"Texas Floods Worse Than #Noah's Ark" - Says Governor

Governor says deadly flooding is worst ever seen in Texas area

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday likened the ferocity of flash flooding that killed at least three people to a tsunami, and authorities said a dam had given way in a state park.

Abbott declared states of disaster in 24 counties and flew over the area south of Austin to assess the damage caused by tornadoes, heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and flooding that forced evacuations and rooftop rescues and left thousands of residents without electricity.

"This is the biggest flood this area of Texas has ever seen," Abbott said.

"It is absolutely massive - the relentless tsunami-type power of this wave of water," he said.

He described homes that were "completely wiped off the map" by the dangerous weather system that struck Texas and Oklahoma. Read More.

Previous Recorded  Major Climate Change Events in Texas

CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY?

FIRE Causes Mass Alberta Oilsands Evacuation

Alberta forest fire forces evacuation of oilsands facilities

Cenovus Energy and Canadian Natural Resources Limited have evacuated their facilities within the Cold Lake Air Weapons range, close to Alberta's eastern border, due to an out-of-control forest fire in the area.

"Yesterday, CNRL evacuated their plant facilities in the Primrose area and then, last night at 11 o'clock, we advised Cenovus in Foster Creek that it would be a good precautionary move to evacuate their personnel as well," said  Leslie Lozinski, spokeswoman for the province's environmental and resource ministry.

Cenovus evacuated their facilities at Foster Creek because the fire threatened the only road out, which would have made any evacuation of the facility difficult. Read More

 Alberta Bound??

Poor People Are Really Getting... POOR!

'Record gap' between rich and poor

Paris (AFP) - The gap between the rich and poor in most of the world's advanced economies is at record levels, according to an OECD study that also found glaring differences between men and women.

In most of the 34 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development the income gap is at its highest level in three decades, with the richest 10 percent of the population earning 9.6 times the income of the poorest 10 percent.

In the 1980s this ratio stood at 7 to 1, the OECD said in a report.

The wealth gap is even larger, with the top 1 percent owning 18 percent and the 40 percent only 3 percent of household wealth in 2012. Read More.

College 1970s Grads

California - Why So Dry?

California Drought Caused By Climate Change

Human released greenhouse gas pollution changes the climatic system through a variety of mechanisms. Trade winds and jet streams change their patterns of movement, and the distribution of moisture in the air changes, with precipitation either lacking more than usual or being more abundant than usual. The patterns of movement of major air masses and the increased bifurcation of air masses into more wet than usual and more dry than usual can result in long periods where region experiences excess precipitation or a lack of precipitation. When the latter happens, there can be a drought.

Increasingly, the California drought is being seen as an effect of climate change. Air masses that should have contributed precipitation in the form of mountain snow, which in turn feed the western ground water system, have been kept away. Increased temperature has increased evaporation. Other factors related to climate change have contributed. The result is an historic drought over California that shows at present no sign of stopping any time soon. There was hope that last winter there would be additional precipitation, and there was some, but not enough. Read More

Growing Irrigation Concern - Oily Water

Central Valley's growing concern: Crops raised with oil field water

Here  in California's thirsty farm belt, where pumpjacks nod amid neat rows of crops, it's a proposition that seems to make sense: using treated oil field wastewater to irrigate crops.

Oil giant Chevron recycles 21 million gallons of that water each day and sells it to farmers who use it on about 45,000 acres of crops, about 10% of Kern County's farmland.

State and local officials praise the 2-decade-old program as a national model for coping with the region's water shortages. As California's four-year drought lingers and authorities scramble to conserve every drop, agricultural officials have said that more companies are seeking permits to begin similar programs. The heightened interest in recycling oil field wastewater has raised concern over the adequacy of safety measures in place to prevent contamination from toxic oil production chemicals. Read More.

Not Salad Oil

American Bee Colonies Suffer HUGE Losses

Colony Loss 2014 – 2015: Preliminary Results

The Bee Informed Partnership (http://beeinformed.org), in collaboration with the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is releasing preliminary results for the ninth annual national survey of honey bee colony losses. For the 2014/2015 winter season, a preliminary 6,128 beekeepers in the United States provided valid responses. Collectively, these beekeepers managed 398,247 colonies in October 2014, representing about 14.5% of the country’s estimated 2.74 million managed honey bee colonies1.

About two-thirds of the respondents (67.2%) experienced winter colony loss rates greater than the average self-reported acceptable winter mortality rate of 18.7%. Preliminary results estimate that a total of 23.1% of the colonies managed in the Unites States were lost over the 2014/2015 winter. This would represent a decrease in losses of 0.6% compared to the previous 2013/2014 winter, which had reported a total loss estimated at 23.7%. This is the second year in a row the reported colony loss rate was notably lower than the 9-year average total loss of 28.7% (see Figure 1). Read More.

Dr. Kinesa's - Global Edge

If the bees go -guess who's next??

International Offices

May 22, 2015

#Reuters - Poor #Climate Hampers #Economic Development

Weak climate deal would jeopardize new development goals: experts

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The world's chances of achieving new international development goals will be slim without more ambitious action to curb climate change, researchers said.

