Trump and his angry followers. He should feel grateful to the Chinese for helping him along.
3
Nick, why is this line of Trumperism any different from a list of what Trump sells:
No workers for his resorts except imported ones.
I don't know any David Duke.
I give oodles to charity.
Obama is a Kenyan.
I'll make America GREAT AGAIN.
I'm a successful businessman who takes advantage of everybody- oops that one true.
Putin is a great leader despite Russia's economy in the toilet, dead journalists, Crimea, and on and on.
Hillary does play for play but the Florida gift was just a political donation from my Foundation. Oops, illegal and maybe criminal.
Add your own Trumpism to the list but why think this column or any column will sway the legion of Trump supporters to vote for her? Facts are just lame stream media pulling the wool over them for the crook.
I can't believe this clown may win.
No workers for his resorts except imported ones.
I don't know any David Duke.
I give oodles to charity.
Obama is a Kenyan.
I'll make America GREAT AGAIN.
I'm a successful businessman who takes advantage of everybody- oops that one true.
Putin is a great leader despite Russia's economy in the toilet, dead journalists, Crimea, and on and on.
Hillary does play for play but the Florida gift was just a political donation from my Foundation. Oops, illegal and maybe criminal.
Add your own Trumpism to the list but why think this column or any column will sway the legion of Trump supporters to vote for her? Facts are just lame stream media pulling the wool over them for the crook.
I can't believe this clown may win.
8
humidity and air movement also contribute - I grew up in sub-tropical Brisbane Oz where 26C/79F and humid still air made me so enervated that I could hardly move, let alone think - I reckoned that contributed to ugly racial bias and corruption as it was 'too hot to think' - you might say a Deep South effect.
I then moved to cool winter Melbourne where I suddenly found vibrant creative and intellectual community - hot coffee brought us together to work and socialise and have fun
I then moved to inland Canberra where 26C/79F and dry with a cool breeze was a pleasant day - contrasting with the previous dog days humidity of Brisbane
Now I live in coastal Sydney - similar to Los Angeles in having most months in the 15-23C/59-73F range - warm sun, cool breeze - perfect - in a fun busy creative intellectual hub - so here I stay - and love it.
I then moved to cool winter Melbourne where I suddenly found vibrant creative and intellectual community - hot coffee brought us together to work and socialise and have fun
I then moved to inland Canberra where 26C/79F and dry with a cool breeze was a pleasant day - contrasting with the previous dog days humidity of Brisbane
Now I live in coastal Sydney - similar to Los Angeles in having most months in the 15-23C/59-73F range - warm sun, cool breeze - perfect - in a fun busy creative intellectual hub - so here I stay - and love it.
Climate change a hoax? Give me a break. Crooked lying Trump may say that, while comfortable in his air-conditioned quarters, but his mental laziness must be monumental in the light of mounting evidence for human cause of "warming", and requiring a "willful ignorance" on the subject. But, as a republican' (RINO, really), he must toe the line, to his great shame and callousness. Trump is an unscrupulous thug willing to say anything to enhance his ego, however false; so, while the rest of us are cooked, his cooky brain is charred.
4
I dunno. I lived in Miami, Florida for 18 years. I did some of my best thinking there, creating, writing, and teaching. I went to graduate school -- did real well. There was always a place to get cool -- the movies, a library, stores. Sometime it was frigid with air conditioning. The evenings are warm and gently scented with night blooming jasmine.
But perhaps it is the unfortnuate that suffer so in the heat. Crammed in inner cities, tight spaces, too many beings, no way to cool off.
If you can cool off, heat might be ok. Also what about barometric pressure, dew point, air quality? I should think that would effect our bodies a lot too.
Hot with a salty, ocean sea breeze is a lot different than inner city hot with no breeze with people smack next to you.
But perhaps it is the unfortnuate that suffer so in the heat. Crammed in inner cities, tight spaces, too many beings, no way to cool off.
If you can cool off, heat might be ok. Also what about barometric pressure, dew point, air quality? I should think that would effect our bodies a lot too.
Hot with a salty, ocean sea breeze is a lot different than inner city hot with no breeze with people smack next to you.
The heat problem may finally solve itself by discouraging breeding and bringing the world’s population down to a sustainable level. Remember the Cole Porter song from “Kiss Me, Kate”?
“According to the Kinsey report, every average man you know
much prefers to play his favorite sport when the temperature is low,
but when the thermometer goes way up and the weather is sizzling hot,
Mister Adam for his madam is not
’cause it's too, too darn hot, …(etc).”
“According to the Kinsey report, every average man you know
much prefers to play his favorite sport when the temperature is low,
but when the thermometer goes way up and the weather is sizzling hot,
Mister Adam for his madam is not
’cause it's too, too darn hot, …(etc).”
2
It's so depressing to me to know that facts don't matter. We have enough Americans who stubbornly hew to falsehoods so blatant as to be astounding, and few to no politicians who will speak truth. Imagine that: simply to utter a truth is a danger. This is not a time and place that I ever thought I'd live to see, outside of an Orwell novel. These are truly frightening times to be alive.
4
Duh. Hot temperatures make for short tempers. One needs a study to know this?
The reason climate change deniers like the Koch Brothers and Exxon continue, despite all evidence, to deny the climate change they cause is greed, pure and simple. As temperatures rise and conditions become less and less tenible, perhaps desperate people will have to resort to those much lauded 2nd Amendment solutions the Republican Criminal Organization is so fond of citing. Back ally at that point, they are the murderers and it's us or them
The reason climate change deniers like the Koch Brothers and Exxon continue, despite all evidence, to deny the climate change they cause is greed, pure and simple. As temperatures rise and conditions become less and less tenible, perhaps desperate people will have to resort to those much lauded 2nd Amendment solutions the Republican Criminal Organization is so fond of citing. Back ally at that point, they are the murderers and it's us or them
1
I'm convinced: no one from the Southeast or the Southwest should be allowed to run for President, or allowed on the Supreme Court, or allowed to pilot airliners.
1
I despise hot weather, but what is even more deadly is hot weather with humidity.
I do not think there is anything more disgusting than humidity.
I had the misfortune of doing consulting work in Durham, N.C. and could not wait to get out of there. People have to run from their air conditioned houses to their air conditioned cars to their air conditioned stores to their air conditioned university. At least in cold climates one could put on a nice coat and a scarf/hat. In NC you would need to tear off your skin.
People are already moving back to the northern part of the US. Despite the South's cheap real estate and jobs, they are finding it intolerable to live there.
Hot humid weather makes me angry and irritable.
I do not think there is anything more disgusting than humidity.
I had the misfortune of doing consulting work in Durham, N.C. and could not wait to get out of there. People have to run from their air conditioned houses to their air conditioned cars to their air conditioned stores to their air conditioned university. At least in cold climates one could put on a nice coat and a scarf/hat. In NC you would need to tear off your skin.
People are already moving back to the northern part of the US. Despite the South's cheap real estate and jobs, they are finding it intolerable to live there.
Hot humid weather makes me angry and irritable.
1
Thanks, Kristof, for adding this perspective to climate change's effects. It is a shame that the moral stewardship of our earth, as heralded by figures like Pope Francis, is not enough to stir everyone to action; or that the vast consensus of scientists the world over, with no ulterior motives, is treated as room for debate.
But maybe, the harm to human bodies will be imperative and immediate enough, for all leaders to use their heads and counter global warming, while we all still can.
But maybe, the harm to human bodies will be imperative and immediate enough, for all leaders to use their heads and counter global warming, while we all still can.
2
At times, it seems as though the world did not exist before air-conditioning. Did everyone just lie around listlessly in the summer doing nothing when there was no A/C? Of course not. Air-conditioning contributes to global warming so perhaps we should look into how people survived in those bad old days of fans, transoms, cross ventilation, screened porches, etc. and try to reduce our reliance on rooms cooled to 65 degrees in August.
3
Donald Trump believes a lot of crazy things and fortunately he has no public power and won't have any, anytime soon. Why not put the blame for inaction on the 49 US Senators that don't believe in human caused climate change? Sen. Vitter from LA., a state that is sinking in more ways than one. Sen. Marco Rubio, Fla. who's state is looking at a future catastrophe. Sen. McCain who never had an old idea that he didn't cling to for dear life. Sen. Mitch McConnel, the leader of the gang of the scientifically challenged. There are 45 others, then you can start on the members of the House
6
There is nothing to be done about the temperature. Perhaps something can be done about how students' learning environments are managed.
We all know which socio-economic strata of our society will bear the brunt of rising temperatures. Up north it'll be the same folks who've already struggled to keep their homes warm in winter.
At bottom, the vast majority of Americans do not care about this issue enough to be willing to change their way of life accordingly., i.e., move to smaller, more efficient vehicles. In fact, probably most readers of the NYT are driving vehicles that get less than 30mpg. It's pathetic and I don't know what it'll take to wake up the populace, never mind the policy makers. The Ways and Means Committee of the New Hampshire house of representatives recently proposed creating a surcharge for electric vehicles (they are "not paying their fair share" towards a transportation fund fed by the gas tax). I start every day looking for signs of intelligent life and so often come up dry.
At bottom, the vast majority of Americans do not care about this issue enough to be willing to change their way of life accordingly., i.e., move to smaller, more efficient vehicles. In fact, probably most readers of the NYT are driving vehicles that get less than 30mpg. It's pathetic and I don't know what it'll take to wake up the populace, never mind the policy makers. The Ways and Means Committee of the New Hampshire house of representatives recently proposed creating a surcharge for electric vehicles (they are "not paying their fair share" towards a transportation fund fed by the gas tax). I start every day looking for signs of intelligent life and so often come up dry.
4
not sounding 'o pity me'. i am 66 on one side and by my surgeon's reckoning 132 on the other. before the op, hot weather didn't bother me in the least. for the past nearly 30 years, when air temps edge above 65 the nerve damage can put me down or even out cold for hours.
my home has no a/c. i would have to have had central put in to be able to move from room to room. i cannot afford it nor ridiculous electric bills. it was 83 by the thermostats in here at 8am.
so my advice, while i can focus, is that commentators should cease being flip and learn howflip the a/c switch to 'off' unless there are severe health restrictions. your being 'cool' is turning it up for the rest of us.
on another note, no one wants hilary. trump cannot run a business, much less the business called the USA. the two independants should hang it up. which leaves us with making a plea to have obama take a third term and congress to take a long walk.
my home has no a/c. i would have to have had central put in to be able to move from room to room. i cannot afford it nor ridiculous electric bills. it was 83 by the thermostats in here at 8am.
so my advice, while i can focus, is that commentators should cease being flip and learn howflip the a/c switch to 'off' unless there are severe health restrictions. your being 'cool' is turning it up for the rest of us.
on another note, no one wants hilary. trump cannot run a business, much less the business called the USA. the two independants should hang it up. which leaves us with making a plea to have obama take a third term and congress to take a long walk.
1
I continue to be amazed at how climate change skeptics and climate change deniers, continue to promote their erroneous ideas, virtually unchecked. In many televised debates on climate science, those with a contrary view and no relevant academic qualifications, are given the same status as scientific experts.
When confronted with the facts as shown by world wide temperatures increasing every decade, CO2 levels in our atmosphere now over 400 parts per million and rising, climate skeptics cherry pick some short time span to try and say nothing to see here. They question the accuracy of scientific records. They want to stop government funding of climate science.
Many of the tactics used by climate skeptics are identical to those used by the Tobacco industry in claiming cigarette smoking was safe. How did that debate go?
The media are continuing to dumb down the masses. I know of no other scientific field where the opinion of non experts is sought out.
We can now see that uncomfortably high temperatures are not good environments where humans function well. In addition we have storms packing much more energy from higher temperatures. Our oceans will continue to see an acceleration in sea level rise.
If a grossly unqualified person could be elected President of the US, what does that say about our perception of reality? Why is it that so many people are so easily conned, despite the overwhelming evidence that climate change is real?
When confronted with the facts as shown by world wide temperatures increasing every decade, CO2 levels in our atmosphere now over 400 parts per million and rising, climate skeptics cherry pick some short time span to try and say nothing to see here. They question the accuracy of scientific records. They want to stop government funding of climate science.
Many of the tactics used by climate skeptics are identical to those used by the Tobacco industry in claiming cigarette smoking was safe. How did that debate go?
The media are continuing to dumb down the masses. I know of no other scientific field where the opinion of non experts is sought out.
We can now see that uncomfortably high temperatures are not good environments where humans function well. In addition we have storms packing much more energy from higher temperatures. Our oceans will continue to see an acceleration in sea level rise.
If a grossly unqualified person could be elected President of the US, what does that say about our perception of reality? Why is it that so many people are so easily conned, despite the overwhelming evidence that climate change is real?
4
What what are the Republicans and Trump really trying to prove by denying climate change anyhow? That we do not need regulations or funding or ambition or goals to make our world better because of climate change because after all it doesn't exist? Researchers and scientists are wrong, Republicans? Where do the Republicans go to school - primary, secondary, college, graduate studies?
In the meanwhile, not only do students do worse, as pointed out, our animals are being devastated, our natural resources are trending downward, we are faced with weather variances that are creating havoc, and costing $$$$, lots of it, but Republicans, their kids, their generations won't have any ramifications, right? Let them all explain their negligence to their kids, grandkids, great grandkids....and everyone.
In the meanwhile, not only do students do worse, as pointed out, our animals are being devastated, our natural resources are trending downward, we are faced with weather variances that are creating havoc, and costing $$$$, lots of it, but Republicans, their kids, their generations won't have any ramifications, right? Let them all explain their negligence to their kids, grandkids, great grandkids....and everyone.
4
It is not just heat, it is heat plus humidity. When the humidity is 100% and it is 100 degrees, humans have no way to dissipate the heat generated by their metabolism.
The heat associated deaths in India and Pakistan occur when perspiration no longer evaporates, the population cannot not flee the conditions and do not have the infrastructure to support airconditioning. Paradoxically, running an airconditioner, and pumping heat against a gradient, actually adds more heat to the outside environment. We can anticipate the planets annual heat related death toll to increase.
The heat associated deaths in India and Pakistan occur when perspiration no longer evaporates, the population cannot not flee the conditions and do not have the infrastructure to support airconditioning. Paradoxically, running an airconditioner, and pumping heat against a gradient, actually adds more heat to the outside environment. We can anticipate the planets annual heat related death toll to increase.
2
Another way to look at this is that we are the problem that climate change will solve.
7
In Paris Pres Obama agreed to reduce US carbon emissions. A week or two later he and the Ds agreed to an R proposal to end the longtime ban on oil exports. One hand giveth and the other hand taketh away. Let's face it. We are cooked.
5
Obama's approach has been down right schizophrenic.
Shut down the pipeline but then we will drill in the Atlantic off the East Coast.
Shut down the pipeline but then we will drill in the Atlantic off the East Coast.
I'm afraid Trump and the GOP won't reconsider. I thought about the climate change yesterday after yet another news cycle about the race for the White House. If you take away any other issue and the fact who Donald Trump is, the need to vote for the Democratic candidate only needs this one issue. As long as the GOP is in denial over climate change their candidate should never get the key to the White House. The world is in a very dire condition.
4
Those of with MS don't have to wait. Anything over about 85 degrees is a near-instant exacerbation. I'm already cooked, but really don't wish it on the rest of you.
