'Bushfires' or 'wildfires' they are evidence of global warming

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he consequences of global warming are many, not the least being bushfires, or “wildfires” as Americans call them.

And in the U.D. the west part of the country, according to ClimateProgress “is literally on fire”.

It reports: “As expected, the 2015 wildfire season has meant more bad news for drought-stricken Western states. As of June 30, 45 wildfires large active wildfires burned from Alaska down to Arizona and as far west as Colorado.

“Wildfires in Southern California had driven thousands from their homes, while fires in Alaska have burned more than one million acres this year.”

Read the ClimateProgress story - “The West Is Literally On Fire, And The Impacts Could Be Widespread”.

We listen, only when it is something we want to hear, and agree with

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eople only ever hear what they want to hear, even if it is wrong.

We all live in echo chambers and so hear largely only our own thoughts bouncing back from the news sources we access, the people we pay attention to and those we socialise with.

And so the latest move from the Republicans in the U.S. will win wide support as it simply reinforces the view that so many people hold; views that are founded on both inadequate and incomplete information.

For decades now environmentalist in the U.S. and elsewhere have challenged decisions to protect what they value, but at the same time threaten the status quo and so disturb the lives of many.

Rain clearly results from changes in the climate and as human activity has impacted on the world’s climate system causing rain to fall with vigour, and excessively in some places and yet result in drought in others.

As the actions of environmentalists has stopped the creation of dams in some parts of California for good ecological reasons, the Republicans blame the state’s present drought on the actions of environmentalists, ignoring the fact that because of a disrupted climate system, rainfall has been way below average.

Undeterred by scientific fact, ClimateProgress reports that, “Republicans Introduce Bill Based OnThe Idea That Environmentalists Caused California’s Drought”.

Cutting carbon pollution saves money, makes people healthier

Pursuing climate mitigation policies might appear costly, but they are not and they actually make the world a better place to be.

Climate Progress considers this from a health point of view and writes about in a story headed: “Cutting Carbon Pollution Saves More Money Than It Costs By Making People Healthier”.

Beyond making people healthier, cutting carbon pollution also makes people happier and those in a better frame of mind are also more productive, better citizens and simply better people to be about.

The spin-off from cutting carbon pollution is manifest and answers most every aim of those who prefer” business-as-usual”, a paradigm that will ensure catastrophic climate change, along with a serious decline in individual and societal health.

The evidence of climate change is everywhere and yet we have done nought

Joe Romm.

The urgent need to respond to our changing climate is evident everywhere and yet in terms of effective preparation we have done nought.

Writing on Climate Progess Joe Romm quotes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that says: “Starvation, poverty, flooding, heat waves, droughts, war and disease (are) likely to worsen as the world warms from man-made climate change”.

In a story headed: “IPCC: climate impacts ‘Are very evident, they’re widespread’ and ‘We are not prepared’”.

He concludes by saying: “The time to act is now”.

Punishing U.S mid-winter drought threatens drinking water supplies

Winter drought in the
U.S. mid-west threatens
drinking water supplies.

It’s mid-winter in America and a punishing drought in California is threatening that state’s water supply.

A February 1 story in the New York Times headed: “Severe drought has U.S. west fearing the worst”, tells readers that the state’s drinking water appears rather vulnerable.

The Times said: “With no sign of rain, 17 rural communities providing water to 40,000 people are in danger of running out within 60 to 120 days”.

In a perverse and inexplicable contradiction a story on the Climate Progress website tells us: “24 House Republicans just voted to deny the reality of climate change”.

Climate change threatens sports, including the Tour de France

Sports of every variety could suffer through the complications and implications of climate change.

Writing on Climate Progress, Katie Valentine argued in her story “Climate change could make the Tour de France a lot hotter” that the changing climate could have a far worse impact on the famous race than even doping did.

She explained how the sport depended upon having usable and passable roads and the conditions from the mountain passes to the streets of Paris, had to be acceptable for spectators.

Without those two conditions the tour cannot be both sufficiently challenging and commercially successful, she wrote.

This year’s tour, which has about a week left to run, is the 100^th staging of the famous race, but because of the changing climate, its future does not look promising.