State of the Poles – 9/7/10

The state of global polar sea ice at the beginning of September 2010 is once again very poor compared to climatological conditions (1979-2008). The Arctic ice extent is far, far below average for this time of year.  The Antarctic sea ice extent is above average, but not nearly so much as was the case at the beginning of August.  Unfortunately, global sea ice extent has fallen to ~18 million sq. km., something that has happened in only 2 previous Septembers: in 2007 and 2008.  The Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route are largely free of ice, allowing the Arctic Ocean to potentially be circumnavigated.

Each month and each year that goes by provides additional proof that the Arctic has entered into a new state; a different state than has existed for 1,000 years or more.  Monthly and yearly weather conditions have varied considerably over the past few years, as one would expect, but the end result has been nearly the same regardless of any specific condition: Arctic sea ice is declining year-over-year.  It is declining at a rate that exceeds scientific estimates from just a few years ago.  Climate change deniers keep prattling on about increasing sea ice, in direct contradiction to the physical realities before them.  I think most of the areas that have sea ice this September will not have sea ice by 2020.  Specific weather or geologic events might delay the year that occurs slightly, but I don’t think it will take too much longer to witness an Arctic Ocean that is essentially ice-free.

Shocking News (Not!) – Credit Card Banks Loophole Hunt

Another submission for “Gee, nobody could’ve predicted that!” Dumbass Award appears: credit card banks not only spent millions on high-priced lobbyists to lessen the reach and impact of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, they paid darn good money to find out how to get around the new law.  In news that should surprise absolutely nobody, they found a giant loophole that they’ve already begun to try to exploit.

In a nutshell, they’re marketing what they call “professional” cards to people and small businesses.  These cards are not subject to the new provisions in the recently passed law that was designed to put consumers on a more fair playing field.  Credit card companies, in a bid to maximize profits, instituted fees taxes on users in every way imaginable.  Many of their practices have become predatory and are based on immoral worldviews.

Democrats were in charge of both chambers of Congress and the White House when this bill was passed and signed.  They were responsible for taking care of consumers.  Too many of those Democrats are really CorporateDems, doing the bidding of whatever their corporate masters want, no matter how egregious or absurd.  Too few Democrats fought hard for consumers in an effort to gain concessions from the CorporateDems.  As with other major bills, far too many concessions were made by those pro-consumer Dems.  Now, once again, it is those consumers who will be forced to literally pay for that sad state of affairs.

Record Atmospheric CO2 Concentration in 2010: 392.94ppm

I’ve noticed several queries for record atmospheric CO2 concentrations lately and I hadn’t posted anything on the subject since March.  Since March 2010, two more all-time records were set – one in April and one in May.

As has been the case for years, the yearly maximum value of atmospheric CO2 concentration was reached in May: 392.94ppm.

June’s value edged down from this, but is still the 3rd highest monthly value ever observed: 392.04ppm.

July’s value fell further, but still managed to stay above 390ppm: 390.09ppm.

You can expect these values to fall for another three months or so, then climb back up over the Northern Hemispheric winter and spring next year.

The average monthly value so far for 2010 is 390.99ppm.  This will likely be the last year that the full yearly mean value of atmospheric CO2 is below 390ppm.  The reason is the yearly number has been moving up at just under 2ppm per year in recent years.  2009 saw a mean value of 387.35ppm.  2010 should therefore register somewhere near 389ppm and 2011 should likewise register a value near 391ppm.  Of course, this means that by the middle of this decade, mean yearly CO2 concentrations should pass 400ppm without much hope of coming back below that level for decades.

Remember that leading climatologists have identified 350ppm as a likely target for humanity to aim for if we want to keep Earth’s climate in a state near to what it was during our evolutionary development over the past 100,000+ years.

Tea Party Continues To Show It Doesn’t Truly Care About Government Waste

Or more importantly, climate change.

I read a piece over at Climate Progress entitled, “Ohio Tea Party survey to candidates: “The regulation of Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere should be left to God and not government and I oppose all measures of Cap and Trade as well as the teaching of global warming theory in our schools.”

It was somewhat unsurprising to read that Ohio Teabaggers are sending out emails to candidates’ campaigns asking that they respond to 15 questions so the Teabaggers can judge their worthiness of support.  All of them are batty to one degree or another.  One of the questions reads:

2. The regulation of Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere should be left to God and not government and I oppose all measures of Cap and Trade as well as the teaching of global warming theory in our schools.

and asks for “respondents to give one of the following answers: A = Agree; D = Disagree; U = Undecided; A* = Pro-life with exceptions of Rape or Incest, * = Added comments; NR = No Response”.

This question fails on so many levels, it’s hard to know where to begin or end.  “God” isn’t emitting carbon dioxide into the Earth’s climate system at levels unseen for millenia, people are.  Therefore, citing “God” as the responsible authority to regulate atmospheric CO2 is silly.  Opposing teaching of global warming in schools because they think it’s “only a theory” is similarly absurd.  Why don’t they also demand that gravity be withheld from school curricula, since it’s also “only a theory”.