2
Trump doesn't feel the heat. He's going from his air conditioned condo to his air conditioned office to his air conditioned limo to his air conditioned jet to an air conditioned auditorium for a rally. He's cool at all times. Maybe he gets a little hot under the collar, and his balding head starts to sweat, when he's yelling at anyone who doesn't agree with him, whether it's Hillary or a couple of protesters. Donald likes to mingle with his supporters, none of whom are picking strawberries under a blazing sun so that Mr. Trump can enjoy the perks of a billionaire.
3
This is not intended as a statement defending climate change. Rather, it is a statement defending common sense, which this editorial lacks. Increased temperatures into uncomfortable ranges may well have a negative effect on performance. But increased temperatures in cold climates have a positive effect. Global warming will bring more comfortable temperatures to cold locales and more uncomfortable temperatures to warm locales. So while performance would be expected to decline is some places, it would be expected to improve in others.
1
Venus certainly has solved or avoided its over-population problems.
3
Please! What a complete joke. Of course heat can kill that is why in Southern Nevada we have air conditioners and trust me when I tell you solar will not suffice to power all those air conditioners. On the other hand cold can kill too, and in that case solar will definitely not be available to help.
1
Shades of Leonard Jeffries...
It's easy to understand, although distressing to witness, that fossil fuel interests and other beneficiaries of the status quo have planted the seeds of doubt about the causes of climate change, in particular among conservatives. It's disheartening that so many people have been so gullible as to believe such disinformation and not be aware, let alone cynical, about its origin. And it's truly exasperating and shocking that a know-nothing like Donald Trump, who is ignorant about almost every aspect of public policy, has gotten into a position where he can spew nonsense about life or death issues. If he is elected president, it's game over folks. Republican voters, you really need to wake up about this issue. You need stop being pawns of rich vested interests and start believing the highly educated and intelligent scientists who have no vested interest in the outcome of their research and were among the smartest kids in your high school class and deserve the same respect, admiration, and appreciation as soldiers, entrepreneurs, high profile athletes, and pop culture performers. To believe Donald Trump instead of legions of smart researchers, not to mention the US military itself, would be a travesty that history would look back upon as one of the most incredible blunders ever. Don't go there. You still have time to get your thinking caps on and be clear that science is telling us very clearly what needs to be done. Now, not later.
6
Maybe if a huge energetic weather cell system over Oklahoma that spawned a hundred or so tornados over the course of several days that in turn destroyed a huge swath of cities, maybe coincidentally devastating Senator Inhofe's personal holdings, perhaps horrible as it is to contemplate, might be the hard slap up aside the head that would finally bring these troglodytes around.
2
Yes, these personal effects are interesting but your first summary of dangerous events that climate change is NOW bringing is more critical (crop failure, destruction of coastal cities, hurricanes, acidification of oceans, turning areas into deserts, complete desertification of the Middle East making it inhabitable, etc.)
Notice I said "now bringing." But you say "some new studies are finding what WILL BE the most important effects."
Please be careful with the verb tense; climate change is here and that of course is one of the horrendous problems of public education. Changes have been occurring for decades and we adapt slowly and the effects appear much weaker than they actually are.
Remember every ecosystem has millions of species (many in the soil and leaves and are microscopic -- bacteria, fungi, viruses, tiny, tiny worms such as round worms, etc.). Many can be seen like worms and insect larvae and some you would not recognize like tardigrades.
The point is they have all evolved with each other over millions of years and are adapted to each other in the "niche" sense and are all adapted to various levels of humidity, pH, moisture, nutrients, etc.
Climate change alters those parameters and chaos occurs -- some die, some advance, some spread geographically; all the interactions change and RAPIDLY. The ecosystem essentially for our "purpose" collapses. AND AGRICULTURE (your "crop failure") is the purpose we are most concerned with for survival. Death and war occur.
Notice I said "now bringing." But you say "some new studies are finding what WILL BE the most important effects."
Please be careful with the verb tense; climate change is here and that of course is one of the horrendous problems of public education. Changes have been occurring for decades and we adapt slowly and the effects appear much weaker than they actually are.
Remember every ecosystem has millions of species (many in the soil and leaves and are microscopic -- bacteria, fungi, viruses, tiny, tiny worms such as round worms, etc.). Many can be seen like worms and insect larvae and some you would not recognize like tardigrades.
The point is they have all evolved with each other over millions of years and are adapted to each other in the "niche" sense and are all adapted to various levels of humidity, pH, moisture, nutrients, etc.
Climate change alters those parameters and chaos occurs -- some die, some advance, some spread geographically; all the interactions change and RAPIDLY. The ecosystem essentially for our "purpose" collapses. AND AGRICULTURE (your "crop failure") is the purpose we are most concerned with for survival. Death and war occur.
2
I question Kristof's statement that "the average Indian now endures about 33 days a year above 90 degrees." I think it must be more.
We, in Washington, D.C., have had 57 days this summer in which the temperature rose above 90 degrees. My not too informed guess Is that we have fewer 90 degree days here than in most of India.
We, in Washington, D.C., have had 57 days this summer in which the temperature rose above 90 degrees. My not too informed guess Is that we have fewer 90 degree days here than in most of India.
2
Siberia will be the new Iowa.
2
Yes, dangerously close to suggesting that people in equatorial regions of sub saharan Africa will inherently "underperform" folks in the cooler climes of Europe. Not good.
And you find it "startling" that hotter weather promotes violence. Surely you did not miss "Do the right thing."
And you find it "startling" that hotter weather promotes violence. Surely you did not miss "Do the right thing."
2
I get it! The Democrats are on the right side of the "climate change issue" and the GOP is, of course, on the wrong. But then - why hasn't the Obama administration abolished the ethanol mandate - a colossal mistake costing the nation an extra billion of gallons of wasted fuel each year? Every scientific periodical I read notes the use of ethanol as both economic and environmental disaster. And then there is nuclear power - which, BTW, Trump supports - and Hillary - well, does anyone even know?
Here's a fact: India and China are both engaged in massive nuclear plant construction programs. And in the US? It was Democrat leader Reid who killed the use of Yucca Flats - scientifically verified safe for 25,000 years - as storage for nuclear waste and did so completely on political grounds - no scientific basis whatsoever. Nuclear is a source of clean carbon-free energy currently meeting 25% of the nation's needs - and the Dems are killing it. Is that stupid? And so the nation is giving up on nuclear even though - and this is a key point - most scientists support nuclear to combat climate change. Oh - and the GOP supports nuclear - and the Democrats? - no message here.
The Dems wave the "climate change" issue when it suits them - but fail the test when it matters.
Here's a fact: India and China are both engaged in massive nuclear plant construction programs. And in the US? It was Democrat leader Reid who killed the use of Yucca Flats - scientifically verified safe for 25,000 years - as storage for nuclear waste and did so completely on political grounds - no scientific basis whatsoever. Nuclear is a source of clean carbon-free energy currently meeting 25% of the nation's needs - and the Dems are killing it. Is that stupid? And so the nation is giving up on nuclear even though - and this is a key point - most scientists support nuclear to combat climate change. Oh - and the GOP supports nuclear - and the Democrats? - no message here.
The Dems wave the "climate change" issue when it suits them - but fail the test when it matters.
2
"Nuclear energy is a source of clean, carbon-free energy" and "safe for 25,000 years"? the people of Fukushima and Chernobyl might have a different view. Nuclear may have its place in reducing carbon emissions, but it is no panacea.
It is just ludicrous to compare the Democrats and Eepublicans on their record on clean energy and climate change. The Democrats have consistently tried to cut carbon emissions, and have just as consistently been stymied by the Republicans in congress.
It is just ludicrous to compare the Democrats and Eepublicans on their record on clean energy and climate change. The Democrats have consistently tried to cut carbon emissions, and have just as consistently been stymied by the Republicans in congress.
6
Yep, it's probably too late for humans. That's one of the main reasons I don't think I'll have kids. My main goal is to help my nieces become successful enough they'll be able to afford air conditioning.
5
Union of Concerned Scientists on Global warming: "What causes global warming? We do."
According to NASA, "...the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of 1,300 independent scientific experts from countries all over the world under the auspices of the United Nations, concluded there's a more than 90 percent probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet." http://climate.nasa.gov/causes/
In that same report, NASA also said "Humans have increased atmospheric CO2 concentration by more than a third since the Industrial Revolution began. This is the most important long-lived 'forcing' of climate change."
We can go with the scientists or crackpots like Trump with their various conspiracy theories.
You don't have to be a scientist to know that if auto exhaust is pumped into a car while the occupants are trapped inside, the occupants will die within a short period of time. We are trapped on earth and we had better change our behavior to save the planet and ourselves.
According to NASA, "...the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of 1,300 independent scientific experts from countries all over the world under the auspices of the United Nations, concluded there's a more than 90 percent probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet." http://climate.nasa.gov/causes/
In that same report, NASA also said "Humans have increased atmospheric CO2 concentration by more than a third since the Industrial Revolution began. This is the most important long-lived 'forcing' of climate change."
We can go with the scientists or crackpots like Trump with their various conspiracy theories.
You don't have to be a scientist to know that if auto exhaust is pumped into a car while the occupants are trapped inside, the occupants will die within a short period of time. We are trapped on earth and we had better change our behavior to save the planet and ourselves.
4
Many status quo apologists have a lot in common with climate change deniers. Is the climate changing? "Who cares, it doesn't affect me or mine in the near future."
Is the US on an unstoppable path to oligarchy? In spite of the claim that the boomer generation is the last expected to achieve a higher standard of living than their parents, and while witnessing the growth of CEO pay relative to the shop floor (50:1 30 years ago to 300:1 today), and acknowledging the transition to an economy of part time employment, low wage-non benefit jobs and gig contracts with an ever increasing transfer of wealth to the 1%, those apologists basically say "who cares, it doesn't affect me or mine in the near future."
A recent NYT article revealed that Clinton was spending the bulk of her time cozying up to the ultra rich. That and her history does not instill confidence that she will do anything to reverse the trend. A friend posited that if he were a hedge fund manager, he would be a staunch Clinton supporter.
Does pointing out Clinton's deficiencies erase Trump's? No. Nor does pointing out Trump's deficiencies erase Clinton's. What is one who believes the most important issues facing our nation are military adventurism and plutocracy to do? Send a message by voting for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson? Or just suck it up, vote for Clinton and commit to keeping the pressure on through the 2018 congressional and the 2020 presidential elections.
I'm still trying to figure that one out.
Is the US on an unstoppable path to oligarchy? In spite of the claim that the boomer generation is the last expected to achieve a higher standard of living than their parents, and while witnessing the growth of CEO pay relative to the shop floor (50:1 30 years ago to 300:1 today), and acknowledging the transition to an economy of part time employment, low wage-non benefit jobs and gig contracts with an ever increasing transfer of wealth to the 1%, those apologists basically say "who cares, it doesn't affect me or mine in the near future."
A recent NYT article revealed that Clinton was spending the bulk of her time cozying up to the ultra rich. That and her history does not instill confidence that she will do anything to reverse the trend. A friend posited that if he were a hedge fund manager, he would be a staunch Clinton supporter.
Does pointing out Clinton's deficiencies erase Trump's? No. Nor does pointing out Trump's deficiencies erase Clinton's. What is one who believes the most important issues facing our nation are military adventurism and plutocracy to do? Send a message by voting for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson? Or just suck it up, vote for Clinton and commit to keeping the pressure on through the 2018 congressional and the 2020 presidential elections.
I'm still trying to figure that one out.
3
Ray Harper,
Your dilemma is appreciated by many.
But, your 3rd party vote will only help Trump in this election.
Your dilemma is appreciated by many.
But, your 3rd party vote will only help Trump in this election.
And yet some who say they are most concern about the Earth's health and sustainability will march into a voting booth pull the lever for the so called Green Party candidate this November as an act of breathtaking political malfeasance.
Listen up. One of two people will be elected president of the United States on November 8, 2016: Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Mrs. Clinton takes climate change quite seriously. Donald Trump takes nothing seriously except the roar of a crowd. A serious choice is to be made. For those who think Hillary is less than perfect on the issue (I think she actually comes pretty close), please consider the ancient Chinese (Sorry, Donald) proverb: "When destination is not possible, at least choose direction."
In other words, let's not turn the car around and drive over the cliff in a huff!
Listen up. One of two people will be elected president of the United States on November 8, 2016: Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Mrs. Clinton takes climate change quite seriously. Donald Trump takes nothing seriously except the roar of a crowd. A serious choice is to be made. For those who think Hillary is less than perfect on the issue (I think she actually comes pretty close), please consider the ancient Chinese (Sorry, Donald) proverb: "When destination is not possible, at least choose direction."
In other words, let's not turn the car around and drive over the cliff in a huff!
6
It is ironic given the progressive leanings of so many commenters here that you are so fearful of (climate) change. Just take a deep breath and consider that humans have survived on this planet in both cooler and warmer climate conditions than today. We are adaptive creatures. If sea levels rise, we tend to move inland. If it gets too hot, we move north. Too cold, we move south. As for warm weather being such a bad thing, you wouldn't know it by the numbers of the northern born who have moved to Atlanta and rest of the south over the past 30 years. And beach front property in Florida is still pretty pricy, despite the (mind numbing) heat and threats of immanent drowning. I think I'll just relax and enjoy the summer.
2
Taking a deep breath, I realize that humans who have survived previous hotter or colder times were incredibly much poorer and less numerous than we are today and lived in a world which had far fewer environmental stresses. Recent moves towards warmer climates have a lot to do with people who are aging (and thus do not have to perform at their peak) and are relying on air conditioning, which worsens global warming unless it is moved fully to a solar system.
The movements of industry to warmer areas are too recent to evaluate them from a historical perspective. The only thing we can say is that the moves owe a lot to air conditioning, which makes some production possible where it was not before, but that they owe even more to a wage differential, which may be an original result of some of the negative influences of hotter climates.
The movements of industry to warmer areas are too recent to evaluate them from a historical perspective. The only thing we can say is that the moves owe a lot to air conditioning, which makes some production possible where it was not before, but that they owe even more to a wage differential, which may be an original result of some of the negative influences of hotter climates.
4
Yep, the temp of the water in the pot is rising and the poor frog is already cooked... 6th Extinction, Here We Come!
4
Yes, heat is a killer. We lost a hiker yesterday on Camelback Mountain most likely related to the heat. Seems like most people here hunker down in the summer, getting things done early in the mornings and staying inside air conditioning as much as possible during the rest of the day.
Heat stroke is real and ugly. I don't know how people will be able to survive without air conditioning if it keeps getting warmer and it looks like it will keep getting warmer!
Heat stroke is real and ugly. I don't know how people will be able to survive without air conditioning if it keeps getting warmer and it looks like it will keep getting warmer!
3
I remember, back in the day, when NYC elementary schools would continue until June 30th. By then, my brain would have turned to mush. And no AC! So the results of this study came as no surprise.
3
So it is not just the heat, it's the stupidity, too.
10
Too paraphrase the old saying, "it's not the heat, it's the obstinate, blind, Republican half of humanity".
5
The Regents test isn’t the only test we’re flunking due to hotter days and increasing climate change. We’re flunking the test of our ability to take action as citizens. But there is hope. Citizen Climate Lobby (CCL) volunteers have enrolled 8 Republicans and 8 Democrats in joining the new House Climate Solutions Caucus and 14 House Republicans have cosponsored a resolution acknowledging the reality of climate change. So far this year CCL volunteers have had more than 3,600 published media pieces and more than 1,200 meetings with Congress or their staff. But most of us still feel cynical and I discuss what to do to drop the cynicism in this interview with Thom Hartmann:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQAPepynxLo&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQAPepynxLo&feature=youtu.be
2
I am interested in your work, Sam, but I am skeptical. Last year almost all Republicans voted against a simple acknowledgement that global warming was caused by burning fossil fuels and polluting the atmosphere. What difference have your group's "hill meetings" made, and what does "going through your comfort zone and coming out the other side" mean in terms of reducing cynicism? I am open to being convinced, but I do not see Republican involvement as a plus in solving this issue at all. The only possible way that disaster could be averted (or, could have been avoided) is to get Republicans out of power and replace them with Democrats who respect science, who are prudent and responsible, and who are relatively immunity from industrial influence.
