LibertyBell

yep about the same NYC got

all winters have thaws

Excellent article right here https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/14/cop26-last-hope-survival-climate-civil-disobedience https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/14/cop26-last-hope-survival-climate-civil-disobedience So does this mean we might as well give up? It does not. For just as the complex natural systems on which our lives depend can flip suddenly from one state to another, so can the systems that humans have created. Our social and economic structures share characteristics with the Earth systems on which we depend. They have self-reinforcing properties – that stabilise them within a particular range of stress, but destabilise them when external pressure becomes too great. Like natural systems, if they are driven past their tipping points, they can flip with astonishing speed. Our last, best hope is to use those dynamics to our advantage, triggering what scientists call “cascading regime shifts”. Cop26: deadline for agreeing crucial climate deal passes but negotiations set to continue – as it happened Read more A fascinating paper published in January in the journal Climate Policy showed how we could harness the power of “domino dynamics”: non-linear change, proliferating from one part of the system to another. It points out that “cause and effect need not be proportionate”, a small disturbance, in the right place, can trigger a massive response from a system and flip it into a new state. This is how the global financial crisis of 2008-09 happened: a relatively minor shock (mortgage defaults in the US) was transmitted and amplified through the entire system, almost bringing it down. We could use this property to detonate positive change. It is not hard to envisage a low-carbon economy in which everything else falls apart. The end of fossil fuels will not, by itself, prevent the extinction crisis, the deforestation crisis, the soils crisis, the freshwater crisis, the consumption crisis, the waste crisis; the crisis of smashing and grabbing, accumulating and discarding that will destroy our prospects and much of the rest of life on Earth. So we also need to use the properties of complex systems to trigger another shift: political change. ‘Green growth’ doesn’t exist – less of everything is the only way to avert catastrophe George Monbiot George Monbiot Read more There’s an aspect of human nature that is simultaneously terrible and hopeful: most people side with the status quo, whatever it may be. A critical threshold is reached when a certain proportion of the population change their views. Other people sense that the wind has changed, and tack around to catch it. There are plenty of tipping points in recent history: the remarkably swift reduction in smoking; the rapid shift, in nations such as the UK and Ireland, away from homophobia; the #MeToo movement, which, in a matter of weeks, greatly reduced the social tolerance of sexual abuse and everyday sexism. But where does the tipping point lie? Researchers whose work was published in Science in 2018 discovered that a critical threshold was passed when the size of a committed minority reached roughly 25% of the population. At this point, social conventions suddenly flip. Between 72% and 100% of the people in the experiments swung round, destroying apparently stable social norms. As the paper notes, a large body of work suggests that “the power of small groups comes not from their authority or wealth, but from their commitment to the cause”. Advertisement Another paper explored the possibility that the Fridays for Future climate protests could trigger this kind of domino dynamics. It showed how, in 2019, Greta Thunberg’s school strike snowballed into a movement that led to unprecedented electoral results for Green parties in several European nations. Survey data revealed a sharp change of attitudes, as people began to prioritise the environmental crisis. Fridays for Future came close, the researchers suggest, to pushing the European political system into a “critical state”. It was interrupted by the pandemic, and the tipping has not yet happened. But witnessing the power, the organisation and the fury of the movements gathered in Glasgow, I suspect the momentum is building again. Social convention, which has for so long worked against us, can if flipped become our greatest source of power, normalising what now seems radical and weird. If we can simultaneously trigger a cascading regime shift in both technology and politics, we might stand a chance. It sounds like a wild hope. But we have no choice. Our survival depends on raising the scale of civil disobedience until we build the greatest mass movement in history, mobilising the 25% who can flip the system. We do not consent to the destruction of life on Earth.

This video captures it all

eggs and shaving cream? where did that come from?

wow it would be amazing if they ever got accumulating snow from a coastal storm

when was the last time it snowed in Jacksonville lol

Totally agree with you on moral flexibility and moral relativity too....for example while ancient Greek culture was highly advanced scientifically, there are some societal mores they had which we would be extremely opposed to.

So we have both the good and bad of complex creative minds. When does it reach the point where the bad outweighs the good and evolution randomly charts a different path for us? How common is this in the universe/multiverse? hmmmm. and what you mentioned about the unequal distribution of intellectual "property" for lack of a better word, is why I sometimes question the value of democracy in the face of existential threats.

