I can't vote for someone so out of touch with the worse problem the global community has identified. 

Russia signed the Kyoto Protocols. Donald Trump claims to have some affection for President Putin and Russia. Really? There is at least one conversation Donald Trump did not have with President Putin and it was the danger of the Climate Crisis. Russia lost 50,000 people in one year to fires in Russia. The USA never even sent condolences. I guess it didn't happen then.

This figure shows how annual average air temperatures have changed in different parts of the United States since the early 20th century (since 1901 for the contiguous 48 states and 1925 for Alaska). Source: US EPA (2015).

Climate change (click here) and the heat island effect interact in two important ways. First, our warming climate will increase already higher temperatures in heat island areas. Second, cooling strategies to reduce heat islands can help communities adapt to the impacts of climate change as well as lower the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change....

This is still Annex A. I started the "Industrial processes." Mineral products are primarily mining. Concrete has it's own energy footprint, but, the mining of the compounds needed to produce concrete has it's own environmental impact. When I think of concrete, the first strategy is eliminating heat islands.

There are other issues with mining limestone. Florida is primarily limestone. Late Quaternary and Quaternary are periods of Earth time. It was more or less prehistoric time. The time period is 2.588 million years ago to 11.7 thousand years ago.(click here)

The issue of the Floridian Aquifer and the limestone that is Florida only goes to prove the really poor regard the USA has for it's people and it's natural resources. The states compete for industry and try to undercut each other to provide for their people with jobs, but, this recent disaster with the Floridian Aquifer show how completely ridiculous that method of building an economy and jobs has been administered.

As I work though "Industrial processes" it will be painful to realize how the USA DOES NOT govern itself well.

Industrial processes (click here)
 Mineral products 
 Chemical industry 
 Metal production 
 Other production  
 Production of halocarbons  and sulphur hexafluoride 
 Consumption of halocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride 
 Other

Heat islands only scratch the surface to the issues outlined so briefly as "Industrial processes" in Kyoto Protocol. But, at least it is started. Minerals are a very big deal, so it is important to understand it before moving to the chemical industry.

But, I can't vote for people that don't care to understand the brevity of the climate crisis. This is no joke. This is not a political issue. It is real and urgent. 

The USA doesn't even have a "Climate Change Committee."

UK Emission Targets (click here)

At least the UK knows what their targets are.

16 October 2016

By Andrew Simms

...Now, (click here) insurers in the UK complain that householders are failing to protect their properties from flooding, while the Environment Agency says that insurers preside over a system in which risk is simply rebuilt where flooding has already taken place. The Climate Change Committee says the UK is off track to meet its mid-century carbon reduction target, just as key decisions on aviation expansion and fracking look set to lock in emissions-intensive infrastructure.

Scenarios for industrial transition are needed that tell a bolder and more convincing tale, not just of the UK meeting its international obligations that are written into treaties, but that go further and stand a genuine chance of limiting warming to 2C....

SST means "Sea Surface Temperature"

Due (click here) to a significant warming trend in the Niño-3.4 region since 1950, El Niño and La Niña episodes that are defined by a single fixed 30-year base period (e.g. 1971-2000) are increasingly incorporating longer-term trends that do not reflect interannual ENSO variability. In order to remove this warming trend, CPC is adopting a new strategy to update the base period.

There will be multiple centered 30-year base periods that will be used to define the Oceanic Niño index (as a departure from average or "anomaly"). These 30-year base periods will be used to calculate the anomalies for successive 5-year periods in the historical record:...

Understand how these El Ninos are due to HOT WATER? You got that part? This is a Pacific Ocean phenomena.

Long about now I would be asking myself, "Self, what causes the Pacific Ocean to be so warm it spawns an El Nino?"

Hm? 

My best guess is typhoons are Earth's physics that remove heat from the troposphere into the Pacific Ocean.

This is the East Pacific storm tracks from 2016.

Twenty-one so far this year with two Cat Four storms.

By the end of the 2015 storm year on December 31st, there were thrity-one storms with nine Cat Four and one Cat Five storm. The final storm of 2015 spawned on December 31st as a tropical storm and only lasted one day in duration.

