The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme, or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Dear Diary. Parodying Dr. Martin Luthur King, I have a dream today, especially after seeing this note, which you can use to see Andrea Mitchell’s video on the subject:
I have a dream that nations such as Germany won’t be held hostage to nations such as Russia because of natural gas. Yes, the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline project will keep Western Europe dependent on Russia to heat their homes in winter and may very well keep NATO members from wholeheartedly keeping Russia from invading Ukraine. Increasing solar and wind power throughout the West should break their chains of bondage to Mother Russia.
I have a dream that any nation producing oil won’t be able to control energy prices anymore, as did Saudi Arabia in the 1970s via OPEC. Yes, I’m old enough to remember those gas lines in the States. What is needed is a rapid switch to all electric vehicles. Conversely, I have a dream that nations, such as the United States, will not be dredging up excuses to invade oil rich countries like Iraq, as happened in 2003.
I have a dream that people will no longer be dying from cancer due to living close to oil refineries or from mining coal. Let’s make these early 21st century items a thing of the past.
I mention these items without even bringing climate change into the old proverbial equation. If individual countries were to generate power from renewables alone, they would be freed from servitude to fossil fuel generating countries and corporations. Prices of energy would stabilize and probably fall with time.
I have a dream that families and individuals will be generating their own electricity by installing solar panels on their homes, getting freed from the bondage of power companies and natural gas providers.
I have a dream that groundwater will no longer be contaminated by fracking and pipeline spillage due to the need for gas and oil.
Most of all, I have a dream of seeing nature coming back to life in a much greener world because there will be no more mining or drilling for fossil fuels. I also have a dream that containers, once monopolized as being solely one-use plastics, will become biodegradable, and our oceans will become much better off due to that change. Yes, I have a dream that we will treat flora and fauna as part of our family, respecting nature in all of its glory.
Do you have these dreams with me? If so, speak out and act. Do what you can to change your energy profile and avoid one use plastics when possible. Just do it for your health, the health and future of your kids, and that of the planet.
Here are some “ET’s” reported from Wednesday:
Here is some more overseas climatology from January 2022:
Here is more climate and weather news from Wednesday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)
Now here are some of today’s articles and notes on the horrid COVID-19 pandemic:
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Guy Walton “The Climate Guy”