I've always wondered the same about humanity. Is a human much more likely to become a serial killer, for example, because with our complex minds with so many interacting parts, there is much more that can go wrong? That also makes me wonder if there is a physical cap on how much evolution can do beyond which intelligence actually becomes a handicap and a barrier to further evolution. Mozart and Einstein are amazing, but we have some people even today who don't get enough attention for the magnificent things they do. I introduce you to this little girl, who creates new universes in her own mind and describes them through the world of music! https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alma-deutscher-60-minutes-the-prodigy-whose-first-language-is-mozart-2019-08-11/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alma-deutscher-watch-a-prodigy-create-from-four-notes-in-a-hat-60-minutes-2019-08-11/ Isn't she absolutely amazing, John? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma_Deutscher Alma Elizabeth Deutscher (born 19 February 2005) is a British composer, pianist and violinist. Deutscher composed her first piano sonata at the age of five. At seven, she completed a short opera The Sweeper of Dreams. Aged nine, she wrote a concerto for violin and orchestra. At the age of ten, she wrote her first full-length opera, Cinderella, which had its European premiere in Vienna in 2016 under the patronage of conductor Zubin Mehta. The U.S. premiere a year later at Opera San Jose[1] was released on DVD by Sony Classical. Deutscher’s piano concerto was performed when she was 12. She made her debut at Carnegie Hall in 2019.

I'm wondering how 40 could be normal for December when it was more like 36 when I was growing up in the 80s and December 1989 averaged around 25 We need to start dumping dust into the stratosphere to block some sunlight

wow when I was growing up in the 80s our normal for December was 36....and December 1989 averaged around 25!

and even 15-16 was a good winter with a historic blizzard and below zero in February

hey I thought it was a rock group lol

Chris, do you have the one for JFK too? I think they came close to 80 on one or two of those days last year?

Seeing how we're now getting research showing how microplastics could be a major health issue the less we use plastic bags the better.

No because they are turned into compost: https://www.westsuburbanliving.net/perspectives/smash-don-t-trash/article_32053aec-1626-11eb-882e-eb78ef440ff2.html Smashing pumpkins is neither just the name of a band or just for quirky enjoyment — these squashes are being squashed for a serious reason. When millions of pounds of post-Halloween pumpkins land in landfills nationwide, they release harmful methane gas. But thanks to SCARCE, in the past six years about 380 tons of pumpkins have instead been composted. “This is an opportunity to reduce our impact on climate change,’ notes McKeen, particularly since Illinois is the number one producer of the orange gourds nationwide. Pumpkins are largely comprised of water, which can leech methane gas into landfills and then to rivers and streams. On the other hand, composted pumpkins create a positive result: they improve soil for planting. “Pumpkins are in the top 50 most nutrient-rich vegetables in the world. When they’re composted into the soil, you don’t need as many synthetic herbicides or fertilizers that flow into our streams,” says McKeen. “It’s a win, win, win, win, win.”

yep, it's basically a form of brainwashing when you hear something enough times you tend to believe it, no matter how irrational it is.

it doesn't feel that cold this week thanks to the sun

I'd hope the newer technology would last longer. It's sort of like LCD panels, I was an early adopter and bought one in 2000 and it only lasted like 3 years lol. The tech improved and the ones I bought in 2010 are still going strong (knock on wood lol) I've even read that there is new tech in the works which can have solar panel tech embedded directly into paint! So basically all you would have to do if you ever needed it to be redone, is just put a new coat of this paint on your house. That tech is just in early development right now, but it's the kind of thing we could see in the future.

Thats a good point. I actually used to buy a lot of peat moss. Another thing that has a negative impact is leaving pumpkins around after Halloween. I read that pumpkins release a high amount of methane so we need to smash them so that doesn't happen after we're done with them.

Looks like Canada has agreed not to dig up this carbon https://twitter.com/i/events/1458571860183064576 Beneath Canada’s wilderness is a massive carbon reservoir that’s been accumulating for some 10,000 years – what happens if it’s disturbed? New research reveals what scientists have learned about the scale and distribution of a massive carbon reservoir lying just below the surface in wilderness areas across the country — and what’s at stake for the planet if it’s disturbed

and it's weird how people forget it was even warmer than this last year around this time.

wow really? I've always lived on the south shore and as far back as I can remember, Thanksgiving marks the time when all the leaves have fallen

two seasons now.....wet season and wetter season.....so these dry interludes are nice to have