The impasse among the states is pushing Glen Canyon Dam closer to the brink. "Aridification is rendering the dam obsolete, at least as a water storage savings account," @landdesk.bsky.social writes: www.landdesk.org/p/the-colora...
Close up view of the surface of a granitic rock with many black rectangular crystals in a white matrix. A hand points to a crystal to provide scale.
Some remarkable granitic rip-rap on the south breakwater of the entrance to Moss Landing harbor in Monterey Bay. This was a thick layer of black tourmaline.
#geology #california
Heretic! It can only be:
Given that it's inevitable that fossil fuels are replaced at some point, then any delay of any fossil fuel project is beneficial.
California, a hellish place to live.
If policy change is 90% of the solution and personal change is 10% then which should you put the most effort into? Also realizing that demanding personal change can be counter productive with a large segment of the population that doesn't agree and will then oppose policy change.
I feel we're talking past each other. Yes, you can choose not to support these companies, but in reality, the choices you can PERSONALLY make do NOT affect the vast majority of fossil fuel uses and ghg emissions. That is what the blue list tries to convey. The green list is what to do about that.
This is exactly the type of fossil fuel propaganda (that many fall for) I was originally responding to. Yes, in terms of things you can 'personally' do it's one of the biggest. It's just that the basic premise is wrong, individuals are not the main source of ghg, corporations and government are.
Yes, all of that is true, but even if you magically fixed it all tomorrow it wouldn't significantly reduce emissions.
That is not to say a planet without cars wouldn't be a better place, even if remissions weren't a factor. But if you're worried about ghg then cars are not the biggest problem.
Globally, which is what the atmosphere cares about, transportation by road is about 12% of emissions. Cars represent about half of that, so around 6%. So work on that, but don't let it distract you from the other 94%, which is the point I'm trying to make.
But that's the point, emissions due to personal habits are not significant. But focusing attention there is a great distraction from what really has to change. By all means change your own habits if that makes you feel better, but don't think it's a scalable solution to climate change.
If you're worried about water usage I can't recommend the Flume smart water monitor enough. California water is expensive and this helped us find a persistent but intermittent leak that was adding hundreds of dollars to our bill every month. It paid for itself almost immediately.
Whenever you're told to change your individual habits to fight climate change, remember you can't choose: How the concrete in your home and in everything you see is made. How the steel in every car, ship, container, street sign, bridge and building is made. How the plastic in everything you use is made. How your city was built around cars. The fuel used by the ships, trains, trucks and forklifts that move everything. How the electricity you use was generated and delivered to you. How your office, shopping mall or town hall is heated and cooled. How your food is grown, harvested and fertilized. How the land is farmed. How the water you drink and the waste you produce is handled. How the ores and minerals used in everything are mined and processed. Because all of those things make up the vast majority of carbon emissions. But, you will be distracted, and maybe even a bit resentful, and that's the point.
Decisions that affect climate change are made by Government at all levels, and by corporations. Changing your individual habits will have no real effect on climate change. But you can: Vote for people that care. Vote for young people who will live with the consequences of their actions. Be an activist, get to know your representatives and to talk to them. Run for office, local Government has real power to shape the environment. Advocate for renewable energy development, large and small. Fossil fuel fights every project at the local level - become a YIMBY. Make it your career, if you're an engineer or tradesperson build renewable energy. If you're an artist or educator, communicate it. Advocate within your organization for net-zero action. Advocate for increased housing density, bike paths, sidewalks and public transit. Oppose car centric development. Support a carbon tax - it's the best way to use the best bits of capitalism to fight climate change. Remember, it is Government that can affect change at the scale that is meaningful. They don't act because they think we don't care. You have to show them that we do.
100% agree with encouraging people to build better cities. But IMHO it's not the "most powerful" way to reduce emissions. It helps, but it is a small part of total emissions. Moreover, the tactic of framing the energy transition as personal sacrifice is a favorite of the fossil fuel industry.
