Climate Change Anecdotes

[River_Ghost]

First hand ecological damage and mass extinctions. Corals reefs; just to say they are a shadow of their former glory doesn't do it justice. When it comes to Insects and birds; literal silent spring scenarios, where you can sit on a river in a canoe and not see or hear a single bird, insect, or fish stirring the water. When I was young, you could literally fill buckets with muscles, scallops, and crabs by hand, now you couldn't find one to save your life. Water was swarming with fish when you would visit boat houses, just standing on the shores of islands you could see life stirring in the waters, now it's like staring into an abyss. Animals and insects were everywhere, inescapable, once you left civilization. Swarms of birds so thick they could blot out the sun.

Now, for me, it's like being on an alien planet. Within 30 years I saw the total collapse of the ecosystem where I live. It wouldn't be so bad if we weren't raised being exposed to nature and being taught to respect its power and it's beauty. There is nothing worse then seeing something you love, murdered right in front of you, and not being able to do anything about it. I don't attribute it to climate change. It's not the climate. Think of all the make-up, chemical deodorants, perfume, pharmaceuticals, soaps, weed and insect poisons, shampoos, colognes, dye, hair gel, etc, that we wash down the gutters, drains, sinks, toilets, showers and so on. That all goes into the ecosystem, and every last one of them is deadly to wild life. We have no idea what we're doing, and worse, if we did, people would riot in the streets if you told them we were going to outlaw the aforementioned substances. I keep screaming, but God doesn't hear me.

 

[Quintillus]

I've started avoiding climate change news to some degree because it's almost always bad news. New wildfires here, hot temperatures there, more hurricanes this year than last, etc. Is that fatalism? Maybe. But it's also somewhat that it's not really actionable. Why spend my time reading about Oregon's latest wildfires when I can't stop them, they don't affect me, and it's not a fascinating story (and may be a rather depressing story)? Kind of like how I don't usually follow all the hurricanes, it's only useful info if I had been thinking of traveling somewhere that happens to be in the path of one of them.

So, one question is do you only want negative anecdotes, or are less doom-and-gloom ones okay too?

I happen to live in an area (the Great Lakes part of the U.S.) that has been pretty stable, and is predicted to be among the less affected areas when it comes to climate change. It's often considered boring and rust belt, but 50 years from now it might be a popular area to live because we'll have plenty of water and fairly moderate temperatures and ample produce and probably not too many wildfires either (they're unknown here currently). No hurricanes either, too far inland. So, in a way, climate change might be good for our economy as other areas become less hospitable and people decide that instead of moving to the desert or the west coast or Florida, the Great Lakes climate of 2070 is pretty appealing.

The main difference I've noticed is we have fewer cold, long winters. In the '90s, probably half of them were cold or long; in the past decade it's probably two.

One of those was this past winter. We had weeks where it never got above freezing, lakes that rarely freeze over froze over, and it seemed like spring was never going to arrive. Decent amounts of snow, too. Nothing to match the famous blizzards of 1950 and 1978, but it was a real winter. So we still get those from time to time, and that's reassuring.

Summers? Are they hotter? Maybe, but it's hard to tell. It got into the mid-90s last week, and that's hot. But the past few days have been mid-70s, idyllic, perfect evenings, great June weather but wouldn't be out of place in late May either, a bit cool in the evenings, I wished I'd had a jacket Saturday night. And we've always had weird spikes and dips, so I wouldn't read too much into a few days in the mid 90s in June, whereas it's usually more common in July or August. Maybe the whole summer will be a scorcher, but last July and August were pretty mild.

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Now that Salt Lake evaporation info is pretty interesting, and rather concerning as well. It's entirely possible that we're doomed (or doomed to a fair degree), and both statistics and the balance of anecdotal evidence seems to support that. But I like to remind myself that not all the forests are going to catch on fire, not all the rivers are going to flood every year, and that there are areas that are going to remain pretty inhabitable, at least within our lifetimes. Maybe Earth will resemble Venus in 3000 AD, and we should try to avoid that fate for our planet. But I could stay in the part of the country I live in now my whole life, and probably be just fine as long as climate change doesn't cause society to collapse through civil strife, and that's somewhat reassuring and lets me be a more productive human being than if I expected my area would be totally uninhabitable by 2040.

 

[Akka]

When I was young, 25°C was the expected temperature in summer. 30°C was a pretty hot day. 40°C was some sort of "wow we broke a record", something that might happen one time at one day in an especially warm year.
Today, 25°C is a reasonable lukewarm day in summer, 30°C is pretty common and I expect to have a few days at 40°C each year.

 

[Zardnaar]

Cold snap last few days lol. Oops

 

[gangleri2001]

When I was young, 25°C was the expected temperature in summer. 30°C was a pretty hot day. 40°C was some sort of "wow we broke a record", something that might happen one time at one day in an especially warm year.
Today, 25°C is a reasonable lukewarm day in summer, 30°C is pretty common and I expect to have a few days at 40°C each year.

