Sunday, April 23, 2017

It is time to discuss agriculture as it pertains to GHG emissions. But, agriculture does not stand alone. It provides the food for millions if not billions of people on any given day, so it is a vitally important aspect of American life. That doesn't mean we cannot improve where possible, but, agriculture is sort of like the military; I am always proud when they prioritize Earth because it isn't easy for them to achieve. It is why we have to do better in other areas of the USA economy and quality of life.

In listing the hurricane seasons, it is obvious what happened. The emissions from industry (commercial jets included) and personal transportation erupted and now we are seeing the price to pay for allowing such extreme amounts of emissions into Earth's troposphere.

It is obvious from the hurricane maps that as more people lived in the USA the stronger the storms became and as the addition of emissions from consumerism occurred the number of hurricanes simply skyrocketed. The hurricanes drove heat into the oceans and the glaciers and ice caps are taking a beating from the heat. 

In the 2006 hurricane season the nature of the storms changed and there began to be near shore storms that never existed before. Since then Earth has eliminated boundaries to tornado and hurricane seasons. 

It think it is obvious how hot Earth has become. 

There are approximately 318,900,000 Americans.

In 2017 Tropical Storm Arlene erupted in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on April 19th, long before the beginning of hurricane season on June 1st.

There were 17 fatalities due to tornadoes in the USA in 2016. But, in 2017 there have been 27 fatalities due to tornadoes in the USA and we haven't even gotten through four months yet. (click here)
2017 Fatalities: 27
2017 Fatalities by State:
GA: 16
MS: 4
IL: 3
LA: 2
MO: 1
SC: 1
2017 Fatalities by Circumstance:
In Home: 7
In Manufactured Home: 17
Outside: 2
In Building: 0
In Vehicle: 1
Unknown: 0
Note 1: Killer tornadoes that cross state boundaries with deaths in both states are listed twice but counted once.
Note 2: The SPC online watch archive exists from 2004 to the current year.

In 2014 there were 187,554,928 light duty vehicles including passenger cars. The classification system was changed and renamed.

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastates Haiti, killing more than 230,000 and destroying the nation's infrastructure.
  • On January 27, 2010, Apple Computer unveils the iPad tablet computer.
  • In February 2010, a series of winter storms labeled "Snowmageddon" by President Obama blankets the east coast of the United States with up to 40 inches of snow in less than 1 week.
  • British Petroleum's "Deepwater Horizon" offshore oil platform explodes on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers. The ensuing oil leak would not be capped until July 15.
  • On August 31, 2010, President Obama formally declares an end to combat operations in Iraq.
  • On October 4, 2010, Robert G. Edwards is awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the development of in vitro fertilization.
  • Time Magazine announces Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is its 2010 Person of the Year.
  • U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and 17 others are shot by a gunman during a "Congress on Your Corner" event held on January 8, 2011, in Tucson, AZ.
  • A 9.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan on March 11, 2011. The quake and subsequent tsunami devastate the Oshika Peninsula of Tohoku.
  • On May 2, 2011, U.S. Navy Seals raid a residence in Abbottabad, Pakistan, killing the United State's most wanted terrorist—Osama Bin Laden.
  • The launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-134) on May 16, 2011, marks its last mission to space and the second to last shuttle mission before the end of the space shuttle program.
  • After 25 seasons and more than 5,000 episodes, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" airs its last original episode on May 25, 2011.
  • The American flag still has 50 stars and we are out of Iraq!

In 1965 there were 179,323,175 Americans and 75,257,588 cars on the American road.