2
Could we not train people to install Solar Panels over All Federal parking lots and on all Federal Roofs nationwide? Folks would get the useful training and we'd get a surge of Solar.
Then, like Eisenhower with the Interstate Highways, we can develop the interstate solar energy 'transportation' gridways.
Then, like Eisenhower with the Interstate Highways, we can develop the interstate solar energy 'transportation' gridways.
5
I still don't understand the logic of actively fighting against climate change. Let's say you believe it's all a great big hoax and all this recycling and converting to electric vehicles etc. doesn't actually do anything. Let's be honest, it isn't going to HURT. How are you still not going to benefit from cleaner air and water? What part of that is unappealing to you?
(Yes, I know there are the likes of the Koch brothers who DO benefit financially, but what about the rest of the Chicken Little's? What do you, an average American, have to lose by making the Earth cleaner?)
(Yes, I know there are the likes of the Koch brothers who DO benefit financially, but what about the rest of the Chicken Little's? What do you, an average American, have to lose by making the Earth cleaner?)
8
Thank you, Nick, as always, for distilling the most important information we need right now and slapping it down, clean and clear, for all of us to take in. What you present here is so frightening it should be a clarion call for all those not brainwashed by republican propaganda to get out the vote: make phone calls, go door to door, drop whatever you can to work on a democratic landslide of the highest order. Presidency, Senate, House, Govenorships, School Boards, and more. It's long past time to wrest the power from the greedy delusionals. For our children's children, if not for us. Come on.
6
Has anyone compared the room temperature in which Trump gives a speech and the outrageousness of his comments?
8
I'm surprised you didn't mention Donald Trump's recent comment on climate change. When he was in California he said that climate change is a government conspiracy and good water, such great water, was being pumped into the sea to create the illusion of drought.
4
"“If students in New York public schools are being affected by heat stress, one can only imagine what it’s like for a student in Delhi,” Park notes." Consider the effect on poor schools in the inner city and rural areas that can not afford to install or maintain air conditioning - one of many stresses placed on such students: lead in the water comes to mind as another. We can more easily correct the problems in Baltimore than we can those in Delhi.
1
It's interesting to note that Mr. Trump says he does not "believe" in climate change. But isn't belief truly a matter of faith? And isn't an inability to face cold hard facts, simply ignorance?
3
The only logical reason why Trump, and other climate change deniers, stick to their ludicrous denial, is because they are entirely aware of their own mortality, and consequently will resist any and all efforts to do anything that can adversely affect their race to own it all, before they die.
They are generally narcissistic, in the extreme, with zero concern for the wellbeing and welfare of the planet, and all living things on, given the fact they will not be around to be affected.
I once worked alongside a very knowledgeable, very wealthy individual, who argued, and sincerely believed that he would be a failure, if he did not recognize the planet as a capital resource, to be used up in any and all ways, to further enrich him, during his lifetime.
He is now dead, having lived exactly as he said he would, and left great wealth behind, wealth that could accomplish wonderful things, yet never will.
Climate change denial is synonymous with avarice, true unbridled avarice.
They are generally narcissistic, in the extreme, with zero concern for the wellbeing and welfare of the planet, and all living things on, given the fact they will not be around to be affected.
I once worked alongside a very knowledgeable, very wealthy individual, who argued, and sincerely believed that he would be a failure, if he did not recognize the planet as a capital resource, to be used up in any and all ways, to further enrich him, during his lifetime.
He is now dead, having lived exactly as he said he would, and left great wealth behind, wealth that could accomplish wonderful things, yet never will.
Climate change denial is synonymous with avarice, true unbridled avarice.
5
Anyone who has done a particular kind of work under different levels of temperature and humidity knows that we function less well the higher the temperature. Carefully done studies are nevertheless valuable, at least if they can be used to lead legislators to act.
The action has to take place at two or more levels. Level one-air conditioning
Level two-reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Her only level one. Your column is concerned with a clever paper by Jisung Park about the relationship between performance and temperature. All very interesting but clever papers on this subject are not enough.
What we really need are data on the performance of heating and cooling systems school system by school system. Are there such data? If there are, what systematic use is made of such data in school system x?
If data were available for every system in New York State what use would be made of the data? Not much, I am guessing. A national standard might seem like the essential starting point but I am guessing that in today's political world one could not even propose such standards.
So probably rich school districts will have well air conditioned schools giving those kids one more leg up on their way to the good life.
As for level two, are you kidding?
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
But as you note that is meaningless if a particular system does not work. We need real data and even need to know if data are being collected.
The action has to take place at two or more levels. Level one-air conditioning
Level two-reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Her only level one. Your column is concerned with a clever paper by Jisung Park about the relationship between performance and temperature. All very interesting but clever papers on this subject are not enough.
What we really need are data on the performance of heating and cooling systems school system by school system. Are there such data? If there are, what systematic use is made of such data in school system x?
If data were available for every system in New York State what use would be made of the data? Not much, I am guessing. A national standard might seem like the essential starting point but I am guessing that in today's political world one could not even propose such standards.
So probably rich school districts will have well air conditioned schools giving those kids one more leg up on their way to the good life.
As for level two, are you kidding?
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
But as you note that is meaningless if a particular system does not work. We need real data and even need to know if data are being collected.
1
The 550 million year old proxy data indicates that the annual average surface temperature is inexorably riding to its maximum of 70 degrees. It has been getting hotter for quite a long time since the last minimum - humans hadn't evolved yet since that minimum, and we will cease to exist before the next maximum.
1
According to FoxBusiness.com (10/15/2012, "America's best and worst educated states"), here are the 10 best educated states in the US from one (most well-educated) to ten: MA, MD, CO, CN, VT, NJ, VA, NH, NY, and MN. Here are the 10 worst educated states, from ten to one (i.e., the worst): OK, TN, IN, NV, AL, LA, KY, AR, MS, and WV. The Fox article links education rates to median income (lower median income states have less well-educated citizens) and percentage of the population below the poverty line (more poverty, poorer education levels). Perhaps all of these things, rather than cause and effect, are, in fact, effects of hotter climates. Or perhaps smarter people know enough to prefer a more moderate climate that gives them relief from the heat for part of the year to being subjected to the heat most of the time.
3
May I point out that your statistics are 8 years old and so, milking time is passed? My Southern high school education enabled me to skip a year of high school and enter a Boston college at 16 years old, without completing all of my high school credits. High SAT score. Thank you, South! As an highly successful educator, I will claim that likening the education results to any one thing is as useful as relating results to the prevalence of kudzu. That said, the connection between income and education is a locally-influenced factor with parents and other stakeholders influencing education such that students are educated for the needs of local economic systems.
Perhaps the warmer environmental temperatures are increasing the heat in our political tempers as well. I hope the White House is well air-conditioned should we elect a hothead to work there.
2
Thank you so much Mr. Kristoff, for this important essay. It explains a great deal, not only about human reaction to climate change, but also about societies which have developed in areas that are much hotter than ours. People wonder why some cultures have lagged behind. It has seemed obvious to me for a long time that if people are continually exposed to very high levels of heat, those people may be less able to evolve and less able to cope psychologically with the vicissitudes of life. It is therefore incumbent on those cultures that have had the opportunities afforded by temperate climates to understand and support cultures that are more violent and less advanced than ours. Instead what we do is label some nations as enemies. They are not enemies; they are people struggling just like we would if we were living in similar conditions. We all need to wake up and grow up. The immaturity of DT is emblematic of the kind of mindset we need to recognize as what it is: wrong.
3
I've completely run out of superlatives to describe the depths of Trump's ignorance. The Chinese now OWN the market in solar panels, and more importantly have surpassed even Germany in using this technology (link below). China has invested 1,000x as much as the United States in highly efficient rail transport (for people and cargo). But yeah... let's vote for a candidate who has his head stuffed somewhere dark and conspiracy-laden. That'll make us sooooo competitive!
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601093/china-is-on-an-epic-solar-powe...
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601093/china-is-on-an-epic-solar-powe...
11
And yet Americans continue to migrate to the unsustainable "Sun Belt" for better economic prospects, while ballooning A/C and water bills will eventually swallow any gains. A smart move would be to rebuild the entire city of Phoenix a hundred meters underground. Now that would create jobs.
8
Good idea the underground cities of the future, so grab your shovel. Time's a wasting because probably as things really begin to heat up, which from here on should happen at an exponentially faster and faster rate, so there may not be much time left.
The research cited in this column helps explain a lot of social behavior we observe in our everyday lives. Speaking personally, heat fatigues me, makes me crankier and otherwise harder to live with than cool, fresh breezes do.
On the other hand, as a callow student I was an equal-opportunity test-flunker. On very hot days I didn't even bother to show up. On these days my results were often better than when I actually took the test.
But this column is serious, and it poses important questions to a totally unserious man, brazenly proud in his ignorance, skilled in tapping into resentful, angry instincts of his acolytes, and obsessed with degrading policy issues to the terms of his own needy ego.
It's one thing to preach to the choir; quite another to ask a man refusing to hear to heed a rational argument.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
On the other hand, as a callow student I was an equal-opportunity test-flunker. On very hot days I didn't even bother to show up. On these days my results were often better than when I actually took the test.
But this column is serious, and it poses important questions to a totally unserious man, brazenly proud in his ignorance, skilled in tapping into resentful, angry instincts of his acolytes, and obsessed with degrading policy issues to the terms of his own needy ego.
It's one thing to preach to the choir; quite another to ask a man refusing to hear to heed a rational argument.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
5
It's not just the straight forward increase in temperature. It's what's known as the wet bulb temperature (a temperature measurement that takes humidity into account). Humans have never existed above a certain wet bulb temperature on this planet, which hasn't been seen for millions of years and we are approaching that temperature with the increased rise in normal temperature.
--Ram
--Ram
6
In Texas, we consider 90 degrees the same as a cool breeze! Now when gets to be 100 or above, that's another story.
1
"A school year with five extra days above 80 degrees leads students to perform significantly worse on Regents exams."
Yes, because they are outside enjoying the nice weather? This "study" is as absurd as it's conclusions. Go look at how many kids are on the quad or in the park when it's 80...a lot more than when it's 50...and they sure aren't studying (unless it's each other's anatomy)
“If students in New York public schools are being affected by heat stress, one can only imagine what it’s like for a student in Delhi,” Park notes.
Utterly contemptible correlation with zero basis in fact to substantiate such a supposition. This is the WORST kind of pseudo-scientific balderdash being proffered as if had a shred of facts to support such a supposition.
Yes, because they are outside enjoying the nice weather? This "study" is as absurd as it's conclusions. Go look at how many kids are on the quad or in the park when it's 80...a lot more than when it's 50...and they sure aren't studying (unless it's each other's anatomy)
“If students in New York public schools are being affected by heat stress, one can only imagine what it’s like for a student in Delhi,” Park notes.
Utterly contemptible correlation with zero basis in fact to substantiate such a supposition. This is the WORST kind of pseudo-scientific balderdash being proffered as if had a shred of facts to support such a supposition.
2
I agree with you in theory. However, anecdotally, I achieved the highest score in the nation on my last last board exam despite the AC failing at my testing center on a sweltering August day. I had prepared for the always overactive AC by wearing extra layers, which I promptly soaked with sweat. None of my colleagues took the test under these conditions, and although I felt nearly delirious, I apparently did well. I would like to think the planet has a good chance of recovering in our absence, but the human ability to adjust to setbacks never ceases to amaze me.
2
Trump sings the praises of coal because he knows that taps into deep feelings of people who have worked in that industry, sometimes going back generations.
He represents the Koch brothers, and other greedy capitalists, who advocate against 'government regulation' to control the sooty, dirty problem of coal, a fuel which is a leader at producing carbon dioxide and other pollutants. He rails against any regulation which costs businesses even a dime’s worth of profit.
The idea of progress must be decoupled from capitalistic growth, which by its very nature craves more consumers. No wonder the loud outcry against declining populations in some countries on earth, as fewer people means fewer consumers buying less superfluous junk.
And the biggest businesses want all 'undeveloped' countries to develop, so that all of these new consumers get into the same insatiable loop of buying products, never being truly satisfied however much stuff is bought.
Malthus was right about growing human populations overstretching the ability of the earth to provide for so many human beings, though he miscalculated how our cleverness could postpone the inevitable.
Many of us know intuitively that the drunken party of materialism, with the idea that the 'fun' will go on forever, just cannot last. Our planet is demonstrating this to us in the most powerful way of all, change of the climate of planet Earth, brought to us by our own species, homo sapiens.
He represents the Koch brothers, and other greedy capitalists, who advocate against 'government regulation' to control the sooty, dirty problem of coal, a fuel which is a leader at producing carbon dioxide and other pollutants. He rails against any regulation which costs businesses even a dime’s worth of profit.
The idea of progress must be decoupled from capitalistic growth, which by its very nature craves more consumers. No wonder the loud outcry against declining populations in some countries on earth, as fewer people means fewer consumers buying less superfluous junk.
And the biggest businesses want all 'undeveloped' countries to develop, so that all of these new consumers get into the same insatiable loop of buying products, never being truly satisfied however much stuff is bought.
Malthus was right about growing human populations overstretching the ability of the earth to provide for so many human beings, though he miscalculated how our cleverness could postpone the inevitable.
Many of us know intuitively that the drunken party of materialism, with the idea that the 'fun' will go on forever, just cannot last. Our planet is demonstrating this to us in the most powerful way of all, change of the climate of planet Earth, brought to us by our own species, homo sapiens.
21
As I stood in my classroom in forest hills, 37 odd students, and a temperature reading almost 95 in the classroom I found myself wondering ( after downing an entire bottle of coconut water) if this will be the norm inside my English class each September when school begins. My students were sweating profusely and yet they were there, a testament to their dedication early in the school year as well their ability to block the heat out of their minds. I have procotored man exams lately with the heat in the classroom teetering over the 90 mark. When the environment is less perfect, kids tend to do worse. Totally agreed here
10
We have done immense damage to the planet. We have caused the glaciers to melt, the oceans to acidify and untold number of species to become extinct. We always forget that we are not sitting atop the pyramid of life, but are just a twig on the tree of life. We pride ourselves on our big brains and our technology, our ability to "conquer" nature. But our whole time on this planet is but a fleeting moment in its 4.5 billion-year history. Our hubris prevents us from giving the planet the deep respect it deserves. Earth will endure for another 5 billion years till the Sun becomes a red giant. As for Homo sapiens, who knows, the swan song might be just around the corner.
20
Unfortunately we're past the point of people solving this problem. The Earth will protect itself and we'll eventually have a Malthusian correction.
43
It's obvious that global warming is real and it's probably at least in part caused by man.
.
But here's the big problem: it's GLOBAL. The US and Europe could enact strict environmental laws, but if China, India, and other industrialized nations don't also have strict laws, it won't make much difference. Even more companies would move dirty factories overseas. They would still pollute - just not in the US. They would combine their pollution with the factories that are already there, and global warming would continue.
.
And I'm not done. There's also the question of what to do with all those abandoned factories in the US. People don't talk about it, but a failed local economy is awful for the environment. Bankrupt businesses and towns can't afford to clean up Brownfields.