Pakistan, for example, is unlikely to be able to end poverty by 2030 if accelerating climate change brings worse weather disasters, water scarcity and other problems, a new report from the UK-based Climate and Development Knowledge Network said.

But if global warming is held to 2 degrees Celsius – the aim of negotiations toward a new U.N. climate deal at the end of the year in Paris – Pakistan would have only a "low" risk of failing to eradicate poverty, the report said. Read More.

No Way Out

Dr. Kinesa's - Global Edge

Climate  change leaves no chance for poor nations. Period

International Offices

May21,2015

#NASA Scientists Say Antarctica Ice Shelf On Verge Of Collapse

NASA Study Shows Antarctica’s Larsen B Ice Shelf Nearing Its Final Act

A new NASA study finds the last remaining section of Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf, which partially collapsed in 2002, is quickly weakening and likely to disintegrate completely before the end of the decade.

A team led by Ala Khazendar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, found the remnant of the Larsen B Ice Shelf is flowing faster, becoming increasingly fragmented and developing large cracks. Two of its tributary glaciers also are flowing faster and thinning rapidly.

"These are warning signs that the remnant is disintegrating," Khazendar said. "Although it’s fascinating scientifically to have a front-row seat to watch the ice shelf becoming unstable and breaking up, it’s bad news for our planet. This ice shelf has existed for at least 10,000 years, and soon it will be gone." Read More.

Here's A Picture From NASA Video -

Worth Watching

Dr. Kinesa's - Global Edge

#SDSU Scientists Track Global Warming In Ice Patterns

SDSU Scientists Analyze Half-Mile Slice 

of West Antarctica Ice Core

Photo Largest Ice Cube Expedition Ever Captured By Secret Chinese Satellite

SDSU scientists analyzed a half-mile slice of Western Antarctica ice core to help determine that climate change begins in the Arctic and moves southward, according to chemistry professor Jihong Cole-Dai of the SDSU Ice Core and Environmental Chemistry Lab.

Since 2006, the SDSU research team have been part of a National Science Foundation project to uncover the secrets within an ice core dating 68,000 years. Researchers from more than 20 university and national laboratories helped retrieve and analyze more than 2 miles of ice core from the Western Antarctica Ice Sheet Divide. The drilling was completed in 2012. Read More.

Now They Even Know Where Ice-Cubes Are Made? 

Dr. Kinesa's - Global Edge

Fears grow daily in China that they will soon face a shortage. These are great top-secret pictures from the Chinese spy satellite of the world's largest ice cube expedition. 

Perhaps everyone should spare all the fuss and costs by providing a diplomatic envoy with a copy of the recipe that Beijing apparently lost. 

International Offices
May 19, 2015

China Surpass US Oil Imports - War Ahead?

China's Crude Oil Imports Surpass Those Of US In April

Chinese crude oil imports surpassed those of the United States for the first time in April, making the Asian nation the world’s top importer of crude oil. According to a report by the Financial Times, the world’s second-largest economy purchased 7.4 million barrels of crude oil a day in April, topping U.S. imports of 7.2 million barrels a day.

“Being the world's biggest crude importer should give China more buying power. China's engagement in the Middle East will continue to change, and it will no longer be the minority player,” Philip Andrews-Speed, head of energy security research at the National University of Singapore, told Reuters. Read More

Why Is Everyone Thinking About It?

Dr. Kinesa's - Global Edge

Thousands of implications, concerns and conclusions may be drawn from this economic energy watershed, but does anyone want to bet that this will not lead to war by 2050?  Figure if China matched US per capita consumption their imports could exceed 40 million per day and  they are heading to that level within a mere 25 years even though there is no physical chance to meet this need from global reserves and production. 

Now  you should see the problem because no nation in the world is going to give up growth policies, and thereby create domestic and geopolitical suicide. Never. Growth addictions exist and have no cure or rehab without hitting rock bottom first, as they say.

"So, beam me up Scotty"

International Offices
May 18, 2015

African Migrant Crisis Ties To Climate

Cause behind African migrant flood has terrifying implications for the world

The migrant crisis in the Mediterranean is symptomatic of deep dislocation in the Sahel region and sub-Saharan Africa — dislocation exacerbated by climate change.

Climate change is affecting such basic environmental conditions as rainfall patterns and temperatures and is contributing to more frequent natural disasters like floods and droughts. Over the long term, these changing conditions can undermine the rural livelihoods of farming, herding and fishing. The resulting rural dislocation is a factor in people’s decisions to migrate.

Migratory decisions are complex, of course, and nobody would argue that climate change is the only factor driving them. But climate change cannot be ignored. The second-order effects of climate change — undermined agriculture and competition for water and food resources — can contribute to instability and to higher numbers of migrants. Read More.

More Tragedies

Dr. Kinesa's - Global Edge

This is so awful, but you should expect more and more to come as populations move because of both climate change and the lack of any form of basic resources to survive with. Europe already in an economic pinch can ill afford to deal with a growing massive and costly migration problem.

Expect further social and political unrest as conditions deteriorate, including wars and greater violence.

International Offices

May 1, 2015