The Climate Change "Hoax"

   A couple things for the climate change disbelievers...

Climate Highlights 
(from FarmProgress.com)
Several locations broke all-time high temperature records. On June 26, Amarillo, Texas, set an all-time high temperature record of 111 degrees F, breaking the record of 109 degrees F set just two days prior. On June 15, Tallahassee, Fla., also recorded an all-time high, 105 degrees F. For the month, 42 U.S. locations tied or broke all-time maximum high temperatures.

The expansive heat across Texas resulted in an average temperature of 85.2 degrees F, which was 5.6 degrees F above normal, surpassing 1953 as the warmest June in 117 years of records. This was the fourth consecutive June in Texas with temperatures at least 2 degrees F above the long-term average.

Both Louisiana and Oklahoma (tied) had their second warmest June. Georgia tied for it's third warmest. It was the sixth warmest for Arkansas, Delaware (tied), Florida, Mississippi, and New Mexico.

Along with the heat, parts of the Southwest through much of the Southern Plains and Gulf Coast experienced a continuation of intense drought. New Mexico had its driest June on record while Arizona and Oklahoma had their fourth driest.  June was the fifth driest in Texas and the ninth driest in Florida.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 63% of the Southeast was in moderate-to-exceptional drought at the end of June, compared to 51% at the end of May.  In the South, the percent area in the worst category of drought, called exceptional drought, rose from 28% to 47%.

Above average wildfire activity continued across the Southern tier of the U.S. Nationwide, 1.35 million acres burned during the month, bringing the year-to-date acreage burned to approximately 4.8 million acres -- the most on record for the period -- and more than twice the decadal average.

Precipitation was much above normal in most of California, resulting in the state's wettest June on record. Heavier-than-normal precipitation and prolonged snowmelt during the spring caused June flooding in Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Washington. The greatest flows on the Missouri River forced record amounts of water to be released from Fort Peck Reservoir in Montana.

Cooler-than-normal temperatures prevailed in the West, Northwest and the western High Plains. It was the 12th coolest June for the Northwest.

Other highlights

Both Oregon and Washington (tied) - and the Northwest Region - had their coolest April-June period on record. Meanwhile, the South had its second warmest and the Southeast its third warmest such period.

Record warmth dominated Texas during the past three months. A total of 14 states, mostly in the South and Southeast United States experienced an average April-June temperature among their 10 warmest.

Record precipitation caused by a persistent storm track across the northern U.S. drove the wettest April-June period in the High Plains and the Ohio Valley area. Within the Ohio Valley area, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Michigan had their wettest April-June on record.

For the year-to-date period, three drought-stricken states - Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas - had their driest January-June on record. In that time, Louisiana was 11.72 inches below its 20th century year-to-date average 29.16 inches. Texas was more than eight inches below its average of 13.83 inches and New Mexico was nearly 3.5 inches below its average of 4.68 inches at this point in the calendar year.
[READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE]

   ...and if that isn't enough for you, add this to the equation:

Food price gains in 2012 hinge on weather

By Matt Andrejczak

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Don’t expect price relief at the grocery store anytime soon. Food inflation will persist in 2012, the U.S. Agriculture Department indicated in an updated forecast released Monday.

Food prices next year are expected to increase 2.5% to 3.5%, compared with 2011’s projected 3%-to-4% gain. Still, the cost of food at supermarkets and restaurants will remain “slightly” above the long-term historical average of the past two decades, the USDA food-price forecasters said.

“Price levels in 2012 will hinge significantly on weather conditions in the American Midwest during the remainder of July and into August and September 2011,” USDA food economist Ephraim Leibtag said in the report.

“Because current USDA forecasts are based on a normal weather scenario, sustained heat or drought conditions resulting in reduced supplies and intensified inflationary pressure would result in revised USDA forecasts,” Leibtag added.

[READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE]

   I sure am glad we're all focusing on the Federal budget and the economy!

