Climate Lynx

Earlier in out climate columns I wrote about scientific “giants”. I wrote about John Tyndall, Milutin Milankovich, Svante Arrhenius, and I included a woman, Eunice Foote. Had our society respected and encouraged the scientific work of women and given women the same opportunities she would, possibly, have been included in the world’s rankings, not just mine. I missed one giant, and it is an embarrassment to me that I overlooked him. He sits at the top with few equals.   His name is Alexander von Humboldt. Unfortunately, recent history (and I) overlooked him until a talented author, Andrea Wulf, resurrected his life and brilliance in her highly acclaimed book, “ The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World”. * Born in 1769 in the Kingdom of Prussia, he became the world’s premier naturalist. He lived to 89.   In a 100-year celebration of his birth in 1869, eleven years after his passing, international celebrations were launched to recognize his contribution ...

Often, when we talk about saving the earth’s climate we talk about the number one problem, the need to switch energy sources from polluting and archaic fossil fuels to modern clean energy sources. More so, I enjoy reading and learning about the second simultaneous step we need to take to save the climate. Some of the Carbon Dioxide must be removed from the air and stored. Scientists use the terms Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), or Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) to describe this. When carbon is captured it must be used or safely put somewhere. Today it is pumped back into the earth into old mines or oil fields. These mines and oil fields are called “sinks”. Mother Nature has a lot of natural sinks. For instance, I am sitting in my favorite rocking chair listening to music. My chair and my speakers are made of wood. Alive, or dead, a tree and its commercial product timber, are natural carbon sinks. In fact, any plant is a carbon sink. Far and away the best carbon sink...

  My very short BIO: Ten miles & 1,500 vertical feet of melted Columbia Glacier is why I became a climate activist. A Helicopter Pilot brings his story. End bio of greyson morrow Ever thought, this is IMPORTANT and I better find an expert(s)?   Might as well find the best. After the shock of seeing this much ice melt in one career I spent 7 years researching reputable science organizations and travelling to listen to the best climate scientists, taking climate courses, and assembling mountains of science magazines. You may not want to devote yourself to 7 years of research. The good news is there are short cuts. Our US National Academies of Science and the Royal Society of the UK put together a one-minute video that will save you 7 years minus one minute of time. If you watch it twice, it is still a fairly good deal. Build confidence in your climate wisdom:          https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/climate-chan...

  The American Association for the Advancement of  Science (AAAS) was founded in 1848 and is the largest general science organization in the world. It promotes science and, in the recent anti-science years, has focused on defending scientists. Its world-renowned “Science” magazine is distributed to its 120,000 members, of which, I am a proud member. You can be too. https://www.aaas.org/ Here is the first paragraph of the multinational science organization climate statement issued in 2001: T he work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) represents the consensus of the international scientific community on climate change science. We recognize the IPCC as the world's most reliable source of information on climate change and its causes, and we endorse its method of achieving this consensus. Despite increasing consensus on the science underpinning predictions of global climate change, doubts have been expressed recently about the need to mitigate the risks po...

  Heavy Weather https://www.ametsoc.org/AMS/ The American Meteorological Society is our premier scientific and professional US meteorological organization. When I did my climate research seven years ago, I devoted many days to learning more about meteorology. Eventually, any inquisitive weather soul will knock on the doors of the AMS for their professional opinion.   Unsurprisingly, they had strong words warning us about rapid climate change years ago. Today, retracing my steps, I discovered the AMS 30 th “State of the Climate 2019.” If you access the website, you can read what professionals have to say. For me, the report was sobering.   Every aspect of rapid global warming and climate change has grown worse. It was if I was hit by psychological heavy weather, a deep cyclonic low.   It is depressing for me to know, so far, we have failed to meet the challenge. Lucky for us and for our kids we have solutions. Because there are so many solutions, I retain ...

              American Institute of Biological Sciences Despite what we hear from the Trump Administration, there is no confusion in the scientific community about our role in the destruction of the earth’s climate. This post follows similar climate consensus posts I have made referencing the US National Academies of Science, the UK’s Royal Society, and our American Meteorological Society. This one is the American Institute of Biological Sciences which represents 5,000 biologists and 200 professional societies for a combined representation of 250,000 professionals.   www.aibs.org . Here is the 2009 position paper submitted to the US Senate and one of the clinchers motivating me to become a climate activist seven years ago: “Dear Senator: As you consider climate change legislation, we, as leaders of scientific organizations, write to state the consensus scientific view. Observations throughout the world make it cle...