This is the East Pacific storms of 1949. There were six storms that year. 

Back in the day, the storms were numbered and not named as below. There were four tropical storms and two Cat One storms. 

The season began June 11th and ended September 30th. 

Interesting, isn't it?

But, there must have been so many more in the Atlantic Ocean, right?

Sixteen. There were sixteen numbered storms in 1949 in the Atlantic Ocean. Three Cat One storms, two Cat Two storms, one Cat Three storms and one Cat Four storms. There were no Cat Five storms.

The Atlantic hurricane season in 1949 started August 21st after the sun has begun it's traverse to the southern hemisphere again. The season ended November 5th, shortly after the end of the official season.

Do you know there hasn't been a Cat Two storm in in the past two years. The most recent Cat Two storm was 2014. Then not again until 2012 of which there were three.

But, the Atlantic Ocean hurricane records go all the way back to 1851 of which there were six numbered storms. The storms were from June 25th to October 19th.

"Tropical Cyclones of the North Atlantic Ocean, 1851-2006" (click here)

The record year for hurricanes was 2005, the year of Katrina. (click here)

This is some of the absolutely worst urban planning within the USA. Amazing. It dumped 215 million gallons of acidic water.

The young man is correct in that the radioactive exposure is the amount of radioactive levels over time. He is concerned about the idea of 'low level' radioactive water in the Florida aquifer.

September 16, 2016

A massive sinkhole underneath a gypsum stack (click here) at a Central Florida phosphate fertilizer plant has dumped 215 million gallons of acidic water into the Floridan aquifer. 

WFLA reports the sinkhole opened up about three weeks ago. Workers at the Mosaic New Wales plant in Polk County were monitoring water levels when they noticed a decline for one of the two cells in the plant's active stack on Aug. 27, the company says in a statement. A gypsum stack is a pile of phosphogypsum, a byproduct from the production of phosphate fertilizers. WFLA has reported the contaminated water is "slightly radioactive," while The Ledger says the water is "acidic."...

What aquifer is this?

The Floridian Aquifer.

Oh.

You mean this Floridian Aquifer?

Polk County, Fla. (WFLA) — A massive sinkhole (click here) on top of a Mosaic gypsum stack near Mulberry allowed millions of gallons of contaminated water to flow into the Floridan Aquifer.

Eagle 8 flew over the huge chasm in the earth and spotted a cascading waterfall in the middle of what looks like a moonscape. The is happening in the New Wales plant off Highway 640, south of Mulberry.

The sinkhole opened up almost three weeks ago. Since then, about 215 million gallons of contaminated water have drained into the aquifer. The sinkhole is about 40 feet across. It’s depth is unknown.

It sits right in the middle of a massive gypsum stack. Gypsum comes out of the plant after the company produces phosphate fertilizers and animal feed ingredients.

On Aug. 27 workers monitoring water levels discovered a drop. “When it was first noticed, we installed pumping systems to move water out of that compartment on the gypsum stack, to recover the water,” said David Jellerson, Mosaic’s director of environment and phosphate projects...

To recover the water.

Really?

There will be no recovering the water if it is now mixed with the Floridian Aquifer. There needs to be a dense investigation to the location of the RADIOACTIVE PLUME.

Where is the federal EPA? Please tell me they have been notified by Governor Scott. 

This involves multiple states and testing needs to be conducted starting at the sinkhole moving outward in concentric circles to FIND THE RADIOACTIVE WATER and the extent of the contamination!

The Florida Governor is nowhere to be found.

The picture above demonstrates efforts used to clear hydrocarbons from an aquifer. A similar monitoring and removal will have to occur. But, it is not simply a matter of pumping water back out the sink hole. If it turns out to be that simple than Governor Scott is a lucky man. But, this is weeks already and the discovery resulted because the leak into the Floridian Aquifer was well underway.

(Washington, DC – October 1, 2015)  EPA (click here) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement with Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC that will ensure the proper treatment, storage, and disposal of an estimated 60 billion pounds of hazardous waste at six Mosaic facilities in Florida and two in Louisiana. The settlement resolves a series of alleged violations by Mosaic, one of the world’s largest fertilizer manufacturers, of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which provides universal guidelines for how hazardous waste must be stored, handled and disposed. The 60 billion pounds of hazardous waste addressed in this case is the largest amount ever covered by a federal or state RCRA settlement and will ensure that wastewater at Mosaic’s facilities is properly managed and does not pose a threat to groundwater resources....