People Are Literally Dying To Not Pay High Power Bills

Massive heat wave spreads across United States
By Barbara Goldberg
NEW YORK, July 21 | Thu Jul 21, 2011 2:25pm EDT

(Reuters) - Crowds flocked to waterfronts and swimming pools on the U.S. East Coast and in the Midwest on Thursday to try to cope with a massive heat wave that has killed at least 22 people this week.

The National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings for wide areas of the central and eastern United States, saying the combined heat and humidity could push the "real feel" temperature to 115 Fahrenheit (46 Celsius) through Saturday.

By Thursday afternoon in New York City, the thermometer hit 91F (33C) but it felt more like 112F (44C), according to AccuWeather.com.

With the promise of refreshing ocean breezes, Boston's whale-watching ships and high-speed tourist boats sold out their trips by mid-morning.

Cooling centers in Richmond, Virginia, and New York City welcomed overheated residents and a truck labeled "Water Fountain on the Go" cruised Manhattan streets, offering to refill water bottles to keep residents hydrated.

Electricity utility Con Edison (ED.N) said scattered outages were likely in New York in coming days with demand expected to hit all-time highs.

Unhealthy smog levels triggered by the heat were reported in Chicago, where residents were asked by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to reduce polluting activities such as idling vehicles and mowing lawns.

By the weekend, the heat wave is expected to cover half of the United States and affect nearly half of its 310 million people, AccuWeather.com forecaster Mary Yoon said.

"What makes this heat wave so impressive is the pure size and longevity," said Yoon.

'DANGEROUS HEALTH RISK'

Longstanding records in Philadelphia and other cities may melt away by Friday, when temperatures are expected to spike. The low pressure system that barreled east was expected to bring powerful thunderstorms with hail to northeastern states.

"Do not take this threat lightly," the National Weather Service warned on its website, noting the extreme temperatures are particularly dangerous for the elderly and the very young.

"The length of this heat wave will pose a very real and dangerous health risk to these at-risk groups and those that do not have access to air conditioning."

In the central United States, where the high temperatures have killed nearly two dozen people, more deaths were tied to the heat.

An elderly woman whose body was found in her bedroom in St. Louis, where a working air conditioner had not been turned on despite 99F (37C) temperatures, was determined on Wednesday to have died of heat stroke.

Similar causes of death were reported on Thursday in Kansas City, Missouri, where a woman in her early 80s died, and in Hutchinson, Kansas, where three elderly people were found dead in separate homes on Wednesday.

Of the people who died in Hutchinson, one had a ceiling fan and another, a 76-year-old man, had an air conditioner.

"He had an air-conditioning unit in the window but didn't use it because he didn't want to pay the electric bill," said Hutchinson Police Sergeant Thad Pickard. (Additional reporting by Bruce Olson, Lauren Keiper, Kevin Murphy, Karin Matz and Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Jerry Norton and John O'Callaghan)

[READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE]

It's Time To Shut Up And Do Something

   Our garden is about two months behind last year, which was a horrible growing season. Yesterday I was able to hang the laundry outside for the first time this year -- that's about two months behind the norm. It's not just the Puget Sound. While in Nebraska, every time I commented on how beautiful it was (it really is) I was told how wet and cold it had been and generations of folks would say, "It's never this green this time of year".

   There are tornadoes in Arizona, the Missouri River is experiencing record flooding, and the entire state of Texas has been declared a disaster area due to drought and wildfires. Oceans are rising. It seems pretty obvious that Ma Nature is not cooperating with human "business as usual".

   People in Canada and Australia are concerned about what we need to do about it. It was only a few years ago that the majority of Americans believed that climate change was an important issue that needed to be addressed. Then two things happened: the economy took a dive and a democrat was elected President. This is important because climatologists still insist that we need to address the causes of climate change immediately, if it's not already too late. But a handful of people have decided to use the issue to further polarize political parties and now the number of climate change deniers is going up.

   This is insane and I don't understand the reasoning.

   Okay, so a few strange weather occurrences does not necessarily mean anything. I get that and if that's what we were talking about, that'd be one thing. But we aren't. We're talking about a growing body of evidence and a majority of scientists who agree that climate change is happening and we are responsible.

