Hottest sea surface temperatures on record this year. By far.
Brutally hot August land surface temperatures.
https://climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-temperature-august-2023
Ørsted, world OSW leader, needs a lrg jump in guaranteed prices to $150-200 per MWh or it will abandon its immense wind farms off the US East Coast.
Yet Mass, NJ, & NY just closed excellent #nuclear plants making just as much #energy, but costing $35-55 per MWh. Estimates of costs of energy produced by extended operations of Diablo Canyon Power Plant are ~4c/kwh, or $40/MWh.
Need I say more?
Climate Change Is Driving Ever-Higher Food Prices
"The standout example of how extreme weather can drive up food prices is olive oil. The Mediterranean staple has more than doubled over the last 12 months to $8,000 a metric ton, a record high according to statistics tracked by the International Monetary Fund back to 1990. Extreme heat was the culprit as Spain, the world’s largest producer, was hard hit by drought."
#climatechange #climateimpacts
https://www.barrons.com/articles/food-prices-inflation-2023-17f99f5
@sciencebase Did you know that the Apollo visits brought back gravel with tiny pure iron bits which have a rum crystal structure? Queen Mary are looking at them again but you need SEM to image them, so they probably won't show up even with a zoom. ;-)
When Thomas Mann learned in 1937 that the University of Bonn had voided his degree in compliance with the bestial regime, he wrote a letter to the Dean, from exile.
It still stands as a monument to dignity in the face of atrocity.
https://www.pro-europa.eu/europe/mann-thomas-god-help-our-darkened-and-desecrated-country/
Anyone else feels like we need to delete the label 'carbon-neutral' from any sustainability vocabulary because, well, it's an enormous, gigantic lie whose only purpose is to shield business-as-usual and to make individuals feel good without them having to engage in any meaningful substancial change?
Trumpism has all the trappings of a classic cult of personality: a charismatic figure at the center who is worshiped as a modern messiah by his followers; a leader who seemingly can do no wrong, even while engaged in patterns of criminal behavior to grift money from them; a master manipulator who controls the behavior, thoughts, information, and emotions of his flock.
So, how do we stop this cult from spreading further? https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/trumpism-maga-cult-deprogram-democracy
@sciencebase No tiny hair-shaped asteroids seen today.
@sciencebase I'm not sure about it. Wish I had a pic. Others have reported it round here and it looked like one to me but it was so gloomy and on the shed window, so all I got was a UFO in a glare of flash.
@Peternimmo @Frances_Coppola I wonder whether the economy is the biggest issue for the aging population, though.
‼️ With 400 scientists we've written a call to politics:
a) our climate policies are not "ambitious", as is commonly claimed
b) climate politics is mired in partisan manoeuvring & infighting
👉 We call for 3 things:
1) Limited pollution: a transparent commitment to a CO2 budget
2) Justice: no self-serving CO2 budget, it has to be internationally fair
3) Responsibility: exceeding it raises liabilities for losses & damage
👉 needs coalitions across society & party lines
https://info-de.scientists4future.org/keine-parteigrenzen-fur-die-klimapolitik
This Guardian podcast is worth a listen, esp in light of recent crumbling concrete revelations. MPs can't even get on with fixing the place they work in, when next falling stone chunk might hit one of them (though ofc it's far more likely to be some poor sod who does the catering or whatever). Some want the repairs done round them, despite the increased cost & timeline. No wonder they're letting schools crumble!
Rats, fires and floods: why Parliament is falling down https://www.podbean.com/ea/dir-cq4dc-1a83eef7
There was another Scorched Carpet in the garden this week. Here's one I made earlier
@sciencebase Pretty sure there was a Bordered Straw here last night. All my efforts to pic it were dismal though, it was too dark.
For fans of the show, truly iconic.
https://www.comicsands.com/heather-morris-naya-rivera-strike-2664433384.html?utm_source=threads&utm_medium=infeed&utm_campaign=linkprogram
I've only seen one Clouded Yellow this year...and had to go to Cala'n Porter on Menorca to do that...2022 was an irruption year for the species in England, saw dozens.
Here's one that was having a chat with a wee spider on some Red Clover at one of our local nature reserves. Look at its casual little leg hanging over the clover leaf.
But, also look at that glorious golden hue in its wing where the bigger of the black spots is
@sciencebase I disabled my laptop touch screen cos sneezing on it counted as a click (said he, still spluttering from hay fever). Naive folk will say "use a tissue"...no time for that.
Steel industry metallurgical specialist.