Meet Harini Nagendra, a world renowned scientist helping India build better cities.

Harini Nagendra (click here) is a Professor in the School of Development at Azim Premji University, and Asia Research Coordinator at the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change at Indiana University. Her research straddles two major, yet linked areas examining human-driven changes in ecosystems and biodiversity in forests and cities. Harini coordinates a program of urban ecology focusing on Bangalore and Delhi in India....

Some of her latest collaborations is regarding "urban nature" and the livability of cities.

May 1, 2016
Environmental Education and Advancing Urbanization (click here)
By David Maddox, New York City; Harini Nagendra, Bangalor; Thomas Elmqvist, Stockholm and Alex Russ, Ithaca.

Cities—their design and how we live in them—will be key in our struggle for sustainability and, indeed, our future. As cities grow, as they are newly created, and as more and more people choose or require them as places to live, our decisions about urban design and city-building will determine the outcomes of long-term challenges related to resilience, sustainability, livability, and justice. Rather than being the essential cause of the global environmental dangers we face, cities will be central to success in overcoming these dangers. Such success will be based on science and policy, but also on widespread public engagement with and understanding of both the challenges and the potential solutions found in building cities. Environmental education can play a critical role in fostering public engagement, through clarifying and transmitting the challenges, values, actions, and methods of sustainable, resilient, livable, and just cities.

What is urban?...

Does your urban and suburban environment have an ecological consultant to assist with livable cities and towns? State universities should have people who know the dynamics and can help. 

Consumers need to be educated with plenty of questions for those that help.

LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design)

Building designers and developers (click here) that are pursuing the Heat island reduction credit for LEED certification require documentation of the Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) for their project’s roofing materials, shade giving structures, and paving materials.

Under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED 2009 rating system, credits SSc7.1 and SSc7.2 (combined as credit SSc5 in LEED v4) are intended to minimize effects on microclimates and human and wildlife habitats by reducing heat islands.

To satisfy the requirements of the Heat Island reduction credits, a certain percentage of the hardscape and roofing must have a high solar reflectance index.

Demand city and urban construction to have responsible practices to end heat generation within our cities and suburbs. If the buildings are cooler, the energy demands are less. Cooler summers in the cities are vital.

The examples of such outcomes exist and the methods such as LEED are established to provide the guidelines builders should be following. Clear cutting trees in order to build homes is also irresponsible. Clearing trees from an urban building zone is for the convenience of the builder, not the care free living of the buyer.

Take a good look at these trees. Trees this size do not grow overnight. These trees are far more than ten years old.

The shade covers the grey tone road. The air and ground under these trees, including the roadway are cool. Standing on that road is easier with coolness from the trees. Trees shade, but, they also use the sunlight for their own metabolism. Trees use CO2, but, they also remove the sunlight and are more effective than any artificial albedo surface.

Apply natures' gifts at every opportunity. They are far more powerful than any measure of people.

Americans are asking, what the heck is going on?

October 21, 2016
By Tom Skilling

Ask Tom: (click here) How much does weather vary throughout the Chicago area?

Dear Tom,
How much does weather vary throughout the Chicago area? I know the first frost is earlier in the suburbs.
- Lawrence Dayte

Dear Lawrence,

The weather does indeed vary greatly across metropolitan Chicago for a number of reasons. Proximity to Lake Michigan is important, moderating temperatures in the winter and cooling daytime readings in the summer. It also causes lake-effect snow in the winter. Also, there is the "heat island" effect, in which urbanization keeps temperatures higher in the city, especially on calm, clear nights. Not as obvious is the expansion of suburban Chicago; there is more space for varying weather events.

As for the first freeze (frosts are not recorded), the averages for the Chicago area vary by more than a month, from about Oct. 3 in the coldest suburbs to Nov. 5 in the Loop.

Battling the urban heat island effect through adopting industrial processes that achieve it.