   "We can't afford to do anything about it right now". The economy is in the toilet, sure, but who is going to be glad we focused on that when millions of people start getting displaced, we can't grow food, and drinking water is scarce? It's as if people don't understand we are talking about losing our basic necessities: food and shelter. We are talking about a world that can not longer sustain not just us, but the plants and animals that we rely on. I really want my 401k to take care of me when I retire, but if it's a choice between that or food, I'll find a way to make ends meet.

   I read somewhere someone called climate change a hoax and suggested that it was some kind of liberal plot to make people spend money. First of all, if you want plots, turn to the advertising companies. Marketers have gotten us all to spend so much money on crap -- much of which is bad for us -- I can't understand where anyone has the energy to spend on a conspiracy theory around climate change. Second, these are the same people bitching about the economy. Guess what? Investing in new energy sources CREATES JOBS. We should be creating new jobs in solar, wind, and hydro manufacturing and installation and putting people back to work! Why is anybody against these new jobs?

   If we really buckle down and try to deal with this problem the worst case scenario is this: the economy gets a shot in the arm with new jobs, we create cleaner energy, the air and water are cleaner, we all become a little more responsible, our children have better lives, and it was all for nothing -- either it really is too late and we can't change it, or it was all just a myth.

   Here's the other worst case scenario: droughts, floods, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and rising sea levels displace the majority of the world's population over the next decades, our agriculture and natural resources are wiped out, and you, me, and our children become part of the sharpest population decline in human history.

   Do we have our priorities straight?


   Further reading:

http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/16495

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/jul/08/lets-change-our-ways-before-its-too-late/

http://www.earth-policy.org/images/uploads/book_files/pb4book.pdf

Garden Notes, May 23rd, 2011

   The weather has, thus far, not shown any improvement over last year. The good news is that several peas have started coming up and are doing very well. Three of the four artichokes survived the winter and are thriving. The strawberries also came through and already have several buds flowering. The onions are slowly making an appearance, though I had not anticipated how quickly the artichokes would grown to overshadow the area the onions were planted. The radishes, of course, are doing great.

   We had some squash coming up and looking good, but they all disappeared over night. We don’t know if it was slugs, birds, or wild bunnies, but something ate them. I still haven’t seen any birds get near the garden. After the squash disappeared we put out a perimeter of slug killer. I’m going to have to seek out ideas for the bunnies. Maybe traps? I’m not sure...

   Our indoor gardening has taken a tragic turn as well. We have had a few nice days over the past couple weeks and, in an effort to harden the tomato and pepper starts I put them outside a couple times. They did great the first time, but the second time outside withered them pretty badly. I’m not sure if they’re going to recover and my wife is even less optimistic.

   Today or tomorrow we will be planting some more seeds. Even if the tomato and pepper sprouts do pull through, they are so far behind this late in the season I think we will have to buy some plants if we want to have any tomatoes or peppers this year.

Weekend Update

   Tonight brings to an end a three-night weekend, something of an event of late. The weather wasn't as great as forecast, but this afternoon was beautiful. Our backpacking tent which was washed a couple weeks ago finally got the seams sealed and treated with Nikwax Solarproof. After last week's trip to Mt. Rainier we are talking about a camping trip with day hikes around the Longmire/Paradise area. Since the weather is looking like that won't be in the cards this month I am hoping to put together a backpacking excursion to Upper Lena Lake in the Olympic National Park before we hit Mt. Rainier.

   While waiting for the weather to improve we did some laundry, dishes, picked up the wife's serger from the shop, and backed-up the wife's desktop.We are now ready to start consolidating some hardware, moving some furniture, and making room to create a new sewing/craft space in the living room.

   The pepper and tomato sprouts are doing great inside. Unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating to move them outside yet. We picked up peat pots and some organic soil for the bigger plants, but have yet to transplant them. 

   I was able to erect the tee-pee trellis for the peas that are starting to come up in the garden, sweep the driveway, do some edging, seed the bare spots in the lawn, fill in some of the larger chicken divots in the lawn, and do a little rough mowing (I'm saving the real mowing for when the grass gets too tall for the chickens).