.
So yes, we need to act. But the US can't go it alone. Global warming can only be fought at the global level. I just hope people realize this before it's too late.
.
But here's the big problem: it's GLOBAL. The US and Europe could enact strict environmental laws, but if China, India, and other industrialized nations don't also have strict laws, it won't make much difference. Even more companies would move dirty factories overseas. They would still pollute - just not in the US. They would combine their pollution with the factories that are already there, and global warming would continue.
.
And I'm not done. There's also the question of what to do with all those abandoned factories in the US. People don't talk about it, but a failed local economy is awful for the environment. Bankrupt businesses and towns can't afford to clean up Brownfields.
.
So yes, we need to act. But the US can't go it alone. Global warming can only be fought at the global level. I just hope people realize this before it's too late.
9
It's too late. Can't fight addiction with rational rhetoric
The negative impact of heat stress on the performance on the Regents exam caught my attention. I have been worrying about the impact of global warming on our food supply and flooding due to rising sea levels & extreme weather but after reading this piece, it occurs to me that the various causes theorized for "secular stagnation", the very slow economic growth condition, that thus far has cost the Gross World Product trillions of dollars in lost economic growth. I would add warming to the causal factors, which include; demography, education, inequality, globalization, energy, that have reduced the rate or innovation & seems to have slowed labor productivity.
Please discuss with Paul Krugman because I think you are on to something. That is why it is incredible that GOP candidates deny global warming because typically they are the party of economic growth. To deny the evidence that the planet is warming & a principal cause is the saturation of the atmosphere with fossil fuel emissions that are increasing much faster than Earth's natural sinks, is just plain hard headed stupidity.
My colleague, Dr. James Powell, his son Dr. Jesse Powell, an oceanographer, and I have completed a new book, "Silent Earth" to describe how to stop using fossil fuels for energy by creating very cheap electricity in space & beaming it to Earth, using a portion of the electricity to make liquid hydrocarbons with air & water, and build 300 mph superconducting Maglev logistics networks.
Please discuss with Paul Krugman because I think you are on to something. That is why it is incredible that GOP candidates deny global warming because typically they are the party of economic growth. To deny the evidence that the planet is warming & a principal cause is the saturation of the atmosphere with fossil fuel emissions that are increasing much faster than Earth's natural sinks, is just plain hard headed stupidity.
My colleague, Dr. James Powell, his son Dr. Jesse Powell, an oceanographer, and I have completed a new book, "Silent Earth" to describe how to stop using fossil fuels for energy by creating very cheap electricity in space & beaming it to Earth, using a portion of the electricity to make liquid hydrocarbons with air & water, and build 300 mph superconducting Maglev logistics networks.
15
Very curious about your book. I've thought for years that space based solar panels could easily supply all our energy needs. The two major problems being how to get the equipment up there and how to distribute the energy back down here. Not to mention the worry of tipping off ill intentioned space aliens - as Stephen Hawkings considered a few years ago - to our existence by setting up advanced architecture around our gem of a planet. No easy answers I guess.
1
The ultimate issue is whether we are intelligent enough to survive. That is, have we evolved to a point where we can successfully cope with climate change. Based on many of the comments, we may be on the path to extinction. Even though China has joined with the United States in signing the Paris climate accord, that still allows for a continued rise in global temperature of about 2 C that allows the worst effects of sea level rise and superstorms to occur. So, even our best efforts, opposed by Flat Earth Republicans, may be too late. Hopefully, The Donald will scrap the wall and work with China to build an ark.
7
"To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic." - A. Schweitzer. There are encouraging efforts to rely more on wind and sun and protect water supplies. Not enough yet, to affect Mother Nature, I'm afraid. The pessimism is the knowledge available to the carbon industry and their unwillingness to encourage renewable energies and discourage the carbon based. Whether in the name of investors or their own salaries it is greed that controls our future.
Those with financial security, of course, are most protected from global change. And no doubt adds to their complacency toward taking serious and immediate action to curtail the frightening possibilities of a much warmer Earth.
Those with financial security, of course, are most protected from global change. And no doubt adds to their complacency toward taking serious and immediate action to curtail the frightening possibilities of a much warmer Earth.
8
Many people at least claim they would rather die than lose their freedom and be ordered around by government to change their lifestyles. If they have their way, many of their grandchildren will get their wish.
"Since I value my freedom and responding to climate change will limit that freedom, climate change must be a hoax and a plot by those who do not value freedom except the freedom to boss others around."
"Since I value my freedom and responding to climate change will limit that freedom, climate change must be a hoax and a plot by those who do not value freedom except the freedom to boss others around."
6
One very simple act will reduce carbon emissions drastically. One very simple act which anyone could do. Be a vegetarian. Do the math. My son did the math 16 years ago when he was seven years old. We will reduce the need for farmland by 25%, reduce air and water pollution, and revive life in the oceans. The information is freely available. Seek and ye shall find. Please, President Obama. You are very smart man. Stop the crocodile tears about global warming. Set an example. Become a vegetarian. You too, Mr Kristof.
17
How about a more realistic and achievable version of this proposal: Eat only cows that have been exclusively grass-fed, on land that is unsuitable to grow human-digestible crops.
In contemporary American folk-wisdom there are four dominant schools of global warming:
1) The Evangelical Christian School of Global Warming: it simply anticipates the destruction of the planet as a prelude to the rise of the Anti-Christ which in turn heralds the Second Coming of Christ (considered the ultimate goal). Evangelical Christians comprise approximately 25% of the population. Some heretical Christians, however, believe the planet and humanity are worth saving (because they do not think JC will be making any further guest appearances after all).
2) The Sci-Fi School of Global Warming: global warming is real but it is not our problem: future generations of genius-scientists will fix the problem just fine, or we will migrate to another planet (this is a very popular theory).
3) The Koch Brothers School of Global Warming: it is real but we will deny it because we truly don't care - our profit margins are higher than ever, and the future just can just go hang itself. By the time the planet is burned to a crisp we will be out of here anyway.
4) Global warming is real, it is probably has already crossed over the line of inexorable catastrophe, but we should try at all costs to ameliorate the consequences because whatever is left of a disfigured human race may still have last chance to create a decent future.
After about 5,000 years of philosophic and technological struggle, this is the level at which we operate.
1) The Evangelical Christian School of Global Warming: it simply anticipates the destruction of the planet as a prelude to the rise of the Anti-Christ which in turn heralds the Second Coming of Christ (considered the ultimate goal). Evangelical Christians comprise approximately 25% of the population. Some heretical Christians, however, believe the planet and humanity are worth saving (because they do not think JC will be making any further guest appearances after all).
2) The Sci-Fi School of Global Warming: global warming is real but it is not our problem: future generations of genius-scientists will fix the problem just fine, or we will migrate to another planet (this is a very popular theory).
3) The Koch Brothers School of Global Warming: it is real but we will deny it because we truly don't care - our profit margins are higher than ever, and the future just can just go hang itself. By the time the planet is burned to a crisp we will be out of here anyway.
4) Global warming is real, it is probably has already crossed over the line of inexorable catastrophe, but we should try at all costs to ameliorate the consequences because whatever is left of a disfigured human race may still have last chance to create a decent future.
After about 5,000 years of philosophic and technological struggle, this is the level at which we operate.
202
The shift in temperature will also shift agriculture, diminish the water supplies for huge portions of the world, increase the spread of many diseases and insect vectors AND raise the sea levels. This is all happening far faster than even the most cautious and conservative estimates.
The time to address this was decades ago and we covered our ears because it asked us to change our behavior and wasteful ways. Seeing the proliferation of ever larger SUVs and Pickups on our highways and driveways leads me to believe we will not act until the wolf is literally at the door. Watching politicians slow walk Climate legislation for campaign Dollars makes me ashamed for our country.
Trump is not the problem, he is just an annoying symptom of an America unwilling to act for the future of children yet to be born because it might be inconvenient. Somebody voted for him and some group of producers and editors decided to climb aboard the Trump wagon to get eyeballs and ad Dollars.
The time to address this was decades ago and we covered our ears because it asked us to change our behavior and wasteful ways. Seeing the proliferation of ever larger SUVs and Pickups on our highways and driveways leads me to believe we will not act until the wolf is literally at the door. Watching politicians slow walk Climate legislation for campaign Dollars makes me ashamed for our country.
Trump is not the problem, he is just an annoying symptom of an America unwilling to act for the future of children yet to be born because it might be inconvenient. Somebody voted for him and some group of producers and editors decided to climb aboard the Trump wagon to get eyeballs and ad Dollars.
74
I thought that people in Florida had their heads so far up their as*es on climate change that they would have to be knocked over by a wave to see what is coming for them, but they are reacting now in unexpected ways that are, however, consistent with the info in the article.
Of course, Mr. Kristof, that is why the epitome of human civilization can be found during the several Ice Ages but, unfortunately, writing had not been invented. With the warming of the planet, as Darwin had noted mankind has been in "descent."
The research you have chosen to display to enlightening us poor, ignorant masses of fallen humanity as to the horrors of global warming is a prime example of the shoddy research performed in the leading American universities. Perhaps someone, his advisor perhaps, might inform him of "confounding variables." that is, of factors for which the simple correlation does not take into account.
Maybe major league pitchers are intolerant of the heat, or perhaps as the Summer progresses and pennant races "heat up" they just become more competitive. As you well know, football, especially in the northern cities, is an exercise in politeness, a factor that increases on the Fall turns to Winter.
In Salem, in early America, one can be assured that some researcher in a prestigious university will discover that witch burning increased as Summer arrived. Winter was too cold for outdoor public entertainment.
Of course, India's health issues depend on temperature, not on the lack of public sanitation, adequate and nutritious diets and a responsive health care system. Maybe you should read Katherine Boo's great work, "Behind the Beautiful Forevers." Times readers deserve better - do they not?
The research you have chosen to display to enlightening us poor, ignorant masses of fallen humanity as to the horrors of global warming is a prime example of the shoddy research performed in the leading American universities. Perhaps someone, his advisor perhaps, might inform him of "confounding variables." that is, of factors for which the simple correlation does not take into account.
Maybe major league pitchers are intolerant of the heat, or perhaps as the Summer progresses and pennant races "heat up" they just become more competitive. As you well know, football, especially in the northern cities, is an exercise in politeness, a factor that increases on the Fall turns to Winter.
In Salem, in early America, one can be assured that some researcher in a prestigious university will discover that witch burning increased as Summer arrived. Winter was too cold for outdoor public entertainment.
Of course, India's health issues depend on temperature, not on the lack of public sanitation, adequate and nutritious diets and a responsive health care system. Maybe you should read Katherine Boo's great work, "Behind the Beautiful Forevers." Times readers deserve better - do they not?
7
"In Salem, in early America, one can be assured that some researcher in a prestigious university will discover that witch burning increased as Summer arrived."
In fact research shows a strong correlation between witch burning and COLD temperatures, with numbers of women burned matching the cold curve.
home.uchicago.edu/eoster/witchec.pdf
At the time, they had figured that warmth was good for humanity, and they were burning women accused of causing climate change toward cold.
Today it is widely believed that sacrificing our economy, which causes misery and death for the poor in an indirect way, would improve the climate.
In fact research shows a strong correlation between witch burning and COLD temperatures, with numbers of women burned matching the cold curve.
home.uchicago.edu/eoster/witchec.pdf
At the time, they had figured that warmth was good for humanity, and they were burning women accused of causing climate change toward cold.
Today it is widely believed that sacrificing our economy, which causes misery and death for the poor in an indirect way, would improve the climate.
2
No one wants to hamper the economy. We all need energy. But that energy must be generated in a way that doesn't emit carbon. Not addressing global warming will hamper the economy more than converting to renewable energies.
8
I for one believe it' a good thing that mortality goes up with the temperature.
And that the temperatures are soaring.
Us elderly and those with compromised systems are darned expensive to keep alive.
There are too many on the planet and it is a way of curbing and reducing our exploding population.
I just feel bad about the polar bears.
And that the temperatures are soaring.
Us elderly and those with compromised systems are darned expensive to keep alive.
There are too many on the planet and it is a way of curbing and reducing our exploding population.
I just feel bad about the polar bears.
12
and the penguins.
1
It's good to see that research is being done on the effects of heat on mental performance, work productivity, and anger and violence. It confirms what we already know from personal experience. What interests me more is what effects knowledge and sense experience of changing climate have on human behavior. It must have an unconscious, unsettling effect. It must cause anxiety, maybe depression. a sense of doom, powerlessness or hopelessness which many self-medicate with illegal drugs and alcohol. Maybe it triggers the survival instinct, manifested in competitiveness, selfishness, greed and hoarding. I wonder if major political shifts might also be unconscious responses to climate change. What is certain, though, is that we cannot help but be affected. What is uncertain is whether we will use our higher intelligence to take action.
7
We have to remember, as Nicholas Kristof knows, that weather and climate are not the same thing.
Over time, they are related, but they are not the same.
We need to keep this in mind, because the deniers of climate change and global warming are fond of pointing to a string of days with freezing temperatures and blizzards in New York and saying, “Hah! What were you saying about global warming?”
With that in mind, the discussion by Mr. Kristof of the correlation between very hot weather and poor performance on the Regents Exam is important and instructive. It helps us imagine what life will be like in the not-too-distant future, when the extremely hot days will become the rule instead of the exception.
If there is any doubt about how climate affects the way people live, we need only look at the American Deep South.
No, the example is not just the fact that slaves forcibly brought from Africa were the only people who were productive in the fields. Much more recently, the economic miracle of the Old South turning into the prosperous New South occurred partly because of the ever-widening availability of air-conditioning.
Of course, the seniority of Southern senators shaping armed services appropriations played a role in the placement and expansion military installations, which infused money into local economies.
The deniers of global warming will be quick to mention that the absence of labor unions was a bigger factor in businesses moving to the South. They're wrong.
Over time, they are related, but they are not the same.
We need to keep this in mind, because the deniers of climate change and global warming are fond of pointing to a string of days with freezing temperatures and blizzards in New York and saying, “Hah! What were you saying about global warming?”
With that in mind, the discussion by Mr. Kristof of the correlation between very hot weather and poor performance on the Regents Exam is important and instructive. It helps us imagine what life will be like in the not-too-distant future, when the extremely hot days will become the rule instead of the exception.
If there is any doubt about how climate affects the way people live, we need only look at the American Deep South.
No, the example is not just the fact that slaves forcibly brought from Africa were the only people who were productive in the fields. Much more recently, the economic miracle of the Old South turning into the prosperous New South occurred partly because of the ever-widening availability of air-conditioning.
Of course, the seniority of Southern senators shaping armed services appropriations played a role in the placement and expansion military installations, which infused money into local economies.
The deniers of global warming will be quick to mention that the absence of labor unions was a bigger factor in businesses moving to the South. They're wrong.
6
For those arguing that ancient civilizations adapted and endured high temperatures, the fact is that life spans were much shorter. Todays mortality victims tend to be decades older when the body is much less able to withstand extremes of heat and stress.
5
I hear this mistake so much, sometimes even from aspiring academic historians (usually the art historians).
In ancient times, average lifespans were indeed shorter than they are today. Commenter Andy P, like many people, takes this to mean that a 40-something-year-old person (say) would have been considered "old" in those days, because that was the average lifespan, and therefore (the thinking goes) the age around which most people died.
