The weather and shifting climate

[easye]

This is pretty big news....

The USDA’s gardening zones shifted.

apps.npr.org/plant-hardiness-garden-map/

Basically, where plants can grow well is shifting, and could have some big implications on AG and home-gardening.

[herzlos]

May 13, 2024 9:09:51 GMT -5 easye said:

This is pretty big news....

The USDA’s gardening zones shifted.

apps.npr.org/plant-hardiness-garden-map/

Basically, where plants can grow well is shifting, and could have some big implications on AG and home-gardening.

I can see a cool map that's showing places are warmer, but does it mean more than that?

This is presumably acknowledging the climate has shifted enough that plant life has been affected?


At first I thought this was a relaxation on rules about green spaces around houses to allow people to grow something other than lawns but I think most of those are local ordinance or HOAs.

[Peregrine]

May 13, 2024 17:17:28 GMT -5 herzlos said:

This is presumably acknowledging the climate has shifted enough that plant life has been affected?

Correct. The hardiness zones are essentially the severity of winter temperatures as that's what tends to kill plants outside their normal range. What this means is that winters are no longer getting as cold and so plants that would have been killed off over the winter can now expect to survive. This is really, really bad.

[herzlos]

Presumably that also means that plants that need to have a winter are equally screwed? I can only think of Acers which don't germinate unless cold enough for long enough, but I'm assuming it'll apply to others too that are more critical to the ecosystem.

[Haighus]

It will probably have dramatic effects on local ecosystems, yes.

I know the changes to how forest fires are behaving has affected some fire-adapted native species- a lot of the fires are burning hotter than they evolved to deal with (in part due to invasive species that burn too well).

[Peregrine]

May 14, 2024 3:43:37 GMT -5 herzlos said:

Presumably that also means that plants that need to have a winter are equally screwed?

Probably. Hardiness zones don't directly account for plants that have a maximum temperature but we'll probably see some cases where it's too warm for a species. And we're definitely going to see indirect effects like how where I live we just had a warmer than usual winter and it's setting up some major drought problems for the summer. Even though there was still a lot of precipitation it mostly came down as rain and didn't build up the mountain snow that keeps river levels up through the summer.

[easye]

www.npr.org/2024/05/16/1251769080/florida-desantis-climate-change-law

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs a bill that strikes climate change from state law

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Climate change will be a lesser priority in Florida and largely disappear from state statutes under legislation signed Wednesday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that also bans power-generating wind turbines offshore or near the state's lengthy coastline.

Critics said the measure made law by the former Republican presidential hopeful ignores the reality of climate change threats in Florida, including projections of rising seas, extreme heat and flooding and increasingly severe storms.

It takes effect July 1 and would also boost expansion of natural gas, reduce regulation on gas pipelines in the state and increase protections against bans on gas appliances such as stoves, according to a news release from the governor's office.

If you close your eyes, the climate never changes!

[easye]

www.cnn.com/2024/05/20/climate/doomsday-glacier-melt-antarctica-climate-intl/index.html

Ocean water is rushing miles underneath the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ with potentially dire impacts on sea level rise

Ocean water is pushing miles beneath Antarctica’s “Doomsday Glacier,” making it more vulnerable to melting than previously thought, according to new research which used radar data from space to perform an X-ray of the crucial glacier.

As the salty, relatively warm ocean water meets the ice, it’s causing “vigorous melting” underneath the glacier and could mean global sea level rise projections are being underestimated, according to the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica — nicknamed the “Doomsday Glacier” because its collapse could cause catastrophic sea level rise — is the world’s widest glacier and roughly the size of Florida. It’s also Antarctica’s most vulnerable and unstable glacier, in large part because the land on which it sits slopes downward, allowing ocean waters to eat away at its ice.

[herzlos]

That's terrifying.

[easye]

www.npr.org/2024/06/04/nx-s1-4992290/carbon-dioxide-record-high-atmosphere

There is more carbon dioxide than ever in the atmosphere. That’s bad for the climate

The amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere has hit a new record, as humanity struggles to rein in emissions of greenhouse gasses from burning fossil fuels.

The new record comes as tens of millions of people are grappling with extreme weather in the United States. Much of the western U.S. is experiencing the first major heat wave of the year, which is driving temperatures 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than what is normal for June. In the Southwest, temperatures are lingering well above 100 degrees.

Such extreme, prolonged heat is directly related to human-caused climate change, scientists say. All the extra carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere traps heat, and leads to more intense, frequent and persistent heat waves, and other extreme weather such as powerful hurricanes and heavy rain storms.

Oh dear.

[easye]

The planet just saw its hottest day on record

www.cnn.com/2024/07/23/climate/hottest-day-global-record/index.html

Sunday was the hottest day in recorded history, according to preliminary data from a climate tracking agency monitoring temperatures since the mid-1900s.

It’s the second consecutive year average global temperatures have crashed through shocking climate records and will not be the last, as planet-warming fossil fuel pollution drives temperatures to shocking new highs.

July 21 clocked in at 17.09 degrees Celsius, or 62.76 Fahrenheit, and was the hottest day on Earth since at least 1940, according to the preliminary data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Global average temperatures typically peak during the Northern Hemisphere summer, between late June and early August.

I feel like I have posted this story a lot lately.....

[skyth]

I've also listened to a story where the Earth's rotation is slowing due to melting ice and the resulting water being around the equator.

[pacific]

Apologies if it has been covered here already, but this coincides with some 'Just Stop Oil' protesters in the UK were given inordinately long prison sentences for PLANNING (not even carrying out) disruption events, between 5-6 years each for some of them.
This is a longer sentence than violent crime, some rape charges etc.

Now I don't agree with the methods JSO are using (in fact, to the point where if you were some sort of government plant or psyop trying to turn people against their efforts, you would be hard pressed to pick any other activities which would turn people against your cause) but their motivations are good ones.

The whole thing I find utterly sickening - awaiting now the judge's links to fossil fuels or something similar being discovered, as this was undoubtedly done to act as a warning to anyone else classed as an 'eco terrorist'.

[A Town Called Malus]

Jul 25, 2024 10:15:32 GMT -5 pacific said:

Apologies if it has been covered here already, but this coincides with some 'Just Stop Oil' protesters in the UK were given inordinately long prison sentences for PLANNING (not even carrying out) disruption events, between 5-6 years each for some of them.
This is a longer sentence than violent crime, some rape charges etc.

Now I don't agree with the methods JSO are using (in fact, to the point where if you were some sort of government plant or psyop trying to turn people against their efforts, you would be hard pressed to pick any other activities which would turn people against your cause) but their motivations are good ones.

The whole thing I find utterly sickening - awaiting now the judge's links to fossil fuels or something similar being discovered, as this was undoubtedly done to act as a warning to anyone else classed as an 'eco terrorist'.

Abigail Thorn of Philosophy Tube did a good video about protest and violence, focused on climate change protests and how completely ineffectual decades of peaceful protest have been in terms of actually effecting change in policy.

[easye]

Another big year for wildfires in the US and Canada....

Crews battle wildfires across the US West and fight to hold containment lines

www.npr.org/2024/07/28/nx-s1-5055018/california-wildfire-park-fire

The Park Fire was one of more than 100 blazes burning in the U.S. on Sunday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Some were sparked by the weather, with climate change increasing the frequency of lightning strikes as the western U.S. endures blistering heat and bone-dry conditions.

NPR at least is not afraid to just outright blame the increasing fire dangers on Climate Change.