One of world's largest lithium battery power plants is on fire near Monterey, California. Catching up on this week in the LA fires. David Lynch tribute.
I forgot to say I didn't even know these things existed until about an hour before doing the program. Massive lithium storage batteries on the grid? I had NO idea.
What happened in LA is an example of climate whiplash. My favorite weather blogger, Daniel Swain, writes about the overarching weather context of the LA Fires, a subject he knows well, as he’s a co-author of a brand new paper about the topic of "climate whiplash.” The graphic at the top of the page provides a look at the astounding number of recent events [10 big ones!] involving drastic fluctuations between exceptionally wet weather and exceptional dry weather.
Hydroclimate volatility on a warming Earth, Daniel Swain, 1/15/25.
Insurance policies are being cancelled en masse in much of California, including the hilly parts of my town, Berkeley, vulnerable to both wildfires as well as flooding/muslides. I read about this constantly in a a local web page, Next Door. This is happening in lots of areas around the US which are particularly climate sensitive.
How Do We Know that Humans Are the Major Cause of Global Warming?
Published Jul 14, 2009 Updated Jan 21, 2021
And an explanation of how the rate of change in the average global temperature has been accelerating, and a listing of the numerous processes which play a role of positive feedback, i.e. accelerating the rate of change. The current rate of change, by the way, is unprecedented in the planet's history.
Guy McPherson’s big essay, Climate Change Summary and Update, last update August 2016.
"Observations from the geological record show that atmospheric CO2 concentrations are now at their highest levels in at least the past 3 million years. Furthermore, the current speed of human-induced CO2 change and warming is nearly without precedent in the entire geological record, with the only known exception being the instantaneous, meteorite-induced event that caused the extinction of non-bird-like dinosaurs 66 million years ago. In short, whilst atmospheric CO2 concentrations have varied dramatically during the geological past due to natural processes, and have often been higher than today, the current rate of CO2 (and therefore temperature) change is unprecedented in almost the entire geological past."
CO2 is not the only "greenhouse gas" being emitted in growing amounts via human activity, particularly industry. Some of them are in fact more potent than CO2, though they occur in smaller amounts.
Nice calming Intro music. Appreciate the chill in all the heat....another stormy day here in the Australian bush. A good day to catch up on your prodigious output this week. Thanks, brother.
I forgot to say I didn't even know these things existed until about an hour before doing the program. Massive lithium storage batteries on the grid? I had NO idea.
Update with some harrowing video
https://www.ksbw.com/article/smoke-cloud-moss-landing-battery-plant-california/63459540
A Violent Yet Flammable World
By Au Revoir Simone
Oceans shape the sides
Touching down in the spaces
Soaking from a warm goodbye
An early rise offers kindly
Tonight I sleep to dream
Of a place that's calling me
It is always just a dream
Still I cannot forget what I have seen
The crowd's hard to believe
At their faces I'm looking
But your feet I'm following
In soft steps on a path the way you lead
I don't want to lose myself
It's a whisper
It's a funny thing
We fold like icicles on paper shelves
It's a pity to appear this way
You're flying when your foreign eyes
Trace the heights of the city
Steaming
With rocks and clouds we breathe
Violent skies
A shock to my own body
Speech is wild
Alive sacred and sounding
Wild
From across and beyond, oh far beyond
I don't want to lose myself
It's a whisper
It's a funny thing
We fold like icicles on paper shelves
It's a pity to appear this way
Hold, hold, hold on
I swear I saw it somewhere
Waving, waiting, one, two, three, above the wakes that follow
Hold, hold, hold on
I swear I saw it somewhere
Waving, waiting, one, two, three, above the wakes that follow
I don't want to lose myself
Tonight I sleep to dream of a place that's calling me
It's a whisper
It is always just a dream
It's a funny thing
Still I cannot forget what I have seen
We fold like icicles on paper shelves
With rocks and clouds we breathe, a shock to my own body
It's a pity
Alive sacred and sounding
To appear this way
From across and beyond, oh far beyond
By that mean if phones can blow up and take off your leg then extrapolate.
there must be dozens of these things across the state and many many more across the country. they are REQUIRED in every power plant in California.
And all over the world
How could the battery fire NOT have been foreseen???
Ask Elon!
What happened in LA is an example of climate whiplash. My favorite weather blogger, Daniel Swain, writes about the overarching weather context of the LA Fires, a subject he knows well, as he’s a co-author of a brand new paper about the topic of "climate whiplash.” The graphic at the top of the page provides a look at the astounding number of recent events [10 big ones!] involving drastic fluctuations between exceptionally wet weather and exceptional dry weather.
https://weatherwest.com/archives/43181
Hydroclimate volatility on a warming Earth, Daniel Swain, 1/15/25.
Insurance policies are being cancelled en masse in much of California, including the hilly parts of my town, Berkeley, vulnerable to both wildfires as well as flooding/muslides. I read about this constantly in a a local web page, Next Door. This is happening in lots of areas around the US which are particularly climate sensitive.
"Twin Peaks" is set in Washington, actually filmed in North Bend, 30 miles east of Seattle.
Here is an explanation of how increasing CO2 levels lead to an increase in global average temperature.
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/02/25/carbon-dioxide-cause-global-warming/
Info on how we know that the increased amounts of CO2 are due to human activity, a "fingerprint"
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/are-humans-major-cause-global-warming
How Do We Know that Humans Are the Major Cause of Global Warming?
Published Jul 14, 2009 Updated Jan 21, 2021
And an explanation of how the rate of change in the average global temperature has been accelerating, and a listing of the numerous processes which play a role of positive feedback, i.e. accelerating the rate of change. The current rate of change, by the way, is unprecedented in the planet's history.
Guy McPherson’s big essay, Climate Change Summary and Update, last update August 2016.
https://guymcpherson.com/climate-chaos/climate-change-summary-and-update/
See here for a graoh of the current rate of change via past eras.
https://problemspredicamentsandtechnology.blogspot.com/2021/11/why-war-on-climate-change-is-bipolar.html
Why The "War" on Climate Change is Bipolar, Erik Michaels, 11/6/21. Links at the page.
And, a December 2020 statement from The Geological Society of London:
https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsl/jgs/article/178/1/jgs2020-239/593602/Geological-Society-of-London-Scientific-Statement
"Observations from the geological record show that atmospheric CO2 concentrations are now at their highest levels in at least the past 3 million years. Furthermore, the current speed of human-induced CO2 change and warming is nearly without precedent in the entire geological record, with the only known exception being the instantaneous, meteorite-induced event that caused the extinction of non-bird-like dinosaurs 66 million years ago. In short, whilst atmospheric CO2 concentrations have varied dramatically during the geological past due to natural processes, and have often been higher than today, the current rate of CO2 (and therefore temperature) change is unprecedented in almost the entire geological past."
CO2 is not the only "greenhouse gas" being emitted in growing amounts via human activity, particularly industry. Some of them are in fact more potent than CO2, though they occur in smaller amounts.
https://guymcpherson.com/?s=greenhouse+gases+&apbct__email_id__search_form_94690=94690
Nice calming Intro music. Appreciate the chill in all the heat....another stormy day here in the Australian bush. A good day to catch up on your prodigious output this week. Thanks, brother.
Damn, that song is irresistible. :-)