But this is incorrect: "average lifespan" is not the same thing as "age at which most people drew close to death." The critical point that people overlook is the harrowing mortality rate of infants and young children in ancient times. In ancient times, if you survived the first 5 years of your life, you could expect to live to be plenty old. Hardly anybody was dying in their forties. But when you average out all the dead-before-age-5 and dead-after-age-70 (say), you get an average lifespan much lower than today's, because today we have dramatically reduced the number of dead-before-age-5.
In ancient times, average lifespans were indeed shorter than they are today. Commenter Andy P, like many people, takes this to mean that a 40-something-year-old person (say) would have been considered "old" in those days, because that was the average lifespan, and therefore (the thinking goes) the age around which most people died.
But this is incorrect: "average lifespan" is not the same thing as "age at which most people drew close to death." The critical point that people overlook is the harrowing mortality rate of infants and young children in ancient times. In ancient times, if you survived the first 5 years of your life, you could expect to live to be plenty old. Hardly anybody was dying in their forties. But when you average out all the dead-before-age-5 and dead-after-age-70 (say), you get an average lifespan much lower than today's, because today we have dramatically reduced the number of dead-before-age-5.
9
Of course there exceptionally fortunate people in every society that beat the odds and lived longer than most. However in ancient times the life spans on median and average were much shorter than today. In many societies lack of hygiene and poor sanitation led to infectious outbreaks of typhoid, cholera, pneumonia with inadequate or no treatment. People had only their immune system to rely on against all the diseases we commonly vaccinate for today.
1
Let me try again.
Your first post asserted that in ancient times, "life spans were much shorter." This is not true. The "average life span" was much shorter, but that's because it was depressed by high childhood mortality.
"Average" is a statistical fiction. The average height of a group composed of a first-grade class and an NBA team would be about 5 feet tall. But nobody in the entire group is even close to actually being 5 feet tall. Unless the first-grade teacher is, in which case we'd have 5 feet as a median as well as a mean, which would still fail to be representative of the group as regards individual height.
It has nothing to with "extremely fortunate people who beat the odds." There were plenty of old people in ancient times, at ages we would still today recognize as old. The statistical average is dragged down by the high childhood mortality. That's all.
Your first post asserted that in ancient times, "life spans were much shorter." This is not true. The "average life span" was much shorter, but that's because it was depressed by high childhood mortality.
"Average" is a statistical fiction. The average height of a group composed of a first-grade class and an NBA team would be about 5 feet tall. But nobody in the entire group is even close to actually being 5 feet tall. Unless the first-grade teacher is, in which case we'd have 5 feet as a median as well as a mean, which would still fail to be representative of the group as regards individual height.
It has nothing to with "extremely fortunate people who beat the odds." There were plenty of old people in ancient times, at ages we would still today recognize as old. The statistical average is dragged down by the high childhood mortality. That's all.
1
As a society we won't respond adequately to this issue because the effects of climate change are happening gradually. We have a history of reacting slowly to threats to our health and wellbeing Enacted air and water regulations after the problem was critical. Battled for decades with the cigarette makers and their denials before enacting higher taxes, warning labels and taking ads of t.v. airwaves.
Ignored warnings by scientists about the dangers of DDT for years before ending its use. Realized the dangers of PCBs after decades of use then stopped releasing them into our environment. The list goes on and on. But with climate change on a world wide scale we won't be able to reverse the effects, only adapt.
Ignored warnings by scientists about the dangers of DDT for years before ending its use. Realized the dangers of PCBs after decades of use then stopped releasing them into our environment. The list goes on and on. But with climate change on a world wide scale we won't be able to reverse the effects, only adapt.
10
Humanity is the frog in a pot of gradually boiling water.
1
Regardless the fact we have brought this problem on ourselves, the most populated areas of the world where climate change is most pernicious will suffer the greatest heat related mortality and arable land loss, both of which may force us to at least deal with the inevitable changes in a reasonable way.
Regardless religious belief, population must be brought under control if the clear and undeniable problems with which we have burdenied ourselves have a chance to be solved.
The inequities created by concentrated wealth may also cause wars which could, by virtue of the possible casualties, reduce population to levels that existing technology can address and perhaps solve.
Dystopian thoughts, but a solution which may come to pass if reason continues to be abandoned in favor of myth.
Regardless religious belief, population must be brought under control if the clear and undeniable problems with which we have burdenied ourselves have a chance to be solved.
The inequities created by concentrated wealth may also cause wars which could, by virtue of the possible casualties, reduce population to levels that existing technology can address and perhaps solve.
Dystopian thoughts, but a solution which may come to pass if reason continues to be abandoned in favor of myth.
18
Moreover, populations of what will become unlivable ateas are going to migrate to habitable places. Today's Syrian refugee phenomenon (perceived to be caused by politics but which is exacerbated by years of drought that probably is related to global warming) is a lesson in what mass migrations can cause.
9
Sadly, all proposed steps to address human-induced climate change amount to shutting the barn door after the horse is gone. And even those will be left un-enacted because of self-serving, shirt-term economic interests and the general incapacity of human beings to think coherently more than a day or two ahead unless there is some direct issue of personal and material well-being at issue.
I guess if I had a partial solution it would be to begin using the dried corpses of the Donald Trumps of the world as heating fuel so we don't need to use so much coal. He, with the shellacked hair, should be easily combustible and a rich source of heat.
I guess if I had a partial solution it would be to begin using the dried corpses of the Donald Trumps of the world as heating fuel so we don't need to use so much coal. He, with the shellacked hair, should be easily combustible and a rich source of heat.
18
Quit wars for oil and put that money toward renewable energy infrastructure. When the grid failed in the North East US in 2003, University of Md researchers collected air samples. The dramatic drop in pollution was recorded in just those few days. We can do this. http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040726/full/news040726-1.html
70
Neither Hillary nor Donald nor Gary Johnson nor Obama has proposed the most effective means of fighting climate change: a carbon tax. None of those people have the political courage to do so. For all Hillary or Obama will do about climate change, you might as well lump them in with the climate deniers.
Two politicians, both of whom are jeered or ignored, have proposed a carbon tax: Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein. They're the ones we should be listening to.
As long as fossil fuels are cheaper than clean energy, the USA will rely primarily on fossil fuels. A carbon tax, modest at first but increasing every year, would go a long way in making clean energy competitive with fossil fuels. The tax proceeds should be used to reimburse the tax paid by the less than wealthy, for weather disaster relief, and for clean energy research and support.
True, a carbon tax would only affect fossil fuel use in the USA. But we are a major polluter, and we need to be a model for the rest of the world.
Instead of a carbon tax, you can bet that the supposed climate change concerned, like Hillary and Obama, will keep wringing their hands, offering goals -- not solutions -- about what carbon emissions should be 20 years from now, as if we had that much time to deal with the problem.
Two politicians, both of whom are jeered or ignored, have proposed a carbon tax: Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein. They're the ones we should be listening to.
As long as fossil fuels are cheaper than clean energy, the USA will rely primarily on fossil fuels. A carbon tax, modest at first but increasing every year, would go a long way in making clean energy competitive with fossil fuels. The tax proceeds should be used to reimburse the tax paid by the less than wealthy, for weather disaster relief, and for clean energy research and support.
True, a carbon tax would only affect fossil fuel use in the USA. But we are a major polluter, and we need to be a model for the rest of the world.
Instead of a carbon tax, you can bet that the supposed climate change concerned, like Hillary and Obama, will keep wringing their hands, offering goals -- not solutions -- about what carbon emissions should be 20 years from now, as if we had that much time to deal with the problem.
80
Bernie yes. Jill Stein, not so much. I'd love to see a real green candidate, not an opportunist who enourages fringe medical believes, which as an MD disqualifies her with those who appreciate science.
2
Agree about a carbon tax though.
1
A carbon tax was proposed but the Republicans immediately accused the Obama administration of trying to destroy business.
2
The volcanic outbreak from Mt Pinetubo in the 1990s shows that spreading dust and sulfur compounds in the upper atmosphere significantly lowers the temperature of the entire earth. How to do this is difficult--the material needs to be spread high in the atmosphere. But it needs to be studied with the goal of practically carrying out such a program. The US must take the lead and get going and soon.
3
Put 10 people in a room. Check temperature after 30 minutes. Then cram 90 more people into the same room. Check temperature after 30 minutes. Check tempers, too.
The more people on earth, the more activity and thus more heat.
That said, earth has proven resilient and people adapt.
The more people on earth, the more activity and thus more heat.
That said, earth has proven resilient and people adapt.
3
We could stop all greenhouse gas emissions today and it will be several hundred years before the temperatures return to "normal". We have begun a great experiment where our children and future generations will be the guinea pigs. We have committed crimes against humanity and future generations will pay for our crimes. Greed and ignorance, selfishness and hubris are our legacy. We are a disgrace to humanity and most of us don't even realize it, we are ignorant of how catastrophic the future will be.
222
No, thousands of years for any return to normal.
2
Well stated. We have bequeathed a more hostile planet to our successors and we don't have the guts to admit it and act.
4
Mankind is taking fossil fuel accumulated over tens of millions of years and re-releasing it to the atmosphere in tens of years, spiking CO2 at a rate never before seen in nature, 100 times emergence from the last ice age. This is heating the Earth and changing the climate faster than the biosphere can adapt.
There is a real threat of a sixth Great Extinction, rivaling the last that occurred 65 million years ago that made extinct 95% of species on Earth due to a rapid change in climate.
Man-made climate change is humanity's great challenge for the 21st Century. Fortunately, America's traditional leadership in research and technology can address this challenge, if only Republican obstruction can be eliminated. The GOP is under the thrall of billionaire industrialists who profit enormously from using our atmosphere as a free dump for their industrial waste greenhouse gasses. It is the only political party on Earth that has embraced climate change denial.
Preserving the biosphere and human civilization, which depends on a viable biosphere, should be the top priority of any American who does not want our grandchildren and their grandchildren consigned to blighted lives on a despoiled planet.
There is a real threat of a sixth Great Extinction, rivaling the last that occurred 65 million years ago that made extinct 95% of species on Earth due to a rapid change in climate.
Man-made climate change is humanity's great challenge for the 21st Century. Fortunately, America's traditional leadership in research and technology can address this challenge, if only Republican obstruction can be eliminated. The GOP is under the thrall of billionaire industrialists who profit enormously from using our atmosphere as a free dump for their industrial waste greenhouse gasses. It is the only political party on Earth that has embraced climate change denial.
Preserving the biosphere and human civilization, which depends on a viable biosphere, should be the top priority of any American who does not want our grandchildren and their grandchildren consigned to blighted lives on a despoiled planet.
65
Supposing we manage to throw the bums out: Republican climate science deniers (aka fake skeptics; scientists are the real skeptics) have overwhelmed the few reasonable Republicans. That's only the first - but a horribly necessary - step.
Then, what do we do? We have an exploitative society based on resource extraction (plumder, exploitation, including labor), addicted to 2-D infotainment; we are an expanding population on a finite planet with increasing appetites. Who are we to deny these same privileges to the many billions who would love to have hot and cold clean running water, electric switches, plumbing, refrigeration, easy transportation, and the lot of mod cons so many of us take for granted?
A critical mass of us humans have to get some regard for the human family and work together to solve the problem of waste and exploitation, along with setting up, storing, and delivering real clean renewable energy.
Fracking is not clean energy; in addition to the boom and bust, privatization of profit and socialization of risk, overused infrastructure, water overuse and pollution, earthquakes, its costs have been grossly underestimated and its efficiency overestimated. Extreme fossil is making things worse: tar sands, Arctic and deep sea drilling, and all.
As weather extremes increase, the most costly path is to assist people after their lives have been ruined, on an emergency basis. Things are already bad, but we can and must halt our emissions. Keep it in the ground!
Then, what do we do? We have an exploitative society based on resource extraction (plumder, exploitation, including labor), addicted to 2-D infotainment; we are an expanding population on a finite planet with increasing appetites. Who are we to deny these same privileges to the many billions who would love to have hot and cold clean running water, electric switches, plumbing, refrigeration, easy transportation, and the lot of mod cons so many of us take for granted?
A critical mass of us humans have to get some regard for the human family and work together to solve the problem of waste and exploitation, along with setting up, storing, and delivering real clean renewable energy.
Fracking is not clean energy; in addition to the boom and bust, privatization of profit and socialization of risk, overused infrastructure, water overuse and pollution, earthquakes, its costs have been grossly underestimated and its efficiency overestimated. Extreme fossil is making things worse: tar sands, Arctic and deep sea drilling, and all.
As weather extremes increase, the most costly path is to assist people after their lives have been ruined, on an emergency basis. Things are already bad, but we can and must halt our emissions. Keep it in the ground!
60
While sea level rise is accelerating and storms are intensifying, river deltas are sinking.
Half a billion people live on river deltas, around the Nile, the Ganges and places like New Orleans.
These places likely won't go slowly with sea level rise, but quickly in catastrophic storms. We should start thinking about when to get people out of these vulnerable areas before something much worse than Katrina happens.
New Orleans is an important port which could be run by workers on elevated steel structures, but people shouldn't live there much longer.
Half a billion people live on river deltas, around the Nile, the Ganges and places like New Orleans.
These places likely won't go slowly with sea level rise, but quickly in catastrophic storms. We should start thinking about when to get people out of these vulnerable areas before something much worse than Katrina happens.
New Orleans is an important port which could be run by workers on elevated steel structures, but people shouldn't live there much longer.
47
Sustainability should be very exciting and sexy. To realize that all 7 billion of us are so numerous that we are negatively impacting our only home, the Planet Earth, should inspire us to study the planet and figure out how to live within our eco-means so that we can survive and thrive.
In a flourishing biome, the job of much plant and animal life is to take complex life apart and reduce it to compost that feeds new life. It's not a problem to make billions of automobiles--as long as you create a way to take them back down to their essential elements so that you put the cars back into the earth--and make more things. Every industry must see the life cycle of a good as something that is built, used, and then dismantled. Where we fall down is with the dismantling bit.
The skin of the Earth is filled with bacteria, beetles, and other critters whose sole job is taking apart organic matter. About 3/4's of all human jobs should be taking apart the things that we enjoy in our advanced civilization.
Currently, all of humanity is like people who spend more money (the currency of natural resources) than they make and thus are facing bankruptcy (the collapse of a healthy ecosystem).
It's wonderful that a) we can understand what is happening b) we have plenty of people who could work on the problem
CO2 is not a problem IF we get back to producing it at a rate the Earth can capture.
So why are we turning on each other instead of brainstorming how to build a sustainable world?
In a flourishing biome, the job of much plant and animal life is to take complex life apart and reduce it to compost that feeds new life. It's not a problem to make billions of automobiles--as long as you create a way to take them back down to their essential elements so that you put the cars back into the earth--and make more things. Every industry must see the life cycle of a good as something that is built, used, and then dismantled. Where we fall down is with the dismantling bit.
The skin of the Earth is filled with bacteria, beetles, and other critters whose sole job is taking apart organic matter. About 3/4's of all human jobs should be taking apart the things that we enjoy in our advanced civilization.
Currently, all of humanity is like people who spend more money (the currency of natural resources) than they make and thus are facing bankruptcy (the collapse of a healthy ecosystem).
It's wonderful that a) we can understand what is happening b) we have plenty of people who could work on the problem
CO2 is not a problem IF we get back to producing it at a rate the Earth can capture.
So why are we turning on each other instead of brainstorming how to build a sustainable world?
17
Because no matter what the doomsayers say, the population continues to explode; no matter what they're told about overpopulation and sustainability, humans have a basic need to reproduce and will until the globe is covered.
If it can be made sustainable by then, fine; otherwise, we'll perish like past civilizations.