  • There were six Atlantic Ocean storms in 1965. Two were tropical storms, two category one hurricanes, one category two hurricane and one category four hurricane.
  • There were 75,257,588 cars on the American road. (click here)
  • On July 15, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy accepts the Democratic nomination for president at Memorial Colliseum, Los Angeles, CA.
  • After 13 years, NBC cancels Howdy Doody. The last episode airs September 24, 1960.
  • Harper Lee's 1961 book To Kill A Mockingbird is a bestseller.
  • On October 1, 1962, James H. Meredith becomes the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi.
  • Betty Friedan's 1963 book The Feminine Mystique critiques the myth that a woman's identity is linked to childrearing and the accomplishments of their husbands.
  • The Beatles make their U.S. debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, on February 9, 1964.
  • The 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade arrive in Vietnam on March 8, 1965.
  • Lyndon Baines 
  • Apollo astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee die during a simulated launch exercise on January 27, 1967.
  • Western movie hero John Wayne wins the 1969 Best Actor Oscar for his role in the movie True Grit beating now legendary actors Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, Dustin Hoffman, and Jon Voight.
  • The August 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair draws more than 450,000 people to Bethel, NY.
The American flag had 50 stars.


USA Resident Population in 1930 was 123,202,624 Americans.

  • There were three Atlantic storms in 1930. One as a tropical storm, one as a category three and one was a category 4.
  • 3M employee Richard Drew invents Scotch Brand Cellulose Tape in 1930. Today, it is widely known simply as "Scotch Tape."
  • The Mickey Mouse comic strip debuts in the January 13, 1930, edition of the New York Mirror.
  • On October 17, 1931, Chicago gangster Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion and later sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.
  • Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats incumbant Republican Herbert Hoover in the 1932 election.
  • The Boulder Dam (today known as "Hoover Dam") is completed 2 years ahead of schedule on March 1, 1936.
  • Jesse Owens wins four gold medals during the 1936 Summer Olympics.
  • Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner become the first inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.
  • The German airship Hindenburg is destroyed while attempting to land at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station on May 6, 1937.
  • American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart disappears over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to circumnavigate the globe, July 2, 1937.
  • Superman debuts in Action Comics #1 in June 1938.
  • Gone with the Wind wins the Academy Award for "Best Picture" in 1939.
  • The American flag had 48 stars.

USA Residential Population in 1895 was 62,979,766 Americans.

  • There were six Atlantic storms in 1895; four were tropical storms and two were category two hurricanes.
  • Jacob Riis publishes How the Other Half Lives, in 1890, documenting the horrible living conditions immigrants faced living in New York City's tenements.
  • Wyoming and Idaho are admitted as the 43rd and 44th states in July 1890.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducts the first performance at New York's Carnegie Hall on May 5, 1891.
  • The Ellis Island Immigration Station begins processing immigrants to the United States on January 1, 1892.
  • More than 25 million people visit the 1893 Chicago World Columbian Exposition between May 1 and October 30, 1893.
  • On September 20, 1893, the Duryea Brothers road-test the first-ever, American-made, gasoline-powered automobile in Springfield, Massachusetts.
  • On August 28, 1894, Congress passes the first graduated income tax. The U.S. Supreme Court declares the "direct tax" unconstitutional the following year.
  • Ex-slave and civil rights advocate Frederick Douglass dies on February 20, 1895.
  • The first U.S. Golf Open is held in Newport, RI, on October 4, 1895.
  • The last great North American "Gold Rush" begins on April 6, 1896 when gold is discovered in the Yukon District of Canada.
  • William McKinley is inaugurated as the 25th President of the United States on March 4, 1897.
  • The battleship USS Maine explodes in Havana, Cuba's harbor on February 15, 1898.
  • Fighting erupts between the United States and Philippine revolutionary forces on February 4, 1899. The "Philippine Insurrection" would officially end on July 4, 1902.
  • The United States annexes Hawaii on July 7, 1898.
  • The USA flag had 44 stars.

US Resident Population in 1860 was 31,443,321 Americans.

