Catching Up With The Weather

A chunk of glacier broke off of Greenland. Not definitevly a sign of climate change, but taken together with other phenomena, well you get the picture.

What other When Climate Attacks episodes are we seeing? Well, Russia is on fire. Yeah, all of it. Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but Russia is enduring its worst heat wave in over a millennia. Massive, nasty wildflires are scorching thousands of acres, choking Moscow and other cities with thick smoke. And estimates are that 15,000 may have died already from pollution and heat exhaustion, along with fire-related casusalties.

Hold that for a second. repeat after me, "Fifteen thousand people." Global climate change seems a tad more tangible when you think of the body count of just this one heat wave.

At this rate, the Russian heat blast may eclipse the 2003 European heat wave as the most deadly heat wave in human history.

Aside from the human, natural and financial disaster, the heat wave is a political disaster for the Russian government and may be wilting the Russians' opposition to climate change action. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who may be the most manly head of state ever, has been very visible, in  attempts to show that the government is taking action. Today, former KGB officer was shown by state television in the cockpit of a firefighting plane dropping water on a wildfire.

Can you imagine President Obama getting out on one of the firefighting boats fighting the fire on the Deepwater Horizon? BTW, I'm not saying he couldn't, but the contrast shows how serious Putin is taking the political crisis, and showing a very macho approach to the photo op.

Quite a different climate phenomenon over on my side of the world, the Seattle area has been socked in by marine clouds, leading to unprecedented levels of whining. The Pacific Ocean phenomenon is causing unusually cool, cloudy weather up and down the West Coast. Here in the Puget Sound Region, our summer has been nonexistent. While the typical August day here sees about 1.6 hours of cloud cover, of late we've been getting 9 fricking hours!

Still, a whole lot more forgiving weather situation than Russia is experiencing.

Summer Reading

I have never heard of this author or this series, but good God, it sounds so corn-doggedly bad, that it must be good.

All you may need to know about Jonathan’s latest adventure, “Rules of Betrayal,” is that it puts him on the receiving end of this: “I will ask you one more time, and then I will feed your eye to the horse.” 

Now come on, do horses really eat eyeballs?! I think of all the times I've ridden horses, never knowing those sick bastards were drooling over my languidly beautiful brown eyes.

Not a Record To Be Proud Of

Largest oil spill ever into the ocean. Official word came today that the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster released more oil into the marine environment than any other oil gusher ever.

Nearly five million barrels of oil have gushed from BP’s well — and about 800,000 have been captured by containment efforts —since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, according to the latest data. That amount outstrips the estimated 3.3 million barrels spilled into the Bay of Campeche by the Mexican rig Ixtoc I in 1979, previously believed to be the world’s largest accidental release.

I don't want to minimize the ecological damage that has occurred and will continue to occur for untold decades, nor the tragic loss of human life, nor the economic havoc wreaked on individuals, businesses and a region's economy, so I hope this doesn't sound like I'm glossing over the real world impact. But one of the most disturbing aspects of this disaster to me, is the apparent lack of substantive political impact.

In the dawn of the modern environmental movement - the late 1960s and early 1970s - much smaller, single disasters catalyzed political reactions that resulted in watershed environmental laws like the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Act, and others. The Cuyahoga River bursting into flames shocked the nation (even though it and other rivers in industrial areas routinely "lit up" due to pollution), the Santa Barbara oil spill jolted the nation awake to the possibility of oil fouling the beaches and marine areas we loved.

But now...now, it seems that we are immune to environmental shock, inured by decades of pollution events here and around the world. While there is outrage about BP's actions and malfeasance in the Gulf and the damage done, I don't detect a groundswell of real world action to address the "problem," or prevent something similar from happening. We'll be lucky if the government can keep a moratorium on the few deepwater rigs in the Gulf to ensure they've oiled their BOPs properly.

Of course, the problem is not just public consciousness, but a political system that, bad as it was in the 1970s, has been commandeered by Big Oil and other special interests.

As bad as this has been, and will continue to be for many, many years, the agenda is still Drill Baby, Drill.

I'm scared to think what magnitude environmental disaster would be needed to shock the system into action...

Puget Sound's Acid Test

You've heard of ocean acidification - the pH drop in our oceans caused by the uptake of all that carbon we're pumping into the atmosphere.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, producing dilute acids that raise the water's corrosiveness. As seawater becomes more corrosive, it can essentially dissolve the shells of small crustaceans, shellfish larvae and other tiny creatures at the base of the food chain

Marine scientists have now begun looking at the effect of acidification in an urbanized estuary, i.e. Puget Sound. After all, the Sound is subject to the same atmospheric carbon that's turning the Pacific Ocean's acidity up. The Sound, however, gets a double whammy. Not only is there the effect of uptake, but the Sound receives water flow from the Pacific Ocean. Whatever acidity problems the Pacific has, the Sound gets as well. The study found that ocean input was a significant contributor to Puget Sound acidification. A quarter to half of the decline in pH in the deep waters of the Hood Canal basin are attributed to the water flushed in to the Sound.

Sounders Win in San Jose

Sounders played about as good an opening 25 minutes as I can remember and leave San Jose with another 3 points and a promotion to 4th place in the Western Conference. Fredy Montero's headed goal was enough for the win, but there was a lot to like in this 1-0 win (and good for the mythical 2010 Heritage Cup).

Sanna Nyassi continues on a tear. His runs behind the defense, and excellent crosses into the box were a constant nightmare for SJ defenders. It's a surprise he only ended the game with the one assist. Sanna and Stevie Z on the flanks give us great speed and balance outside.

Ozzie was key as well. His return to fitness is a huge boost for the defense; it's no coincidence that his form and the defensive record move in tandem.

And Blaise Nkufo. Again, he didn't score (though came very close, twice) but he does so much off the ball - his move in the box opened up the soft center for Montero to exploit for the score - and is so good at holding the ball and allowing the attack to evolve, he has changed the landscape of Soundersville.

New DP Alvaro Fernandez got in the game for 15 minutes and certainly looked like an assured and skilled player. I can't wait to see him get more field time.

Also, Nate Sturgis has grown leaps and bounds since early in the season - when he was horrible, and I was all over him. He is moving the ball quickly, he's making intelligent passes, and he does a passable imitation of Ozzie's tiny terrier act.

Good luck in San Salvador boys!

Sounders Back on the 3-Point Schedule

Oh, it was so sweet to walk out of Qwest Field Sunday Night with 3 points for the Sounders dancing around in my head! The team looks so much better without Ljungberg in their line-up. I really think they were suffering from a bad chemistry problem. Hopefully, they can keep the ball rolling and keep winning.