Category Archives: Climate Change

September 7, 2024 · 23:17

21% Illuminated

Five days past new Moon, 401,500 kilometers away, give or take.

It was just setting, about an hour after sunset. It was still 101°F degrees out after a high of 109°F.

When I was at parent’s orientation for my daughter’s move-in day at UC Davis, they taught us a phrase they use. “One hundred and stupid.” Yeah, we’re there.

My hope is that anyone stupid enough to not recognize that climate change is happening and the planet is warming up to dangerous levels far faster than we ever thought it could will also be stupid enough to not take precautions and will become a Darwin Award nominee sooner rather than later. Good riddance, and then the rest of us can try to do a course correction, or at least try to mitigate the worst of the consequences.

The Moon, 21% illuminated tonight, had the other 79% lit up by “Earthshine,” the reflected sunlight hitting the Moon after bouncing off the Earth. If anyone was living on the Moon, or if anyone had probes or robots sitting there watching us, would they see the Earthshine getting brighter over time as we heat up, more water evaporates, and more clouds form? Would they know what we’re doing to ourselves?

Would they care?

 

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Filed under Astronomy, Climate Change

February 10, 2023 · 23:24

Barren Bush

In addition to the big tree in the back yard that’s lost about 99% of its leaves (and in my possibly flawed memory is usually like maybe 70% to 75%), there’s a bougainvillea bush there that’s also lost about 99% of its leaves this year, when I don’t remember that happening in any of the four previous winters we’ve been here.

My first concern was that there might be some sort of disease in common or contaminant in the soil that might be killing both, but after a moment’s thought I think that a much better explanation might be the lack of water this year as we went through significant watering restrictions due to the drought.

That’s the BIG change between the previous four years and this one. While we had a significant amount of rain in December and January, the six months prior to that were hot and very dry, with only about a third of the irrigation watering allowed. I can see how that would leave these plants suffering and showing the effects now that they’re having trouble hanging onto their leaves when it gets cooler and windy and stormy. Let’s hope the recent rain lets them come back now that the days are getting longer again.

At least if it dies, the bougainvillea is unlikely to tip over in a Santa Ana wind event and crush the house!

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Filed under Climate Change, Photography, Weather

August 10, 2022 · 22:14

Thriving Out Of Spite

With the five-year drought now putting SoCal (and pretty much everything west of the Rockies) on severe water restrictions, the front yard is looking dodgy and brown.

And yet…

Our hero abides. It doesn’t bloom all the time, but every week or two it will pop off another flower just to either:

  1. Flip off the human race for completely screwing up the planet
  2. Give the human race (at least, this member) a shot of inspiration
  3. Both of the above

Hang in there little white weed flower. I might be needing you there more than you can imagine, and that’s only going to get more true by the day I suspect.

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Filed under Climate Change, Flowers, Photography