  • There were six Atlantic storms in 1851. Three were tropical storms, two were category 1 storms and there was one category 3 storm. There were far more deaths then. 
  • The Pony Express leaves Sacramento, CA, for St. Joseph, MO, on April 3, 1860.
  • The only GHG emissions to worry about as methane from manure. Consumerism matters when it comes to the climate.
  • On February 9, 1861, after resigning from the U.S. Senate, Jefferson Davis is selected to be the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
  • Confederate forces begin bombarding Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor on April 12, 1861.
  • War is not helpful. The first days of the Iraq War put out enormous amounts of pollution.
  • Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow publishes Paul Revere's Ride in 1861.
  • President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law on May 20, 1862, giving applicants freehold title to land, typically 160 acres, of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River.
  • On September 17, 1862, the bloodiest single-day battle in American history is fought near Sharpsburg, MD, and Antietam Creek.
  • The "New York City Draft Riots" rage from July 13 to July 16, 1863, following the passage of a draft law to supply men to the Union Army.
  • Novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne dies on May 19, 1864, in Plymouth, NH.
  • On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth during the play Our American Cousin. Lincoln died the following morning at 7:22.
  • Mark Twain publishes his first successful short story, "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog," in The Saturday Press on November 18, 1865.
  • Russia finalizes its sale of Alaska to the United States, on March 30, 1867.
  • Louisa May Alcott publishes Little Women in 1868.
  • Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant beats New York Governor Horatio Seymour in the 1868 presidential election.
  • Ceremonies at Promontory, UT, celebrate completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869.
  • USA Flag had 31 stars.

In days past it was called, "Population Stress."

Alabama is the Most Stressed State (click here)

...The study, conducted by WalletHub, evaluates stress based on more than 30 metrics related to work, money, family, health and safety.
Family-related stress includes factors like cost of child care and divorce rates, whereas work-related stress looks at measures such as average commute time and job security....
Below is the poverty map of the USA by State. The information came from the US Census. Alabama has the highest level of poverty in the USA.

This is the population clock. Not the USA debt clock, the population clock.

U. S. and World Population Clock (click here)

Population impacts (click here) on the environment primarily through the use of natural resources and production of wastes and is associated with environmental stresses like loss of biodiversity, air and water pollution and increased pressure on arable land. Population size and rates of growth are key elements in environmental change. At any level of development, increased population increases the energy use, resource consumption and environmental stress. Population growth and consumption are fundamental drivers of human environmental impacts.In the matter of population and environment, per capita income and per capita energy consumption have been considered. Final conclusion is that human population growth is the number one threat to the world’s environment.  Each person requires energy, food, space and resources to survive, which results in environmental losses.



Agriculture is land. People need land to build their homes, even if they are skyscrapers that create a landscape.

We tend to think of soil (click here) as a renewal resource - one that is constantly being replenished by decaying matter. But worldwide trends suggest that we may need to rethink that common understanding, not because our scientific knowledge is flawed but because our behavior has resulted in depletion at rates tat exceed replenishment.  has somehow changed "It takes approximately 500 years to replace 25 millimeters (1 inch) of topsoil lost to erosion. The minimal soil depth for agricultural production is 150 millimeters. From this perspective, productive fertile soil is a nonrenewable, endangered ecosystem." 
Source:  David Pimental, "Population Growth and the Environment: Planetary Stewardship," December 98....


Among the focus of the 1960s when it came to Earth was realizing the limits of Earth to sustain so many human lives. I will let Captain James T. Kirk explain.

In the year 2000 there were 281,421,906 Americans.