If it can be made sustainable by then, fine; otherwise, we'll perish like past civilizations.
4
As long as fossil fuels remain cheap, economic gravity indicates they will be burnt. And if we burn all the fossil fuels we'll melt most, if not all the ice on the planet.
The ocean that rises will likely be very different as well. It could be anoxic and producing large quantities of lethal hydrogen sulfide rather than oxygen.
Link to paper in Geology titled "Massive release of hydrogen sulfide to the surface ocean and atmosphere during intervals of oceanic anoxia."
http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/33/5/397.full
The ocean that rises will likely be very different as well. It could be anoxic and producing large quantities of lethal hydrogen sulfide rather than oxygen.
Link to paper in Geology titled "Massive release of hydrogen sulfide to the surface ocean and atmosphere during intervals of oceanic anoxia."
http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/33/5/397.full
9
Hey Nicholas, I totally agree with the heat and mood connection. This might explain why people are such poorly educated in the American South. Here is how we solve a lot of what is coming to us, we start mental preparedness now. We can study people say in Chicago and applying what we know there and see if it makes a difference. If this works we might find in the future that we need to reassess the 9 month study year with one that is scattered. That way teaching can provide cooler temperatures when you know you are sending them for a full summer to homes that can't afford to own fans during the summer. Or we start taking care of maintenance and get those air conditioners installed to school buildings made for this next era of heat and drought. I love you brother. I enjoy your articles because you have been giving voice to people that can't speak for themselves.
8
What an interesting perspective and set of statistics -- it's ironic that I've never thought much about the consequences of rising temperatures themselves, rather than "just" the rising sea levels and more extreme storms. It's also yet more information that threatens to keep me up at night, worrying whether our leaders will ever do what's needed to combat climate change!
For those like me who feel completely overwhelmed by the scale of this problem but who would like to take meaningful action to help, I would like to recommend that you look into Citizens' Climate Lobby, a grassroots organization advocating for a carbon fee and dividend. Their solution and their methods are a beacon of hope in the fight to save our climate.
For those like me who feel completely overwhelmed by the scale of this problem but who would like to take meaningful action to help, I would like to recommend that you look into Citizens' Climate Lobby, a grassroots organization advocating for a carbon fee and dividend. Their solution and their methods are a beacon of hope in the fight to save our climate.
15
Politics generally requires compromise, and what many of our leaders don't get is that you cannot compromise with physics. Earth has a tremendous energy imbalance now, more than equal to exploding 400,000 Hiroshima size atomic bombs every day, 365 days a year). That is how much extra energy the Earth is absorbing now). Unless we get atmospheric CO2 concentration below 350ppm the planet will continue to heat dangerously.
At 1C we are already seeing catastrophes, in 2014 two independent teams of scientists reported the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is irreversibly collapsing. It is being eaten away by warming oceans and energy is going into the net melting of ice all over the planet.
Because of the decades long lag between a climate forcing and our feeling the effect, due to the thermal inertia of the world’s ocean, the effects we are feeling now are largely the result of emissions from the 20th century. And emissions have been increasing exponentially for decades.
We are also seeing numerous amplifying feedbacks, loss of albedo (heat reflectivity) from ice melt, permafrost melt, methane release and massive wildfires; the Earth is starting to wrest any possible further human control of the climate away.
We're about out of time on this, if not already, and leaders are still acting as if this is not a planetary emergency.
At 1C we are already seeing catastrophes, in 2014 two independent teams of scientists reported the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is irreversibly collapsing. It is being eaten away by warming oceans and energy is going into the net melting of ice all over the planet.
Because of the decades long lag between a climate forcing and our feeling the effect, due to the thermal inertia of the world’s ocean, the effects we are feeling now are largely the result of emissions from the 20th century. And emissions have been increasing exponentially for decades.
We are also seeing numerous amplifying feedbacks, loss of albedo (heat reflectivity) from ice melt, permafrost melt, methane release and massive wildfires; the Earth is starting to wrest any possible further human control of the climate away.
We're about out of time on this, if not already, and leaders are still acting as if this is not a planetary emergency.
341
I would add that ocean acidification, while not an amplifying feedback, threatens to neutralize the planet's primary carbon sink.
As you mention, we have not yet felt the effects of carbon already in the atmosphere. Those effects are likely to accelerate.
Climate scientists have consistently taken a conservative approach in reporting on climate stressors and forecasting climate change. Their estimates have consistently understated observed results. I suspect that, were the leading scientists to tell us what they really believe, we wouldn't be talking about a 50-100 year time horizon.
As you mention, we have not yet felt the effects of carbon already in the atmosphere. Those effects are likely to accelerate.
Climate scientists have consistently taken a conservative approach in reporting on climate stressors and forecasting climate change. Their estimates have consistently understated observed results. I suspect that, were the leading scientists to tell us what they really believe, we wouldn't be talking about a 50-100 year time horizon.
2
You can't compromise with physics. You can reject the data. This is what must be understood about those who reject climate change. They aren't rejecting the laws of physics. They are rejecting the information provided as evidence that the laws of physics are going to result in very bad things happening.
Pretty much everyone agrees that permanent loss of the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland would be bad, and that sea levels rising at a rate that will make life very uncomfortable for billions of people would also be bad. What is not agreed upon is the evidence that these things are happening.
If you believe scientists are a conspiratory guild of leftists who want to put millions of Americans who work in the petroleum, plastics, automotive etc industries out of work, then it doesn't matter what they say is happening, because they're telling lies.
Consider it like attempting to get those Tanzanians to stop believing in witches as causal agents of harm.
Pretty much everyone agrees that permanent loss of the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland would be bad, and that sea levels rising at a rate that will make life very uncomfortable for billions of people would also be bad. What is not agreed upon is the evidence that these things are happening.
If you believe scientists are a conspiratory guild of leftists who want to put millions of Americans who work in the petroleum, plastics, automotive etc industries out of work, then it doesn't matter what they say is happening, because they're telling lies.
Consider it like attempting to get those Tanzanians to stop believing in witches as causal agents of harm.
2
Eric, you are a California liberal getting everyone hysterical. Our leaders know what right for us; after all, don't we elect them to take care of us? Donald Trump is telling it like it is, not the lies the elitist college educated "experts" feed us. Albedo? Your ten-dollar words don't impress me. Some days it's hot and some days it get's cold. It's God's will so get over it, and yourself.
1
The EPA has tightened air quality standards, because they claim high ozone levels increase hospital admissions. The days of high ozone coincide with days where the temperature is high. So are the high hospital admissions the result of high ozone or high temperature? Most likely, it is high temperatures and the fact that people do not have air conditioners and/or don't run them because of high electricity costs. Those with breathing problems are vulnerable to high temperatures, and EPA regulations raise electricity costs which makes the vulnerable less able to cope.
That the EPA has intentionally distorted scientific data about air quality to advance a partisan agenda is what makes its position today about global warming and the effect of carbon dioxide suspect.
China is starting up a new coal-fired electricity generator every week, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. If they "comply" with their agreement with respect to greenhouse gases, in the year 2030 they will be producing four times the current world wide amount of man made CO2.
Meanwhile, the Obama global warming initiatives will be costing Americans one half trillion dollars per year by the year 2030.
Rather than quadrupling US energy costs, perhaps it would be more reasonable to stop making new regulations that do not improve the world's environment and instead spend a portion of that money to adapt to the changes that we have no intention of preventing.
That the EPA has intentionally distorted scientific data about air quality to advance a partisan agenda is what makes its position today about global warming and the effect of carbon dioxide suspect.
China is starting up a new coal-fired electricity generator every week, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. If they "comply" with their agreement with respect to greenhouse gases, in the year 2030 they will be producing four times the current world wide amount of man made CO2.
Meanwhile, the Obama global warming initiatives will be costing Americans one half trillion dollars per year by the year 2030.
Rather than quadrupling US energy costs, perhaps it would be more reasonable to stop making new regulations that do not improve the world's environment and instead spend a portion of that money to adapt to the changes that we have no intention of preventing.
4
Interesting that conservatives in other "developed" countries don't deny the existence of climate change. Only in this country do right wing politicians (Republicans) suggest that there is no such thing, or, if they do admit to global warming, suggest that it's a "naturally" occurring phenomenon that humans have not caused. They know better. But the glorious buck trumps everything (no pun intended).They rely on phony research organizations funded by right wing billionaires to spew out lies that are then repeated by the mainstream media. I know it's wrong but I wish the Inhoffs of this world would suffer the most in the future. Or at least their offspring would. You know what they say about Karma.
93
After reading through the 20 comments posted so far on this article, it appears that it is a very hot day throughout the United States.
80
Correlation is not necessarily cause and effect. Any college freshman taking statistics 101 knows and understands that. But, common sense tells us that when its hot get out of the heat. Even cows and horses will seek shade when temperatures rise. So do other critters. Humans are no exception. I know that I sleep better when the temperature is 70 or below. Sixty eight is usually very comfortable. But living in Florida and having been a resident in NYC and PA too, when the heat hits, we retreat. And our tempers do flare. We lose patience and we go slower and complain more. The heat makes us more miserable than the cold. If it gets too cold we can always put on a sweater or in an emergency burn the furniture in the fireplace or turn on the gas burners (not the safest things to do). Mr. Trump would have us believe that the correlations between heat and uncomfortable feelings and short tempers are a fantasy. Or maybe even a conspiracy. But the reality is that it is much hotter now than it was when we were kids in the 50s and 60s. Summer was shorter. The evenings were cooler. And ocean was not eating the beach and coming up to the boardwalk.
“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing uncompetitive,” Trump once tweeted. Really? I think that real global warming has fried Trump's mind. Maybe the Chinese secretly wanted to do that. Just kidding! No, I'm not.
“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing uncompetitive,” Trump once tweeted. Really? I think that real global warming has fried Trump's mind. Maybe the Chinese secretly wanted to do that. Just kidding! No, I'm not.
49
More people get sick and/or die from cold temperatures than get sick or die from hot temperatures. If average temperatures rise, fewer people will die of weather related events.
What a bunch of baloney.
Sure, we should be concerned about greenhouse gases and global warming. But this sort of psuedoscience tripe doesn't help. The kind of study presented here is junk science, based on observation only rather than experiment, and discussing it detracts from rather than contributes to the debate.
Rising levels of carbon dioxide have good effects as well as bad. Same with rising temperatures. And it is not clear how much rise in gases and temperature is due to human activity.
Making an issue like global warming political and a subject for opinion pages of newspapers by pundits like Nicholas Kristof won't help us solve the problems that rising temperatures may bring. We need instead a cool-headed look at the science and impartial observations of what is happening in our world.
Politics is an abstract world of words and ideas. We need to realize how the reality of physics and chemistry is not influenced by whether one is a Democrat or a Republican.
Sure, we should be concerned about greenhouse gases and global warming. But this sort of psuedoscience tripe doesn't help. The kind of study presented here is junk science, based on observation only rather than experiment, and discussing it detracts from rather than contributes to the debate.
Rising levels of carbon dioxide have good effects as well as bad. Same with rising temperatures. And it is not clear how much rise in gases and temperature is due to human activity.
Making an issue like global warming political and a subject for opinion pages of newspapers by pundits like Nicholas Kristof won't help us solve the problems that rising temperatures may bring. We need instead a cool-headed look at the science and impartial observations of what is happening in our world.
Politics is an abstract world of words and ideas. We need to realize how the reality of physics and chemistry is not influenced by whether one is a Democrat or a Republican.
11
As far as the vast majority of scientists are concerned, the issue is settled. Earthquakes are not due to human activity (except in Oklahoma). But we still build in more expensive ways in areas where they are most likely. If we use the same thinking for global warming, we will spend money to slow it down whether we caused it or not.
All of our knowledge of climate is based on observation, because experimentation on the scale of climate is impossible (except for the one experiment the human race is currently conducting on the planet). Until we learned a good deal about the biochemistry of cancer, the connection between smoking and cancer was based on observation (statistical correlations), and was therefore junk science. That is what the Tobacco Institute said.
As you said, what a bunch of baloney.
All of our knowledge of climate is based on observation, because experimentation on the scale of climate is impossible (except for the one experiment the human race is currently conducting on the planet). Until we learned a good deal about the biochemistry of cancer, the connection between smoking and cancer was based on observation (statistical correlations), and was therefore junk science. That is what the Tobacco Institute said.
As you said, what a bunch of baloney.
25
Many scientists do believe in man-caused catastrophic global warming, but they have no scientific basis for saying so. Observation has never been acceptable as scientific evidence, for the reason that theories based on observation are not verifiable.
It is often useful to create scientific theories based on observation. But to then insist that the theories are true from observation alone is more in the realm of politics or religion, where belief and faith are more important than facts and experiment.
Not to mention the quackery of the studies that Nicholas Kristof cites. The study about temperature and test results is interesting, but filtering "big data" like that graduate student did will never give one solid scientific results. It's pseudoscience.
And to suggest that global warming is going to increase the number of "witches" killed in Tanzania is speculation, not science. Simple "cause and effect" analysis of complex natural systems should be criticized, not cited.
This whole article is, as I said, a bunch of baloney.
It is often useful to create scientific theories based on observation. But to then insist that the theories are true from observation alone is more in the realm of politics or religion, where belief and faith are more important than facts and experiment.
Not to mention the quackery of the studies that Nicholas Kristof cites. The study about temperature and test results is interesting, but filtering "big data" like that graduate student did will never give one solid scientific results. It's pseudoscience.
And to suggest that global warming is going to increase the number of "witches" killed in Tanzania is speculation, not science. Simple "cause and effect" analysis of complex natural systems should be criticized, not cited.
This whole article is, as I said, a bunch of baloney.
1
Observation instead of experiment? How, pray tell, does one test a theory without observation?
2
If global warming was an imminent threat, why are rich people paying a premium for beach front property and having no difficulty getting insurance?
Why do insurance companies raise their rates with each news story on global warming, and it's mostly profit because only one small hurricane has hit Florida in 10 years?
Why are cities still building sea level buildings in coastal cities when most of the country is far above sea level? San Francisco is building a billion dollar sports arena on a pier.
Why are those who scream loudest about global warming the mega corporations who gobble government subsidies for solar power, battery cars, and windmills?
Why to environmentalist fly jets, often private jets, to their climate change conferences when Skype has existed for almost 20 years?
Why do insurance companies raise their rates with each news story on global warming, and it's mostly profit because only one small hurricane has hit Florida in 10 years?
Why are cities still building sea level buildings in coastal cities when most of the country is far above sea level? San Francisco is building a billion dollar sports arena on a pier.
Why are those who scream loudest about global warming the mega corporations who gobble government subsidies for solar power, battery cars, and windmills?
Why to environmentalist fly jets, often private jets, to their climate change conferences when Skype has existed for almost 20 years?
8
For the same reasons it took us 250 years to wipe out slavery in the US and the same reason we took 130 years to give women the vote. A lot of money was made off slaves and giving women the vote added to the additional threats the status quo worried about. Very rich and powerful people will see their incomes drop if we do what we need to do to address climate change and when there are millions of low informed voters, it's going to take awhile to make them understand who does not have their best terest in mind.
60
Just because people are blind to what's going on and are acting like there's nothing to be concerned about, doesn't mean that global warming isn't happening.
1. People buy beachfront property because they are in denial, or don't care that it will be underwater in 20 years. "Rich" people may not need to buy insurance because they have enough money to self-insure, or the eventual property loss is a small enough chunk of their assets as to make no appreciable difference.