Welcome to California
Good video from the British Museum about the source of garnets in the Saxon Sutton Hoo hoard.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=65d2...
I blogged about it: open.substack.com/pub/zakpodmo...
Back in my hometown in #Ireland for Christmas. A beautiful place when the Sun is shining, but the traffic is woeful. Too many cars trying to navigate a medieval city streets burdened with suburban sprawl. Ireland has learned all the wrong urban planning lessons. But there are voices of reason.
Don't we see almost intact glacial polish on Granodiorite surfaces in the Sierra? Wouldn't this suggest that there's been minimal weathering over several thousand years?
Ten years on, taking a look back at my book Water is For Fighting Over. What did I get right? Wrong? With my excellent colleague Rin Tara: www.buzzsprout.com/2465964/epis...
In the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Trajan, my legions were attacked by the Calibri in the hills of Helvetica. The canny tribesmen made their assault before we could reach and lay siege to the city of Gentium, thereby rendering useless our trebuchets and high towers. My couriers soon reported that the Calibri, as was their normal habit, had assembled a force of light cavalry, clad in copperplate gothic and armed with arials, while also bearing short onyx used for close-in fighting. They relied on speed and maneuverability in the rough terrain, using their arials to fire flaming caslons into our midst and then retreating. A generation ago, this tactic would have wrought grievous damage. But by the grace of the gods, this was a more modern era, and I was able to deploy a force of heavy infantry, armored in stout verdana and armed with the new garamonds. No cavalry, however fleet, can stand long against a trained force armed with garamonds. So this I say to the fools who have said that our armies have fewer meliors and sylfaens than they have at any time since the war with the Lucida Sans. We have no need of such toys now. Those are the weapons of the old Rome – a century old style. And these are the Times New Roman. posted by kyrademon at 11:33 AM on October 23, 2012.
With the war of fonts heating up and the assendancy of Times New Roman in the State Department, I can't help but post this fantastic and classic comment from Metafilter.
#fonts #typeface #timesnewroman
New report from the Colorado River Research Group: Dancing with Deadpool. It begins: "Conditions on the Colorado River are, to put it bluntly, dire." www.colorado.edu/center/gwc/C...
You can follow along in real time. Currently they are literally in the doldrums.
thefamousproject.io/mapster-wp-m...
The race for the Jules Verne Trophy, awarded to the fastest sailboat to sail around the world, is in progress. The first all-female crew, aboard 'The Famous CIC' are challenging the current record of 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds set by Francis Joyon in 2017.
A Bobcat standing in the middle of a first road checks out the photographer. Dappled sunlight and shadows from a low winter afternoon sun.
Look who I met on a sunny Saturday afternoon hike in Alum Rock Park, San Jose. Bobcats always seem surprised you had the audacity to walk in their patch. He stood there contemplating a response before deciding I wasn't worth it and sauntered off.
#photography #nature #cats
I know this is not the point of your post, but one option for them to consider is to combine their love of science with law. Do their science undergrad, then add a law degree and go into IP law. The best patent attorneys all had STEM degrees.
False alarm, event deleted. That's strange, it's unfortunate they sent an alert to presumably the whole of Northern California for this. But it will be interesting to hear how it happened.
Screen capture of earthquake map
Earthquake preliminary 5.9 near Reno, Nevada. Just received an alert in the Bay Area.
It is also incorrect to assume we can't have unlimited energy without fossil fuels.
The Salvation Army is not a charity. They are an evangelical church that uses donated money to actively oppress gay rights. They've been especially cruel to trans people.
It's that giving time of year again, so this is a reminder that no matter how they try to dress it up, the Salvation Army is not a charity.
As I understand it bit-flips caused by cosmic rays or solar radiation are relatively common and are mitigated by error correction and redundancy. In this case, a new software update omitted some protection routines (I speculate, error correction code). The fix is re-installing the previous rev.