Cement produced to be as white as it can be is going to provide ALBEDO to any city that experiences the "heat island effect."

...Concrete surfaces (click here) can earn a LEED for New Construction and Major Renovation (LEED-NC version 2.2) credit through Sustainable Sites Credit 7.1: “Heat Island Effect, Non-Roof”. The intent of this credit is to reduce the heat island effect. The intent can be met if materials that stay cool in sunlight are used on at least half of the site’s non-roof impervious surfaces, such as roads, sidewalks, courtyards, and parking lots (hardscape). The material’s solar reflectance index (SRI) must be at least 29. Where paved surfaces are required, using materials with higher SRI will reduce the heat island effect, consequently saving energy by reducing demand for air conditioning, and improve air quality. Concrete and concrete pavers are ideally suited to meet this requirement. Ordinary portland cement concrete has an SRI in the range of 38 to 52, although it can vary. However, unless it is actually measured, LEED allows an SRI of 35 for ordinary portland cement concrete (see the LEED-NC Reference Guide). New concrete made with white portland cement has an SRI of 86 according to the Reference Guide....

...Albedo, which in this case is synonymous with solar reflectance, is the ratio of the amount of solar radiation reflected from a surface to the total amount reaching that surface. The solar radiation reaching an object on earth includes visible and ultraviolet light and infrared radiation. Ordinary portland cement concrete generally has a solar reflectance of approximately 0.35 to 0.45 although values can vary. The solar reflectance of new concrete is greater when the surface reflectance of the sand and cementitious materials in the concrete are greater. Surface finishing techniques and drying time also affect solar reflectance. Solar reflectance is most commonly measured using a solar reflectometer (ASTM C1549) or a pyranometer (ASTM E1918)....

The climate crisis is real. It is all recorded. Enough already.

October 24, 2016 (New Zealand)

By John Maunder

...The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. (click here)

It contains approximately 75 per cent of the atmosphere's mass and 99 per cent of its water vapour and aerosols.

The average depth of the troposphere is approximately 17 km in the middle latitudes.

The tropospheric temperature data for 2011 is January 0.0 degrees Celsius, February -0.02, March -0.10, April +0.12, May +0.14, June +0.32, July +0.38, August +0.33, September +0.29, October +0.12, November +0.12, December +0.10 degrees.

The data for 2012 is: January -0.09 degrees, February -0.12, March +0.11, April +0.29, May +0.29, June +0.37, July +0.28, August +0.34, November +0.28, December +0.20 degrees.

The data for 2013 is: January +0.50 degrees, February +0.18, March +0.20, April +0.10, May +0.07, June +0.30, July +0.17, August +0,16, September +0.37, October +0.29, November +0.19, December +0.23 degrees.

The data for 2014 is: January +0.30 degrees, February +0.18, March +0.17, April +0.19, May +0.33, June +0.31, July +0.30, August +0.20, September +0.30, October +0.37, November +0.33, and December +0.33 degrees Celsius.

The data for 2015 is: January +0.20 degrees C, February +0.18 degrees C, March +0.14 degrees C, April +0.07 degrees C, May +0.30 degrees C, June +0.32 degrees C, July +0.18 degrees C, August +0.22 degrees C, September +0.20 degrees C, October +0.32 degrees C, November +0.40 degrees C, and December +0.48 degrees C.

The data for 2016 is: January +0.55 degrees C,  February +0.83 degrees C, March  +0.73 degrees C, April +0.71 degrees C, May +0.55  degrees, June +0.33 degrees C, July +0.39 degrees C, August +0.38 degrees C, and September  +0.44 degrees C.  

The coolest months since 1979 were September 1984, with minus 0.49 degrees Celsius, and November 1984, with minus 0.42 degrees Celsius.

The warmest months were February 2016 with plus 0.83 degrees C, February and April 1998, both plus 0.76 degrees Celsius, and March 2016 plus 0.73 degrees, and April 2016 plus 0.73 degrees Celsius.

The chart shows the El Nino warming in the 1998 period, and 2015-16, and the Mount Pinatubo, volcanic cooling during 1992-1993.