Same here.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Cold snap last few days lol. Oops

Funny, I was just about to write that we often have to remind ourselves that weather and climate aren't the same thing, and that "global warming" doesn't always mean hot weather and droughts. Yesterday, the upper elevations of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire got slammed by what you would normally call a Winter storm. Freezing temperatures, rain, sleet & snow, wind gusts to 80 mph/128 kph. Several hikers called for help and had to be rescued by emergency personnel in 4wd trucks using tire chains because there was so much ice on the roads. One man died of 'extreme hypothermia.' Happy first day of Summer!

 

[Birdjaguar]

Within 30 years I saw the total collapse of the ecosystem where I live.

Where do you live?

 

[Birdjaguar]

Funny, I was just about to write that we often have to remind ourselves that weather and climate aren't the same thing, and that "global warming" doesn't always mean hot weather and droughts. Yesterday, the upper elevations of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire got slammed by what you would normally call a Winter storm. Freezing temperatures, rain, sleet & snow, wind gusts to 80 mph/128 kph. Several hikers called for help and had to be rescued by emergency personnel in 4wd trucks using tire chains because there was so much ice on the roads. One man died of 'extreme hypothermia.' Happy first day of Summer!

The summit of Mt Washington is a beautiful and dangerous place.

 

[El_Machinae]

I must say, that the 'anecdote' is significant to me. I'd been dreaming of visiting a certain scuba coral reef site since I was a young adult. It was about 2 years ago that I realized that it will probably be destroyed before I can afford to go.

 

[River_Ghost]

Where do you live?

I enjoy my anonymity.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I must say, that the 'anecdote' is significant to me. I'd been dreaming of visiting a certain scuba coral reef site since I was a young adult. It was about 2 years ago that I realized that it will probably be destroyed before I can afford to go.

Which one?

 

[Berzerker]

When we came here long ago we got plenty of snow, its declined so much I sold the snowblower (I have a tractor with a shovel just in case)

For nearly sixty-two years, Mount Washington, New Hampshire held the world record for the fastest wind gust ever recorded on the surface of the Earth: 231 miles per hour, recorded April 12, 1934 by Mount Washington Observatory staff.

A tornado can top that, but Australia has the new record at 253 mph during a typhoon

 

[El_Machinae]

Which one?

There are personal reasons why I cannot be more specific.

I've been politically active on AGW for 25 years now, as well as actively consuming information around the topic. This was during my libertarian years when I was in finance and all the way to now.
What's 'funny' is that if I'd put the money I put into AGW into the vacation, I'd be able to afford to go. I don't regret trying to do the right thing, but it hurts, y'know?

 

[Zardnaar]

This mornings frost 5:30 at night.

 

[gangleri2001]

View attachment 631874
This mornings frost 5:30 at night.

At first I was like "WTH?!"

Then I saw your location.

 

[Zardnaar]

At first I was like "WTH?!"

Then I saw your location.

Basically had a hard frost and it didn't tgaw out the next day.

-8 inland other day supposed to last a few more days.

 

[Bamspeedy]

Think of all the make-up, chemical deodorants, perfume, pharmaceuticals, soaps, weed and insect poisons, shampoos, colognes, dye, hair gel, etc, that we wash down the gutters, drains, sinks, toilets, showers and so on.

Wastewater treatment facilities.....

The weed and insect poisons are a concern.

 

[River_Ghost]

Wastewater treatment facilities.....

The solvent waste stream from processing may be used as reclaimed water, but there are fewer options for disposal of a concentrated waste solute stream. Ships use marine dumping and coastal desalination plants typically use marine outfalls (flush it into the sea). They dump the chemical waste into swamps, the ocean, and typically anywhere else they can lobby to get a permit or get away with illegally.

Besides. Why do you think it would be able to clean all of the other chemicals but not insect and weed poisons? Tap water is stocked with heavy metals and chemicals. They stop just short of you being able to light it on fire, and sometimes, they don't even do that. If you wash your car, spray weed killers, etc, or use any type of chemical outside, it goes directly into the aquifer. Magnify that by billions of people doing it. Anyway you slice it, it's cake made of ****.

 

[El_Machinae]

I presume it's because insect and weed poisons are applied to the ground outside of areas where wastewater is collected and treated. They're related issues, but require different infrastructure.

 

[River_Ghost]

I presume it's because insect and weed poisons are applied to the ground outside of areas where wastewater is collected and treated. They're related issues, but require different infrastructure.

Look up maps for aquifers. They require different infrastructure, yes. I don't know what that would look like, how it would be possible, or how to fix the existing damage, but I know it hasn't existed since the industrial era began. Yikes.