   Speaking of chickens, the neighbor's dog was inside this afternoon, so we were able to let the girls free-range for a while today. I tipped up some pallets where the firewood was stacked and it was all-you-can eat-buffet.

   For dinner tonight the wife made dough while I picked a couple cups of fresh oregano that is still going strong from last year's garden and we had homemade pizza.

   Yum!

General Update

   Here's what's up in our world:

   The wife's serger is still in the shop. Turns out it needs a needle plate (?), so that's going to take another 7-10 days. Bummer. It's just as well as the sewing table probably won't be here for another couple weeks (being delivered by mother-in-law from Oregon) and we're not making speedy progress in getting the computer backed up that is currently on the desk where the sewing table will go. We need to get on that.

   The outdoor seeds have not sprouted. The weather is continuing to dip 5-10 degrees below normal every night and sunshine is still sparse. It's almost May! C'mon, spring! The indoor seeds are doing well -- all but the wonderberry and marmande tomatoes. I have replanted marmande seeds (again). Hopefully the weather will warm up before the tomatoes and peppers get too big!

   The CDs we hung around the garden seem to be doing an excellent job. I've seen the crows several times but have yet to see a bird in our front yard.

   The chickens were moved this afternoon from the side yard to the backyard. The backyard still has spots that haven't fully recovered, but we'll try to keep the chicken tractor away from those areas this round. The side yard is not flat and the neighbors have a new puppy that makes us (and the chickens) a little nervous, so it's nice to get them out of there.

   I am just waiting for one sunny day to take the tent and backpacks outside and treat them with UV/waterproof spray. If I can make time and the weather cooperates Monday or Tuesday, perhaps the family and I will take a drive and possibly do a day hike up around Mt. Rainier. Here's hoping!

   Tomorrow I plan to make the final payment and close the account on a loan I've been nursing for 16 years! I'm not proud to have has this debt for so long, but I am thrilled to be putting it behind me. It's amazing how easy it is to pay things off when there are less of them to pay each month!

More Pictures!

   While putting up today's pictures I came across some pictures I had uploaded earlier and never got around to posting. Just got sidetracked...

   Let's see... up first, our clothes dryer:

 

   ...we have an electric clothes dryer, but we only use it for towels and sometimes sheets and blankets. During the summer we can hang clothes to dry outside on the line, but most of the year we use this method. The downside is that we can't really do more than two loads a day, but that means we tend to pace ourselves, do just one load every day or two days, and we don't use a ton of water on any one day. The upside, though, is that our clothes don't wear out as fast and our electric bill is considerably lower. 

   It's not a bad system, in all. We run a dehumidifier regularly anyway. The dehumidifier uses a lot less electricity than the clothes dryer and we are able to use the water it collects for things like dishes or the next load of laundry. We also heat with the wood stove. In order to move the heat around the house we have one fan behind the wood stove and a box fan on the hall floor (as seen in the first picture above). The fan behind the stove moves warm air around the living room while the box fan pushes cold air from the back rooms into the living room. The warm air from the living room is displaced to the back rooms. We run the dehumidifier at night while we're asleep because it does make some noise.

   We hang shirts and pants on the door frames in the hall way and hang the rest on racks in the living room directly downwind of the hall. The whole set-up creates an airflow through the house that dries a couple loads of wash overnight. 

   What else did I find?...

 

   ...some pictures from one of this winter's snowfalls...

   ...and some pictures from the last harvest of the past fall.

Crazy Weather

   After a long stint of cold, rain, and snow, today the sun came out. The mercury not only got up to 40, it hit 46!

   Blue skies and sun, followed by rain and 17-26 mph winds, followed by sun and rain, followed by overcast and more wind. At present it's partly cloudy with a mild wind, but the sky is still brighter than it's been in over a month.

   The wind has been bad enough that we are fortunate to be one of the homes that still have power. Of course, today is garbage and recycling pick-up, so there is trash mixed in with downed tree limbs scattered everywhere.

   Last week we had another uncharacteristic amount of snow and freezing conditions that affected areas all over the Puget Sound.

   all in all I have to admit, it is nice to see the sun again.