  The independent US science agency, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, more commonly known as NASA, is deeply involved in both understanding the finer details of rapid climate change but also educating us in the long-understood basics the global warming we are experiencing now.   https://climate.nasa.gov/   I highly recommend its expansive and visually pleasing website. Over my seven-year span of climate research, one of the most interesting areas of study was the Earth Observing Systems (Satellites). Studying these systems gives one an appreciation of how brilliant our scientists are. The one I found most interesting was the GRACE Satellite missions. Simply search GRACE Satellite and you can find plenty of astonishing information to entertain yourself. lynxforclimate.blogspot.org

  My very short BIO: Ten miles & 1,500 vertical feet of melted Columbia Glacier is why I became a climate activist. A Helicopter Pilot brings his story. End bio of greyson morrow Ever thought, this is IMPORTANT and I better find an expert(s)?   Might as well find the best. After the shock of seeing this much ice melt in one career I spent 7 years researching reputable science organizations and travelling to listen to the best climate scientists, taking climate courses, and assembling mountains of science magazines.  You may not want to devote yourself to 7 years of research. The good news is there are short cuts. Our US National Academies of Science and the Royal Society of the UK put together a one-minute video that will save you 7 years minus one minute of time. If you watch it twice, it is still a fairly good deal. Build confidence in your climate wisdom:          https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/climat...

  Heavy Weather https://www.ametsoc.org/AMS/ The American Meteorological Society is our premier scientific and professional US meteorological organization. When I did my climate research seven years ago, I devoted many days to learning more about meteorology. Eventually, any inquisitive weather soul will knock on the doors of the AMS for their professional opinion.   Unsurprisingly, they had strong words warning us about rapid climate change years ago. Today, retracing my steps, I discovered the AMS 30 th “State of the Climate 2019.” If you access the website, you can read what professionals have to say. For me, the report was sobering.   Every aspect of rapid global warming and climate change has grown worse. It was if I was hit by psychological heavy weather, a deep cyclonic low.   It is depressing for me to know, so far, we have failed to meet the challenge. Lucky for us and for our kids we have solutions. Because there are so many solutions, I retain ho...

  American Institute of Biological Sciences Despite what we hear from the Trump Administration, there is no confusion in the scientific community about our role in the destruction of the earth’s climate. This post follows similar climate consensus posts I have made referencing the US National Academies of Science, the UK’s Royal Society, and our American Meteorological Society. This one is the American Institute of Biological Sciences which represents 5,000 biologists and 200 professional societies for a combined representation of 250,000 professionals.   www.aibs.org . Here is the 2009 position paper submitted to the US Senate and one of the clinchers motivating me to become a climate activist seven years ago: “Dear Senator: As you consider climate change legislation, we, as leaders of scientific organizations, write to state the consensus scientific view. Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific resear...

Do you remember your first heartfelt loss? For me it was when my best buddy, our family dog Beven, died. He ran out, yelped, and fell over dead. Last year, without doing any prior research, I went to Ashland to listen to retired Climate Scientist, Guy McPherson. Because I failed to do any research, I did not know that the professor is the same man who told Bill Nye the science guy, on a National Geographic program, that he felt most of our species would be dead by 2030. He is back out lecturing with a revised drop-dead date of 2025.   I was feeling a bit like I did when my buddy Beven keeled over. I know enough not to buckle with each new bit of information but, just the same, when someone puts forth research and an opinion like Professor McPherson, it’s depressing. My climate dog looked dead. Eventually, I called a knowledgeable Environmental Professor. She said, “Hey, out of 30,000 climate scientists, he is one of about nine doomsayers.” This cheered me, my dog, Climate, ...

    My BIO: Ten miles & 1,500 vertical feet of melted Columbia Glacier is why I became a climate activist. A Helicopter Pilot brings his story. End bio of greyson morrow Ever thought, this is IMPORTANT and I better find an expert(s)?  H After the shock of seeing this much ice melt in one career I spent 7 years researching reputable science organizations and travelling to listen to the best climate scientists, taking climate courses, and assembling mountains of science magazines. You may not want to devote yourself to 7 years of research. The good news is there are short cuts. Our US National Academies of Science and the Royal Society of the UK put together a one-minute video that will save you 7 years minus one minute of time. If you watch it twice, it is still a fairly good deal. Build confidence in your climate wisdom:          https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/climate-change-evidence-causes/ Note: Th...

Ever wonder why 30,000 climate scientists are nervous? Ever wonder what a “positive” feedback is? Scientists, in their efforts to figure things out, are pretty much slaves to math terminology. They use math terms to describe actions and reactions. Rarely, do they consider how the public will interpret their work, or how their work can be maliciously twisted. We know, well beyond a doubt, that the earth is heating. We also know that this is primarily the result of us burning coal, oil, and gas. More than 97% of climate scientists are confident the earth is warming for these reasons. What they focus on today is how various factors of nature will either make things worse or will buy us time to fix how we source our energy.   Oceans, snow pack, arctic ice, tundra, forests, and even the soil itself are all suspect and under the microscope for these examinations. Scientists, when examining these factors make assumptions. If their observations agree with their assumptions, then ...