The anthropogenic heat generated does not allow El Nino events to return to baseline. The El Nino of 1982 - 1983 was every bit a strong event, but, it never had the long lasting effects of heating Earth's troposphere that exists in years since.

1988-1989 was a strong La Nina year. It never delivered lasting coolness to counter the anthropogenic heating.

The Oceanic Niño Index (ONI) (click here) has become the de-facto standard that NOAA uses for identifying El Niño (warm) and La Niña (cool) events in the tropical Pacific....

I have reservations about concrete and climate change.

The mineral products industry (click here) covers a broad span of industrial activities which range from energy-intensive processes like manufacture of cement and lime to the production of aggregates and ready-mixed concrete involving relatively low emissions per unit of production. There is universal acceptance right across the industry of the need to control and reduce its carbon footprint. Progress to date in the cement sector has been particularly encouraging with a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide per tonne of cement manufactured of 21% between 1998 and 2012. Other areas of the industry each have their own initiatives.

While manufacturing and delivering our products inevitably generates carbon, the products themselves often have important roles to play in actually tackling climate change. Concrete structures, for example, have unique thermal mass characteristics that help to moderate temperature changes in buildings and reduce the need for air conditioning. Mineral products will be an integral part of the low-carbon energy generation capacity that will be developed over the next decade and are equally in the front line in the battle to resist floods and to hold back rising sea levels....

This industry in the UK seems to be coming together to sincerely work on the climate crisis and it's responsibility within it. 

First, the industry in the UK has completely accepted the fact there is a climate crisis. That is the first step in moving toward mitigation.

This industry makes an interesting statement that is counter intuitive. It revolves around the concept of a 'heat island.' A heat island encompasses several problems regarding the climate and environmental issues in cities.

Cities can use concrete in ways that are benevolent in reducing the urban heat island effect.

Solar Reflectivity (R) and Solar Reflective Index (SRI) by color can be adopted to increase "albedo."

Solar reflectivity or reflectance is the ability of a material to reflect solar energy from its surface back into the atmosphere. The SR value is a number from 0 to 1.0. A value of 0 indicates that the material absorbs all solar energy and a value of 1.0 indicates total reflectance. Energy Star requires an initial SR value of 0.25 or higher for steep slope (>2:12) roofs and 0.15 or greater after three years. Low slope roofs require an initial SR value of 0.65 or higher and 0.50 or greater after three year.

The Solar Reflectance Index is used for

compliance with LEED requirements and is calculated according to ASTM E 1980 using values for reflectance and emissivity. Emissivity is a material’s ability to release absorbed energy. To meet LEED requirements a roofing material must have a SRI of 29 or higher for steep slope (>2:12) roofing and a SRI value of 78 or higher for low slope roofing.

Any public comment from al Qaeda?

The Grand Canyon? Really?

October 21, 2016
By Ryan Heinsius

State officials have cleared three uranium mines (click here for audio) near the Grand Canyon to continue operations. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality recently approved new air-pollution permits for the mines close to the canyon’s North and South rims. Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports.

The new permits include enhanced dust-control measures and increased soil sampling requirements. Mine operators will also have to reduce uranium stockpiles and cover any open storage areas.

“We are confident that these measure, while enhanced, will be more than adequate to protect human health and the environment. We recognize the real sensitivity of the area. We not only want to make sure we’re protecting any public in the area, but certainly protecting one of the wonders of the world,” says Timothy Franquist, ADEQ’s air quality director.

Franquist says ADEQ received about 2,000 responses during public comment periods this summer. The vast majority expressed concern with mines’ proximity to the Grand Canyon. ADEQ halted the air-permit process last year after elevated levels of uranium were found in soil near a mine....

Industrial processes, including mining, can be sustainable and responsible.

Our approach to sustainability (click here) has evolved progressively over recent years. MPA has grown substantially over that period through an amalgamation that has seen aggregates and its downstream products come together with cement and concrete to create one organisation focused on mineral products. It means that we now bring 465 members under an umbrella that covers 90 per cent of aggregates production and 100 per cent of GB cement production . That level of activity combined with a substantial total landholding means that MPA can do much to influence the cause of sustainable development across the UK.

