Higgs Boson

The Higgs Boson. What is it? Does it really exist? and what is happening at the Large Hadron Collider? Want more details? See Understanding What's Up With the Higgs Boson at the Large Hadron Collider from Science Daily. What does this have to do with climate change? Maybe a lot, maybe not much, but for sure something, if only in terms of long term solutions.

600 Mile Flooding Hotspot along East Coast

And if you live along the coast near where I live, you are in the Hotspot. This issue is a combination of rising sea levels and changing ocean currents.

For details, see New Jersey dot com 
And National Geographic

Wind Turbines Can Be Beautiful

New concept, but certainly very eye opening, are the winning photos from a new Wind Turbine photography contest REV/MODO.com:

"Who knew wind turbines could be so beautiful? With the right eye, these tall workhorses look more like pieces of art than components of renewable energy technology. The Global Wind Day “Wind in Mind” photo competition was launched in May 2012 by the European Wind Energy Association and over 50 partner organizations. They received a startling 2,300 entries, but the competition jury–made up of professional photographers and art directors–managed to pick six winners based on geographic location." (see top link for the 5 winning photos)

Antarctica - history, science and cooperation

 Antarctic Glacier Calving, 2007 - photo by Bill Fintel

As recently as 100 million years ago when Antarctica was at the South Pole, it was a swamp with dinosaurs. At that time, earth's biological and geological processes were involved in consuming huge quantities of atmospheric CO2, and slowly converting them to coal, oil and natural gas. Since the start of the industrial revolution, we humans have been reversing that conversion at an incredible rate. That is just some of what is presented in the engrossing article, The Great Thaw, by Gabrielle Walker in the NY Times Opinion Pages.

Another significant point the author makes is the level of cooperation that currently takes place in Antarctica: "Today Antarctica is officially shared. The Antarctic Treaty System, signed by all of the 49 countries that have a presence there, proclaims the continent a scientific preserve and bans military activity.......On the ice, old enmities mean little. Russians side with South Koreans, British with Argentines. Faced with the dangers of a hostile land, what matters most is that you are human."

It is a long article, but written in a very engaging and informative manner.

A 21 Step Path to less than 2 deg C Temp Rise

Bald Eagle, Alaska, June 2012 by Bill Fintel

Link is to a recent post on Ezra Klein's WONKBLOG on the Washington Post. What I like best about this post is that it concludes just what I have concluded all along: there have to be many solutions to avert severe global warming. And I especially like Ezra's love of graphs for conveying a message.

I have been very guilty burning airline fuel to get to/and from Alaska lately, so one way to compensate will be for me to post more often on this blog, and with many more good ideas from everyone.