The hottest May in modern history: Earth breaks heat record for 13th month in a row
- Record May heat put global average at 60.17 degrees Fahrenheit
- 1.57 degrees above the 20th-century average says NOAA
- If you live in Arizona, California or Nevada, watch out for temperatures as high as 120 degrees in the next few days.
- That is not a typo
- .Excessive heat warnings are in effect beginning this weekend until as late as next Wednesday for the southern half of Arizona, much of Southern California and a tiny slice at the southernmost tip of Nevada.Those happen to be areas where out-of-control wildfires will only be fueled by the approaching heat.
- Cities in the mercury-popping warning area include Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona; Los Angeles, San Diego, Anaheim and Palm Springs in California; and Las Vegas — just in time for the arrival of as many as 200,000 music lovers for the annual Electric Daisy dance music festival this weekend.
- The total number of people under some form of hot weather advisory into next week — 66 million — represents about a fifth of the entire U.S. population.
- Mail Online
Carbon emission release rate ‘unprecedented’ in past 66m years
The so-called Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) saw temperatures rise by 5C over a few thousand years. At the start of the PETM, no more than 1bn tonnes of carbon was being released into the atmosphere each year. In stark contrast, we release 10bn tonnes of carbon every year. “The consequences are likely to be much more severe. If you kick a system very fast, it usually responds differently than if you nudge it slowly but steadily.” The source of the PETM carbon emissions was probably the mass release of methane which had been frozen as hydrates on the ocean floor, probably triggered by a smaller initial release of carbon.
120 Degrees! Western Wildfires Explode With Triple-Digit Heat Wave on the Way
Heat wave, winds feared as southern California wildfire advances
"We're here at the beginning of June and we're seeing very active fires very similar to behavior that we would typically see in the fall,"
India Drought Hits Crisis Point, 330 Million People Affected
Water in 91 of India’s major reservoirs currently stands at just 15% capacity
Will The UK Write History Towards Freedom?
We are one week away from the EU referendum, the moment when the British people will be called upon to make a historic decision – will they vote to “Brexit” or to “Bremain”? Both camps have been going at each other with fierce campaigns to tilt the vote in their direction, but according to the latest polls, with the “Leave” camp’s latest surge still within the margin of error, the projected outcome is too close to call.
It is a rare moment in history. The British haven’t had their say since they voted to join the European Community back in 1975. What was initially thought of as a project to unite Europe into one common market, with benefits of free trade and great promises of increasing national wealth, has mutated into a completely different entity. The British have, instead, found themselves being dragged into a regional economy of zero growth and a weak Euro, and heavily indebted states. You may have come across the arguments of both camps, but here we wish to address what a “Brexit” or “Bremain” scenario would mean for Britain.
If the UK Bremains..
If the British vote to “Bremain”, Britain will start to operate with a “special status” within the union, after Prime Minister David Cameron reportedly renegotiated Britain’s relationship with the EU, in anticipation of the referendum. Cameron tried to change some of the rules of the agreement, to address the concerns of the British public that made them favor a Brexit in the first place. The matter of ‘sovereignty’ came first in the list of the most common anti-EU grievances, as the public felt the country no longer had a say in its own affairs, and was pressured to comply with EU regulations as part of the greater union. Cameron succeeded in having the UK released from any commitment to be politically integrated into the EU body, and there were talks about granting some autonomy and power to national parliaments, through the “red card mechanism” (i.e. if 55% of national parliaments object to one vote, they can block a proposal submitted by the European Commission). This proposal, however, does not in any way alter the UK-EU relationship, while it is also unlikely to be practically enforced, much like the preexisting “yellow” card that has only been used twice so far. Thus, British autonomy, specifically, remains unaddressed.