2. Do you have facts to support your contention that companies "raise their rates with each news story"? If I were an insurance company, that's what I would do, in order to cover my bet on the property. Showing profits is a good thing for insurance companies, because making money is their ultimate goal. They are not in business to be nice. Not sure what point you are trying to make here.
3. "Building sea level buildings" - maybe cities are and maybe some aren't. I'm not familiar with the San Francisco project, but there are probably monied interests who have short term goals in mind, not long term consequences.
4. You have no idea what a specific environmentalist's overall carbon footprint is. Maybe they bought carbon offsets to compensate for the flight. Maybe their house is covered in solar panels and they bike and walk everywhere except for conferences. Do you really have data on this, including the ratio of commercial to private jet trips, or are you just making this argument up?
1. People buy beachfront property because they are in denial, or don't care that it will be underwater in 20 years. "Rich" people may not need to buy insurance because they have enough money to self-insure, or the eventual property loss is a small enough chunk of their assets as to make no appreciable difference.
2. Do you have facts to support your contention that companies "raise their rates with each news story"? If I were an insurance company, that's what I would do, in order to cover my bet on the property. Showing profits is a good thing for insurance companies, because making money is their ultimate goal. They are not in business to be nice. Not sure what point you are trying to make here.
3. "Building sea level buildings" - maybe cities are and maybe some aren't. I'm not familiar with the San Francisco project, but there are probably monied interests who have short term goals in mind, not long term consequences.
4. You have no idea what a specific environmentalist's overall carbon footprint is. Maybe they bought carbon offsets to compensate for the flight. Maybe their house is covered in solar panels and they bike and walk everywhere except for conferences. Do you really have data on this, including the ratio of commercial to private jet trips, or are you just making this argument up?
18
Very rich and powerful people are currently making big money on global warming. Al Gore has made hundreds of millions of dollars since he lost the election. He used many millions of those dollars to buy a beachfront mansion. Buffet, GE and Musk are making big bucks off taxpayer subsidies and by charging higher prices to consumers for electricity.
The current Obama regime is intended as a wealth transfer scheme from the working class to the 1%.
The current Obama regime is intended as a wealth transfer scheme from the working class to the 1%.
3
For asphalt to actually melt requires temperatures of 250 degrees Fahrenheit or more. I suspect the temperature in India did not reach 250 degrees, so I suspect it was not a heat wave that melted that asphalt. Of course our science challenged "progressives" will believe just about anything.
The "progressive" radical perversion of climate science is insidious. Kind of like malware for the human mind.
The "progressive" radical perversion of climate science is insidious. Kind of like malware for the human mind.
6
A car in the sun (and its interior!) becomes much warmer to touch than the ambient air temperature because its materials absorb and retain heat. Same as a metal playground slide. Likewise, asphalt. Air temperatures don't have to reach 250 degrees in order for asphalt to soften and cause the problems shown in the photo.
26
Jacobi,
A stretch of US Hwy 82 west of Sherman, TX, routinely ripples every summer much like the bit of asphalt shown it the photo with this article, if not quite so dramatically. The painted lines marking the outside edge of the lane curve away from the center as much as a foot, like a sine wave on an oscilloscope. I have no way to measure it, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that black asphalt laid on top of bone-dry earth and exposed to 100-110 degrees under a cloudless sky with old Sol blazing down on it doesn't top 200 degrees, easily. It may not be melted, as in liquid, but it sure as hell is soft and malleable.
A tragic and too frequent occurrence in Texas (and lots of other places as well, like Arizona) is the death of infants and toddlers left in cars in the summer. And the outside temperature doesn't have to be any where near 90 degrees for a car to heat up enough to literally cook the brain of a child, as long as the sun is shining on it. The same process occurs with asphalt, Jacobi, believe it. It's not a liberal or "progressive" fantasy.
A stretch of US Hwy 82 west of Sherman, TX, routinely ripples every summer much like the bit of asphalt shown it the photo with this article, if not quite so dramatically. The painted lines marking the outside edge of the lane curve away from the center as much as a foot, like a sine wave on an oscilloscope. I have no way to measure it, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that black asphalt laid on top of bone-dry earth and exposed to 100-110 degrees under a cloudless sky with old Sol blazing down on it doesn't top 200 degrees, easily. It may not be melted, as in liquid, but it sure as hell is soft and malleable.
A tragic and too frequent occurrence in Texas (and lots of other places as well, like Arizona) is the death of infants and toddlers left in cars in the summer. And the outside temperature doesn't have to be any where near 90 degrees for a car to heat up enough to literally cook the brain of a child, as long as the sun is shining on it. The same process occurs with asphalt, Jacobi, believe it. It's not a liberal or "progressive" fantasy.
5
Ahem, no. Google it
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23315384
Asphalt softens around 50 C=122 F, which road surface temperatures can reach when air temperatures are a few degrees lower.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23315384
Asphalt softens around 50 C=122 F, which road surface temperatures can reach when air temperatures are a few degrees lower.
9
It is the concern about too much government that has the human-caused climate change deniers reluctant to agree to do something. That is not science. There probably is not a way to convince that segment that action is needed until it is too late. It is only with air conditioning and working outside at cooler times that we humans can accomplish anything in this kind of heat. To the roofers and others who work outside, you are truly courageous people.
15
Roofers get started early, when it's cooler, because asphalt shingles get too soft in the heat.
3
The biosphere and conditions for life are small and tight. I'm sort of glad I'm 70. I won't see much of Soylent Green Earth!
31
Hopefully both house of congress are adequately air conditioned. One issue that seems not to be addressed is, did scientist believe temperatures and atmospheric conditions would remain constant ? If tides rise people at sea level should move. If ice melts so what. The air we breath is the most important element as we continue to avoid high speed rail transportation. One doubts the Chinese and the Indians place much emphasis on their air quality as they do feeding over a billion.
1
The Chinese are starting up a new coal fired electricity generator every week. Unless or until the Chinese people have anything to say about it (i.e, achieve democracy), those generators will continue to have inadequate emissions controls and will continue to pollute the air. [Some of that particulate matter manages to make it to Southern California to damage their air quality.] The Chinese government prefers to burn coal on the cheap, because they can then divert the cost of environmental improvements to strengthening their military and building air force bases on artificial islands.
If Democrats actually believed in global warming as anything other than an opportunity to raise carbon taxes, they would be advocating for nuclear energy and also proposing that the District of Columbia be relocated inland. We have acres of federal land in the geographic center of the country.
If Democrats actually believed in global warming as anything other than an opportunity to raise carbon taxes, they would be advocating for nuclear energy and also proposing that the District of Columbia be relocated inland. We have acres of federal land in the geographic center of the country.
3
I haven’t seen any denial that massive amounts of CO2 are being put into the atmosphere.
I haven’t seen any denial that atmospheric CO2 traps solar heat in our atmosphere.
We were all taught in elementary school science that when you build a greenhouse, things heat up.
Have laws of physics been repealed?
Blaise Pascal told us to consider risk by determining the likelihood of an event occurring, factored by the anticipated consequences.
If we accept that our actions are causing warming and make changes to address it, the worst consequences are some financial costs in making changes ameliorated by growth in green industries which have the additional benefits of cleaner air and water.
If we deny that our actions are causing warming and are wrong, the results project to be catastrophic.
Why is this a hard choice?
I haven’t seen any denial that atmospheric CO2 traps solar heat in our atmosphere.
We were all taught in elementary school science that when you build a greenhouse, things heat up.
Have laws of physics been repealed?
Blaise Pascal told us to consider risk by determining the likelihood of an event occurring, factored by the anticipated consequences.
If we accept that our actions are causing warming and make changes to address it, the worst consequences are some financial costs in making changes ameliorated by growth in green industries which have the additional benefits of cleaner air and water.
If we deny that our actions are causing warming and are wrong, the results project to be catastrophic.
Why is this a hard choice?
161
It all comes down to fossil fuel and money. That's why. The Republicans and some Democrats are bought and paid for by the Koch's of the world. Period.
4
To pretend that man's actions regarding climate change are insignificant because- god or the sun is responsible or other countries are polluting more that we are, is just plain sophistry. We are responsible for the holes in the ozone layer that make the sun's rays more deadly, causing cancers and melting polar ice caps. Our contributions to pollution when added to the worst offenders just make the problem worse. Pollution doesn't remain in the country that causes it. It enters the atmosphere and corrupts the ozone further. There is no possible excuse not to take action to prevent things from getting worse.
163
Here is a good explanation of the interaction of ozone loss and atmospheric temperature, which is not the same as yours.
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/features/200402_tango/
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/features/200402_tango/
1
What Mr. Kristof writes should be obvious to all. "Long hot nights" and "hotheads" and other similar phrases are not in our lexicon for nothing. I would not be surprised in the least if "road rage" and other such crimes and action occur in proportion to the temperature that day. I will tell you from experience that it is a lot easier to heat up on a cold day than to cool down on a hot one.
Beyond that though is the great experiment we are not only doing to the planet, but on ourselves as well. Evolutionary changes affected all species during the ice age and climate rules all. Has anyone done or completed a study on what higher temperatures will do to our physiology? Maybe we shold do one. The results may shock us.
But
Beyond that though is the great experiment we are not only doing to the planet, but on ourselves as well. Evolutionary changes affected all species during the ice age and climate rules all. Has anyone done or completed a study on what higher temperatures will do to our physiology? Maybe we shold do one. The results may shock us.
But
19
"long hot summers" have produced violence and lo, they have not, what makes that difference?...perhaps mr. park could collaborate with a social science collegue.
1
Wow humans don't function as well in the heat. Tell that to the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians Hebrews and Greeks.
4
So you know the murder and death rates in ancient societies? If so, please correlate with the daily temperatures, which you imply were consistently high around the ancient Mediterranean Sea.
No where in this article did the writer conclude that no human thinks well in the heat. I believe, however, that some humans don't think well at any temperature.
No where in this article did the writer conclude that no human thinks well in the heat. I believe, however, that some humans don't think well at any temperature.
30
Through ancient climate analysis, scientists have determined that the climate and temperatures of ancient Mesopotamia was not vastly different than it is in the region today -- hot and dry summers coupled with cool and wet winters.
I guess the author thinks only NYC school kids don't do well in the heat (or is it they don't do well at any temperature?)
I guess the author thinks only NYC school kids don't do well in the heat (or is it they don't do well at any temperature?)
2
Michael S.
There is "hot and dry" and then there is "very hot and very dry".
The climate in much of northern Africa and the Middle East has indeed materially changed over the past 1,000+ years largely due to the significant desertification of these areas. This desertification is directly linked to intensive land cultivation and the related loss of topsoil and dependent vegetation. One can't really compare the climate experienced by the Ancient Egyptians and Hebrews to today's desert reality.
There is "hot and dry" and then there is "very hot and very dry".
The climate in much of northern Africa and the Middle East has indeed materially changed over the past 1,000+ years largely due to the significant desertification of these areas. This desertification is directly linked to intensive land cultivation and the related loss of topsoil and dependent vegetation. One can't really compare the climate experienced by the Ancient Egyptians and Hebrews to today's desert reality.
10
OK, let's invert the equation and see if stupidity equates to heat:
Have the last 116 years produced more and worse wars than ever before?
Are the hot countries prosperous?
Where are the worst cases of poverty and sheer squalor?
Can unqualified politicians credibly deny climate change, as much as they deny their own statements and actions? (You might as well ask fruit flies if they believe in the Higgs Boson.)
Can heat and pollution be separate categories, given what heat does to pollution?
Does pollution contribute to the atmospheric mass, adding materials to absorb and retain more heat?
Would any sane species find so many excuses for total failure to deal with chronic, society-and-world maiming problems?
Do hot people also lack attention span and have reduced problem solving skills?
Do allergies increase to plague proportions in temperate climates?
Is any suspicion of intelligence or the ability to understand anything a virtual social crime in the US?
This is the Age of Dumb, and has been for over a century. If heat = stupidity, it's here and getting worse.
Have the last 116 years produced more and worse wars than ever before?
Are the hot countries prosperous?
Where are the worst cases of poverty and sheer squalor?
Can unqualified politicians credibly deny climate change, as much as they deny their own statements and actions? (You might as well ask fruit flies if they believe in the Higgs Boson.)
Can heat and pollution be separate categories, given what heat does to pollution?
Does pollution contribute to the atmospheric mass, adding materials to absorb and retain more heat?
Would any sane species find so many excuses for total failure to deal with chronic, society-and-world maiming problems?
Do hot people also lack attention span and have reduced problem solving skills?
Do allergies increase to plague proportions in temperate climates?
Is any suspicion of intelligence or the ability to understand anything a virtual social crime in the US?
This is the Age of Dumb, and has been for over a century. If heat = stupidity, it's here and getting worse.
103
"Is any suspicion of intelligence or the ability to understand anything a virtual social crime in the US?"
Thanks for this comment! You've hit the nail on it's head...we seem to celebrate stupidity.
Thanks for this comment! You've hit the nail on it's head...we seem to celebrate stupidity.
5
"Can unqualified politicians credibly deny climate change, as much as they deny their own statements and actions? (You might as well as fruit flies if they believe in the Higgs Boson.)"
Touche, Mr. Wallis. Bravo!
Touche, Mr. Wallis. Bravo!
3
"The average Indian now endures about 33 days a year aove 90 degrees, and that is forecast to increase by as many as 100 days by 2100."
There are a whole bunch of Texans who endure a whole lot more than 33 days a year above 90 degrees. Granted, the bulk of those days fall between Memorial and Labor Days, so that still doesn't explain why the Lone Star State is only 7 places from the bottom of the list of the 50 states by education ranking. But still, 90 degrees is liable to pop up on any given day from April to mid-November, allowing the conservatives here to blame something other than themselves for at least part of the shortfall.
Truth be told, when the temp is only 90 on any given day from June 1st to September 30th, folks wonder how long the cool front will last.
Just don't ascribe the shrinking space remaining at the top of the thermometer to climate change/global warning. Those, you see, are a hoax. Donald Trump told us so. Invented by the Chinese, probably to drive up the cost of ramen noodles. You'll notice that Mr. Kristof's sources failed to even assess for or mention this particular fact.
Besides, Texas kids are used to it. They play football in these temperatures and don't hardly break a sweat. When you are that tough, who needs a high-falutin' edgy-cashun, anyhow? As long as these boys can remember all the calls in the playbook, they know everthang they'll ever need to succeed.
There are a whole bunch of Texans who endure a whole lot more than 33 days a year above 90 degrees. Granted, the bulk of those days fall between Memorial and Labor Days, so that still doesn't explain why the Lone Star State is only 7 places from the bottom of the list of the 50 states by education ranking. But still, 90 degrees is liable to pop up on any given day from April to mid-November, allowing the conservatives here to blame something other than themselves for at least part of the shortfall.
Truth be told, when the temp is only 90 on any given day from June 1st to September 30th, folks wonder how long the cool front will last.
Just don't ascribe the shrinking space remaining at the top of the thermometer to climate change/global warning. Those, you see, are a hoax. Donald Trump told us so. Invented by the Chinese, probably to drive up the cost of ramen noodles. You'll notice that Mr. Kristof's sources failed to even assess for or mention this particular fact.
Besides, Texas kids are used to it. They play football in these temperatures and don't hardly break a sweat. When you are that tough, who needs a high-falutin' edgy-cashun, anyhow? As long as these boys can remember all the calls in the playbook, they know everthang they'll ever need to succeed.
96
In Arizona they say it is a "Dry Heat". The deaths in India and Pakistan are largely localized in the Coastal areas where the humidity pushes 100%. The take home message is that human physiology only provides one way to cool when the environment is warmer than body temperature. Sweating is ineffective if water does not evaporate.