Given the diversity of the sectors we represent and audiences with whom we engage, MPA Cement produces an annual performance report and the British Marine Aggregate Producers Association (BMAPA) a separate sustainability report. MPA The Concrete Centre publishes an annual Concrete Industry Sustainability Report....

It's Sunday Night

October 22, 2015
By Sharon Chisvin

They were billed (click here)as Ambassadors from Mars, Ecuadorian Cannibals and Sheep-Headed Men, but to Harriet Muse, the two freak-show attractions known in the circus world as Ito and Eko were simply her sons.

George and Willie Muse were genetic anomalies. They were albinos born to black parents and in 1899, when they were just six and nine years old, they were kidnapped from the tobacco fields of Truevine, rural Virginia, and forced to join the circus, according to family lore. Harriet, a poor laundress a generation removed from slavery, spent the next three decades seeking justice for herself and her sons, and trying to bring them home....

"Soul To Squeeze" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (click here for official website - thank you)

I got a bad disease,
Up from my brain is where I bleed.
In sanity it seems,
Is got me by my soul to squeeze.
Well all the love from me,
With all these dying trees I scream.
The Angels in my dreams,
have turned to demons of greed,
That's me.

Where I go I just don't know,
I got to, got to, gotta take it slow.
When I find my piece of mind,
I'm gonna give you some of my good time.

Today loves smile on me,
It took away my pain, said please
All that you ride is free,
You gotta let it be,
Oh ya.

Where I go I just don't know,
I got to, gotta, gotta take it slow.
When I find my piece of mind,
I'm gonna give you some of my good time.

You're so polite indeed,
Well I got everything I need.
Oh make my days a breeze,
And take away my self destruction.

It's bitter baby,
And it's very sweet.
I'm on a rollercoaster,
but I'm on my feet.
Take me to the river,
Let me on your shore.
I be coming back baby,
I be coming back for more.

Doo doo doo doo dingle zing a dong bone,
ba-di ba-da ba-zumba crunga cong gone bad,
like an apple gift but i went out and never said my pleasures
I'm much better but I won't regret it never

Where I go I just dont't know,
I got to, got to, gotta take it slow.
When I find my piece of mind,
I'm gonna give you some of my good time.

Where I go I just don't know,
I might end up somewhere in Mexico.
When I find my piece of mind,
I'm gonna keep for the end of time!

I sure all the soldiers involved made it home alive. It isn't their mistake.

Sign on bonuses occur all of this country in the private sector. These soldiers should never be asked to return monies when they have served their country. The enlistment bonuses have to stand. Find the money!




October 22, 2016
By AP

Sacramento, Calif. (AP) — Nearly 10,000 California National Guard soldiers (click here) have been ordered to repay huge enlistment bonuses a decade after signing up to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The Pentagon demanded the money back after audits revealed overpayments by the California Guard under pressure to fill ranks and hit enlistment goals. If soldiers refuse, they could face interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens, the Los Angeles Times said.

Faced with a shortage of troops at the height of the two wars, California Guard officials offered bonuses of $15,000 or more for soldiers to reenlist.

A federal investigation in 2010 found thousands of bonuses and student loan payments were improperly doled out to California Guard soldiers. About 9,700 current and retired soldiers received notices to repay some or all of their bonuses with more than $22 million recovered so far.

Soldiers said they feel betrayed at having to repay the money....

There was no stopping the Chicago in 1945, but, the club has had their dry spells.

September 30, 1945
By Edward Burns

The Chicago Cubs (click here) this afternoon became champions of the National league for the 16th time, the fifth time in 17 years, the third time under Charley Grimm’s leadership, and the first time since 1938.

They won the pennant by beating the Pirates, 4 to 3, in the ninth inning of the first game of a double header. They triumphed the hard way after scorning the cooperation of the weathermen, who wanted to get into the act by clinching the pennant for the Chicagoans by raining out the day’s program.

The Cubs, by way of practicing relaxation for the Detroit Tigers or the Washington Senators in the world series beginning next Wednesday, also won the superfluous seven inning second game, 5 to 0....

Their standing in the league is impressive this year. There lead the teams in both the National and American Leagues with 103 wins. The club was impressive this year and if statistics ruled the trophy they would have won it already.