February 2007

More Inconvenient Science

polar bearsScientists studying the history of climate variations in Arctic regions have confirmed that the Northern Polar regions were much warmer than today. Over the last quarter-million years, the most significant arctic warming took place some 130,000 years in the past. The warming then had a much greater effect on the ice and vegetation than could happen now with the relatively small increase in global temperature.

Image: Two polar bears sparring on the arctic tundra in Canada.

This is the conclusion from From World Climate Report where an excellent analysis of the scientific report may be found:

Arctic Lessons from the Last Interglacial (Polar bears survived)

The next time that you see Al Gore’s photo collection of decaying glaciers and polar bears drowning as the distance between icebergs and the shore is too far to swim, think of the LIG as a natural period in Earth’s history when hippopotamus and the water tortoise were widespread as far north as Great Britain and birch forests reached the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Remember that then, as now, the Arctic naturally warmed more dramatically than the rest of the world, and also keep in mind that our modern global climate models – those that sit next to the panic button – are stumbling around that reality.

Marina Ripple

Today we took the day off — Bob went to the dentist -ouch! — but other than that, we had a pretty good day. We took a leisurely drive back from the dentist (who practices in the people’s republic of Santa Monica) along the California coastline through the beach communities back home. One stop was at Marina Del Rey where I snapped this nice picture of the morning sun rippling across the channel on a beautiful California morning.

marina ripple

A Nice Rose

We were at the gun show most of the day, so we don’t have an article ready, therefore I present this nice rose as the daily post. We snapped this picture in the floral department at the supermarket. We didn’t buy roses, but we did get some nice stargazers that will be opening this week. More on that later.

Pink Rose

An Iridescent Purple Mum

This variety is called ‘Osteospermum’ or ‘Soprano Purple’ mum — or at least it’s the name we found for it on the web. True mums and pansies are natural choices for cooler nighttime temperatures, so this is now in a pot in the patio with some smaller daisies and stuff. More purple buds are coming out soon.

Purple Mum

WTC Memorials in South Bay

wtc.jpgSeveral cities in southwestern Los Angeles County have erected memorials to the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and to victims of Flight 93. Among them are the cities of Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Lomita and Torrance. Now, the city of Redondo Beach will be joining the list as they expect to receive a 300-pound beam fragment from the WTC as a gift from FDNY. The Redondo Beach Firefighters have established a strong relationship with the New York Firefighters. Read about how the beam fragment came to be delivered to the city and about the experiences of the firefighters in the South Bay Daily Breeze article below the fold.

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