26
I think they mean 90 average daily temperature, not just a high. Which corresponds to something like 100 during the daylight hours, and 80 at night. Without air conditioning. No relief.
4
While substantial scientific evidence establishes global warming is not a hoax fabricated by China, substantial evidence also show China far surpasses the U.S. as the reason for the terrifying acceleration of global warming, which is projected to trigger mass starvation, military conflicts over diminishing resources and new "climate change" viruses that will kill hundreds of millions in only a few months. As the insanity in places like the Mid-East and in Chicago continue (last weekend over 90 people were shot dead in that city-and yes, that does seem like the new normal), we humans are pumping out unprecedented amounts of CO2 that guarantee to make those problems worse.
35
China may be the worst offender now, but "now" is the operative word. We have contributed more to the demise of this planet than China. Yes they'll finish the job, but the US bears the shame of warming this planet the most thus far.
4
Rubbish - the US alone is responsible for almost all the increased CO2 in the air (see http://timeforchange.org/cumulative-co2-emissions-by-country) and current per capita emissions are still far higher in the US than in China. It's largely a problem of our making and we need to take the lead in solving it.
4
I know I can't function in hot weather. That's why I live on the west side of San Francisco, where it is usually cool and foggy, with an average year round temperature of 60-65 degrees F.
I moved here from NY after 16 miserable summers and winters. What a relief it has been.
But even here, it's hotter than it used to be. I now need fans sometimes and some people are adding air conditioners when that was unheard of when I first moved here in 1976. I feel sorry for people who live where it's much hotter. They are indeed going to get cooked.
I moved here from NY after 16 miserable summers and winters. What a relief it has been.
But even here, it's hotter than it used to be. I now need fans sometimes and some people are adding air conditioners when that was unheard of when I first moved here in 1976. I feel sorry for people who live where it's much hotter. They are indeed going to get cooked.
113
Imagine if all human beings were to migrate to cooler places because of intolerance to heat. It is predicted that in couple twenty years the gulf countries in the Middle East will become desert with intolerable temperature rise. Perhaps it was inevitable that people left Syria, Iraq as refugees, moving to cooler Europe, even before climate change took its toll? There is perhaps a logical reason why Arabs wear long robes and head gear and women wear veils, because the sun rays and extreme heat are punishing to the skin. (Islam merely popularized the veil as it was exported to countries outside Arabia?)
2
Systems, like Earth (300K), in energy contact with two environments, like the Sun (9000K) and Space (3K) evolved complexity by viewing the hotter environment at a warmer temperature, while viewing the colder environment at a cooler temperature. Life evolved chlorophyll, which views the Sun at 2000K. So, later, the wood can release that light as light (say, in a campfire), while a rock exposed to the Sun can only release that light, later, as heat. Life also evolved Diatoms, which cleared the ancient atmosphere of excess CO2, creating limestone. So the Earth 'sees' its Space environment at a much lower temperature than before. Life thus subtends a much larger temperature gradient than before, and has built 'complexity' with the largess, and this seems in keeping with the 2nd law of thermodynamics. So, if humans are acting to increase the temperature by which our planet is 'viewing' the Space environment, then they are acting against a fundamental law of Nature. It seems inevitable that Nature will inform us, perhaps unkindly, of the transgression.
6
I think there are at least two types of climate change deniers. One is truly ignorant of the science and buys into the Exxon Mobil Disinformation campaign.
The other is represented by the Deplorable in Chief, Trump, who knows very well that the science of climate change is correct, spends money to protect his golf courses against future sea level rises but engages in cynical politics to exploit ignorance among his supporters.
The latter is not just Deplorable but truly evil, given the planetary stakes and millions of lives involved.
The other is represented by the Deplorable in Chief, Trump, who knows very well that the science of climate change is correct, spends money to protect his golf courses against future sea level rises but engages in cynical politics to exploit ignorance among his supporters.
The latter is not just Deplorable but truly evil, given the planetary stakes and millions of lives involved.
426
The irony is that Exxon Mobile scientists actually "discovered" the climate change ramifications of fossil fuel combustion in the 1960's. Company leadership decided publication of such scientific data would conflict with the goal of making money.
And the rest is history, as they say.
And the rest is history, as they say.
15
Exxon Mobile financed a vast effort to lie flat out about climate change at a time when reducing fossil fuel consumption could have made a difference. Now it's too late. Mankind and all other forms of life on earth are doomed. What could possibly be more truly evil than that?
8
One of the wackiest ideas known to man is that climate change is something that humans are responsible for. Scientific data continually shows that the sun is actually more responsible for certain weather patterns and "climate change" than what comes out of the tailpipe of our vehicles. Progressives always seem to want to learn, but are never able to understand basic facts.
7
Changes in the sun are responsible for some changes in the climate but that does not mean that rising greenhouse gases due to human activity do not also cause climate change. Your argument is equivalent to saying that because people die of natural causes, there can be no such thing as murder.
8
Do you honestly believe that climate scientists who spend their entire professional lives studying atmospheric thermodynamics don't know about solar variability? But, please proceed to provide the citations for your research.
11
I love Coos Bay (Reedville to Florence mo' betta), but you're wrong. The Sun cannot cause the Stratosphere to cool, over the last 50 years, and at the same time cause the Troposphere to warm. There is pretty much only one thing that can... and you aren't gonna like it.
6
"Twelve percent higher chance of failing." That sounds like nonsense. Is that the best the self described expert Harvard economics PhD can do?
If there is a real relationship between heat and productivity, then there would be better statistics from medical doctors - not economists.
If there is a real relationship between heat and productivity, then there would be better statistics from medical doctors - not economists.
3
The Dunning-Kruger Effect in action.
3
The economist isn't described as an "expert," and certainly doesn't self-describe that way. I guess if "medical doctors" haven't described this phenomenon yet, it doesn't exist, right?
3
Since we are physicians experts on productivity? Silly.
3
The root cause of all global environmental problems including any effect of humans on the climate is overpopulation, but as this article illustrates there is no leadership to address it. As the global population increases from 7.4 to some 10 billion pollution-generating human heaters later this century, neither incremental increases in per capita energy efficiency nor any financial schemes will do anything significant to ameliorate our emerging ecological disaster. While the problem is relatively easily solved without the need for magical new technologies, humans have chosen quantity over quality. The unpleasant results are already beginning.
409
While overpopulation may be a contributing factor in climate change, and will truly make things worse down the road as we try to overcome the challenges of a warming planet, the increasing chorus regarding overpopulation should not sidetrack us from the real issue, which is that climate change must be slowed (it may be too late to reverse the effects) before it is too late.
17
Climate change and every other environmental problem are all a result of overpopulation. One billion people on earth could all live like Americans or western Europeans, with little or no impact on the global environment. Seven billion is wholly unsupportable, ten billion will be catastrophic. We will see major human die-offs in our lifetimes.
10
Yes, overpopulation is a primary cause of global warming. Yet most good liberals seem to embrace more immigration, root for their chamber of commerce to bring a large industry to their region, and love what population growth does to their home's value. I believe a fundamental a cause is our predicament is our societal and political culture of perpetual economic growth. Even if we were to replace our current energy levels with renewable energy, perpetual growth requires we continue to raise the ante.
3
The reason they died in India is lack of air conditioning, resulting from a lack of abundant electrical energy. More coal fired plants would have saved them.
8
Air conditioning is known to contribute to localized rise in temperature. Those air conditioning units emit more heat outside than they cool inside the building. Lack of electricity and power is because of inefficient supply. Wind, solar options are much cleaner than coal. Power generators that kick in during power outages also contribute to pollution, both noise and particle.
8
If only the response to global warming/climate change were as bipartisan as the issue itself. Mother Nature is most definitely not taking sides on this one, and her indiscriminate effects are overtly tangible. Cooked is not the only apropos six-letter adjective ending in "ked". What a trip it must be to see this through the eyes of someone who thinks it is a hoax. Halloween is coming, that would be the greatest Fun House mirror ever.
As for the connection between uncomfortable, oppressive heat and irritability? Well, duh. How can we fix it? Do the right thing, Mookie.
Someone got the reference, right?
As for the connection between uncomfortable, oppressive heat and irritability? Well, duh. How can we fix it? Do the right thing, Mookie.
Someone got the reference, right?
9
Some of us will have the evolutionary adaptations to survive and reproduce to leave our progeny.
Some of us will not, and many of us will continue to deny that the world is changing even as it changes before our very eyes and mostly because of our own doing.
As Edward Abbey described Capitalism, "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell." But Capitalism is the one true religion and Money the one true God.
It won't be pretty. I have no desire to die. But I am glad I only have about another 20 years at most here on earth.
Some of us will not, and many of us will continue to deny that the world is changing even as it changes before our very eyes and mostly because of our own doing.
As Edward Abbey described Capitalism, "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell." But Capitalism is the one true religion and Money the one true God.
It won't be pretty. I have no desire to die. But I am glad I only have about another 20 years at most here on earth.
204
Capitalism - growth for the sake of growth - as Cancer ?
reminds me a Boston academic told me - 'the US economy regularly crashes and burns - then rises from the ashes like a phoenix'
so that may be the natural cycle of Capitalism - I think 2007 was your last major crash - doomsayers predict the next one with be Carmageddon or something - but hey I plan to enjoy every day until I'm dead !
reminds me a Boston academic told me - 'the US economy regularly crashes and burns - then rises from the ashes like a phoenix'
so that may be the natural cycle of Capitalism - I think 2007 was your last major crash - doomsayers predict the next one with be Carmageddon or something - but hey I plan to enjoy every day until I'm dead !
1
where do you go after that 20 years ?
1
I truly weep for the world's grandchildren who will be born into a world they did not create and can't control.
5
A really wonderful essay, Nick, in the classic tradition of great writing. Well, I didn't feel like killing anyone today; quite the contrary, I made a recipe from Sam Sifton and had it with a good Chardonnay. I felt like communing with people. One thing that I *didn't* do was get on the bike to climb the Montclair hills. Will our physical fitness suffer due to the increased heat?
But right, climate change is something of which we'll come to understand its consequences. More coastal flooding and, it looks like, more difficult living in general.
As for Trump, he's like the kid in my neighborhood who periodically just made things up. As an eight year old, I learned a little psychology from my father: The kid was making it up to get attention. Ignore him. Unfortunately it looks like others didn't have such parenting as they latch on to Trump's prevarication du jour. So his statements about global warming are entirely self-serving and designed to attract the mentally lame.
I suppose the Right could always argue that we'll get used to living in the hot weather. Look at the Gulf Coast. They know how to handle it. They go to Maine for the Summer.
But one of the climatological aspects of our history is the settling in the northeast by Europeans who could conduct business in this climate. There is an invigorating aspect of life here, not today, but in a few days. But if it took another two months of the weather we had today to get there, it would be another story.
But right, climate change is something of which we'll come to understand its consequences. More coastal flooding and, it looks like, more difficult living in general.
As for Trump, he's like the kid in my neighborhood who periodically just made things up. As an eight year old, I learned a little psychology from my father: The kid was making it up to get attention. Ignore him. Unfortunately it looks like others didn't have such parenting as they latch on to Trump's prevarication du jour. So his statements about global warming are entirely self-serving and designed to attract the mentally lame.
I suppose the Right could always argue that we'll get used to living in the hot weather. Look at the Gulf Coast. They know how to handle it. They go to Maine for the Summer.
But one of the climatological aspects of our history is the settling in the northeast by Europeans who could conduct business in this climate. There is an invigorating aspect of life here, not today, but in a few days. But if it took another two months of the weather we had today to get there, it would be another story.
16
Yes, do come to Maine in the summer and see the drought along with the sun baking the gardens and orchards. Even the ocean is warmer, a bad sign for shellfish which are moving north towards Canada. And soon more of our coast will be beachfront property. I live on a hill but am thinking of getting a rowboat or canoe just in case of ocean rise! (It was 92 degrees here yesterday.)
5
Uh oh.
Sounds like rising temperatures will create more people who are too hot and irritable to evaluate detailed policy proposals and think things through: i.e. more angry Trump voters.
Sounds like rising temperatures will create more people who are too hot and irritable to evaluate detailed policy proposals and think things through: i.e. more angry Trump voters.
310
Oh, I don’t know. If we could figure out how to put a wall around the Middle East, with cut-outs for Israel and some moderates like Jordan, and get Mexico to pay for it, we could exploit future increases in surface temperature in Arab states and Iran and just await the inevitable end of one of the world’s most pressing current problems. The challenge is that before that happens we could see something north of 500 million people in Calais, trying to get through the Eurotunnel to Britain. And Britain probably can’t make enough “biscuits” to keep 500 million people happy, to say nothing of how off-putting so many burkinis would be.
I expect a few readers from Equatorial climes to protest Nick’s veiled implication that the southern hemisphere’s relative lack of historical social and economic progress can be tied to ambient temperatures, when they’d just gotten used to blaming The Great Satan for all their woes. They should adopt President’s Obama’s solution, and simply blame Dubya for everything bad in the world since the husbandry of garlic was perfected in southern Europe.
I don’t mean to be flip. Well … maybe I do. It’s 9/11 again, and I need SOMETHING to cheer me up.
Climate change isn’t a hoax. But, then, neither is the laughter of most of the developing world that we’re willing to destroy our middle classes while they build theirs on the back of cheap, polluting energy. We need solutions that call for sacrifices from EVERYONE, not just Americans and Europeans.
I expect a few readers from Equatorial climes to protest Nick’s veiled implication that the southern hemisphere’s relative lack of historical social and economic progress can be tied to ambient temperatures, when they’d just gotten used to blaming The Great Satan for all their woes. They should adopt President’s Obama’s solution, and simply blame Dubya for everything bad in the world since the husbandry of garlic was perfected in southern Europe.
I don’t mean to be flip. Well … maybe I do. It’s 9/11 again, and I need SOMETHING to cheer me up.
Climate change isn’t a hoax. But, then, neither is the laughter of most of the developing world that we’re willing to destroy our middle classes while they build theirs on the back of cheap, polluting energy. We need solutions that call for sacrifices from EVERYONE, not just Americans and Europeans.
20
Here are solutions. These are not sacrifices, but leadership on the path to new green jobs and industries ( and lower electricity bills)
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/climate/
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/climate/
128
@ Richard Luettgen Verified from New Jersey - I do not find that last paragraph coherent. The US and China are leaders in the use of cheap polluting energy. We need solutions from Americans and Chinese.
As you know, I write from a small country so that anything I write about Sweden's notable successes in avoiding the use of cheap polluting energy - oil, coal, natural gas - will simply be met taken seriously so you are not going to read more about these successes today.
And, as I all too often am forced to note, you won't read about them in the Times either.
Well maybe just one report on solar in Sweden. If you could read Swedish I would send you a website by HSB company which is covering the roofs of its apartment complexes with solar cells. Truly an astonishing sight!
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
As you know, I write from a small country so that anything I write about Sweden's notable successes in avoiding the use of cheap polluting energy - oil, coal, natural gas - will simply be met taken seriously so you are not going to read more about these successes today.
And, as I all too often am forced to note, you won't read about them in the Times either.
Well maybe just one report on solar in Sweden. If you could read Swedish I would send you a website by HSB company which is covering the roofs of its apartment complexes with solar cells. Truly an astonishing sight!
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
16
Just to be clear: The United States is the biggest polluter, per capita, in the world. Try starting at home.
22
I am sure it is just a coincidence that Republican politicians accept bribes from the energy industry.