  • There were 19 Atlantic Ocean storms in 2000. One of the storms were subtropical, ten were tropical storms, four were category one hurricanes, one category two hurricane, one category three hurricane and two category four hurricanes.
  • There were 133,621,420 cars on the American road.
  • The "dot.com" technology bubble, spanning from 1995 to 2000, peaks when intraday trading on the NASDAQ exchange reaches 5132.52.
  • Hijacked airliners crash into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, PA, September 11, 2001.
  • On October 23, 2001, Apple Computer unveils the first Ipod.
  • The Space Shuttle Columbia breaks apart during reentry, killing the seven astronauts onboard, February 1, 2003.
  • On December 26, 2004, one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded (approximately 9.3 magnitude) creates a tsunami that devastates South Asia leaving more than 230,000 dead.
  • Author Stephenie Meyer publishes Twilight the first in her wildly popular series about "Bella" Swann and a vampire named Edward Cullen.
  • Hurricane Katrina, the costliest hurricane in U.S. history, hits southeast Louisiana, August 29, 2005.
  • In New Orleans, the levees were designed for Category 3, but Katrina peaked at a Category 5 hurricane, with winds up to 175 mph. The final deathtoll was at 1,836, primarily from Louisiana (1,577) and Mississippi (238).
  • 2005 had the most storms in the history of the USA in the Atlantic Ocean. Among these Category 5 storms was Hurricane Wilma, the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic. The most notable storms of the season were the five Category 4 and Category 5 hurricanes: Dennis, Emily, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, along with the Category 1 Hurricane Stan.
  • Author J.K. Rowling publishes the final installment of her Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, July 2007.
  • Senator Barack Obama is elected president on November 4, 2008.
  • In January 2009, Nickelodian celebrates the 10th anniversary of the hit children's television program "SpongeBob SquarePants."
  • The USA flag still had 50 stars, but, with Iraq that decade some Americans thought it should have been 51 because there was more money spent in Iraq for it's infrastructure than ever in the USA.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg has always been involved with climate. He understands the need to improve our performance in protecting our planet.

23 April 2017

The former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg (click here) has urged world leaders not to follow Donald Trump’s lead on climate change, and declared his own intention to stave off the “tragedy” that would be the collapse of the Paris climate deal.


The billionaire said in an interview there was no political motive tied to the release of his new book, Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet, which is co-authored with the Sierra Club executive director, Carl Pope.
“I’m not running for office,” the 75-year-old said, who considered a 2016 presidential bid after serving three terms as mayor of New York.
His new book, he said, offers a specific policy objective: to help save the Paris climate agreement, which was signed a year ago.
Under the deal, the US pledged that by 2025 it would reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels, which would be a reduction of about 1.6 bn tons...

"Climate of Hope" official website - thank you (click here)

Moving on in the Kyoto Protocol Annex A; Agriculture.

The American Farm Bureau (click here) was formally founded in 1919 in Chicago, Illinois. Its initial organization papers said:
The purpose of Farm Bureau is to make the business of farming more profitable, and the community a better place to live. Farm Bureau should provide an organization in which members may secure the benefits of unified efforts in a way which could never be accomplished through individual effort. - Statement originally approved by Farm Bureau members in 1920...

August 7, 2014
Michigan Farm Bureau

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) (click here) released guidance on July 31 for calculating greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and forestry activities, part of its larger efforts to address agriculture's potential effects on climate change.

The 606-page (click here) "Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Agriculture and Forestry: Methods for Entity-Scale Inventory" is intended to be used as the scientific basis for voluntary programs aimed at providing incentives for farmers to engage in conservation and other activities that curtail emissions. About 6.1 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency....


21 April 2017
By David Suzuki

Looking up (click here) the Slims River Valley, from the south end of Kluane Lake. The river used to flow down the valley from the Kaskawulsh glacier.

The Slims river in northern Canada gained infamy, (click here) not for its fishing or pristine waters, but for vanishing in a matter of four days in May 2016. This week we learned that it fell victim to “river piracy” – and climate change was almost certainly to blame.
The river – which stretched up to 150 meters at its widest points and averaged depths around three meters – lost its water source to another nearby river during a period of intense melting affecting one of Canada’s largest glaciers. As a result, the Slims was reduced to a trickle in less than a week.
We can now add river piracy to the growing list of unexpected, dramatic and tragic consequences of human-caused climate change. Although this is the first observed case of river piracy, it likely won’t be the last.
The melting of Yukon’s massive Kaskawulsh glacier – known to the local Southern Tutchone First Nation as Tänshī – caused the drainage gradient to tip in favour of the second river, redirecting the meltwater to the Gulf of Alaska, thousands of miles from its original destination.
The science says there’s a 99.5% chance that climate change caused this dramatic transformation of the landscape. The continuing warming trend that caused the glacier to thin so extremely means the change is likely irreversible....
Melt water from the Kaskawulsh glacier now flows down the Kaskawulsh River toward the Pacific, instead of northward to the Bering Sea via Kluane Lake.

This is an assessment by New Zealand. It is dated to 2002.

5.1 Sector overview (CRF 3) (click here)

Solvents and related compounds are a significant source of emissions of NMVOC. The sector includes emissions from chemical cleaning substances used in dry cleaning, printing, metal degreasing and a variety of industrial and household uses. Also included are emissions from paints, lacquers, thinners and related materials.
Emissions from the solvents and other product use sector in 2002 comprised 31.63Gg of NMVOC. This is an increase from 24.24Gg in 1990, an increase of 30.5%. The categories dominating the sector are NMVOC emissions from paint application and other uses (Figure 5.1.1)....
The point is there are known-knowns. The sources of these dangerous vapors and solvents are identified and it is important government monitor and control the emissions.
It's Sunday Night

The definition of a "climate system" (click here) is the totality of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and geosphere and their interactions.

The link on this page will go to a book of definitions for those that care to know.

Overkill, have you had your fill
Come to expect it
Off the wall, too short or too tall
System rejects it
Lost the handle, what's it all been for?
Tired of trying, seeing so much more

It's so predictable and everybody judges by the numbers that you're selling
Just crank 'em out on the assembly line and chart 'em higher (higher, higher)
Just keep it simple boys it's gonna be alright as long as you're inside the
Mainstream, are we moving too far away
Is it worth it if it doesn't pay
The centerline is status quo, it's
Mainstream

If you stay within the tried and true
You'll remain among the chosen few
Survive another year

The market is dead, accounts in the red
Media saturation
We're deep in a rut, the arteries cut
Sensory deprivation
Really loved it, didn't earn a cent
No one's buying your experiment

It's so predictable and everybody judges by the numbers that you're selling
Just crank 'em out on the assembly line and chart 'em higher (higher, higher)
Just keep it simple boys it's gonna be alright as long as you're inside the
Mainstream, are we moving too far away
Is it worth it if it doesn't pay
The centerline is status quo, it's
Mainstream

For the masses in Consumerland
Give 'em everything that they demand
Survive another year

Corporate mold, packaged and sold, 16 to 30
Jobbers and racks, they're movin' in stacks
Tactics are dirty
We're in business, what else is it for?
Profit motive, welcome to the war

It's so predictable and everybody judges by the numbers that you're selling
Just crank 'em out on the assembly line and chart 'em higher (higher, higher)
Just keep it simple boys it's gonna be alright as long as you're inside the
Mainstream, are we moving too far away
Is it worth it if it doesn't pay
The centerline is status quo, it's
Mainstream

Just be careful not to rearrange
And don't let 'em catch you getting strange
Survive another year              
Why refugee status?

They are homeless. They have no property. They will have to live in the ghetto, if someone will have them and risk being called an extremist sympathizer.

If they live on the streets, be arrested, go to jail or prison. Once in prison for repeated offenses they will become a burden to Russia. Their extremism alone will condemn them. They might be offered a chance at reformation, but, property will not come back to them. They will have been reborn to fight for Russia on the front in Ukraine. But, the border may be too tempting and Russia is already looking for potential deserters.

These people are in dire straights. They need to leave now, to live among the walking dead whos fate has yet to be realized as Russia has yet to deploy its nuclear arsenal.

Beware of Daesh traveling with any emigration.

Nationalism is the poison Russia drank.

21 April 2017

Russia’s Supreme Court (click here) has banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses, declaring it an “extremist organization” and ordering to hand over its property to the state. The Christian group says it is planning to appeal the decision....

The Jehovah Witnesses should be given refugee status and allowed asylum immediately.

Vladimir Putin began this process years ago. His campaign of hate began with the importance of "The Russia People" as if pure bloods. Then he called home the Russian diaspora. Then he removed dual citizenship UNLESS a fee was paid to maintain the records of their loyalty to another country. Then, the gay community was designated illegitimate. Now, this. 

He wants the war he believes is coming. The global community should deprive him of it and sanction Russia of trade of any kind, including Rex's ExxonMobile.