Amber Alert

 

My wife was trying to use her phone camera to capture the eerie amber light around sunrise this morning, but it wouldn't work. The software refused to believe it really looked that strange. 

I woke up from a poor night's sleep, having spent too much time at around 1 a.m. thinking about how climate scientists have been sounding the alarm for decades while we twiddle our collective thumbs. The group called 350.org was named for the CO2 target of 350 ppm, a greenhouse gas concentration that we passed in 1990. We surpassed 400 ppm in 2016 and are at 412 ppm now. We are simultaneously making history and ending it.

I wish I could head out to Drake's Beach and enjoy a quiet and lovely sunrise, like this one from 2014.

The amber light on that morning was tinted by a bit of fog, but no smoke. To get a better idea of the color of the light my wife was trying to photograph out our back window this morning, check out the North Bay Fire Cam screenshots below.

Looking west from Mt. Tamalpais.

Multi-cam View

Last year marked the first time in several million years that atmospheric concentrations of CO2 passed 400 parts per million. By looking at what Earth’s climate was like in previous eras of high CO2 levels, scientists are getting a sobering picture of where we are headed.

LINK

[UPDATE: Earth Day, 4/22/2024, atmospheric CO2 at 426ppm.]

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Beach Birds

 

The weather has taken an elegant tern for the better this morning, with a cool, foggy marine layer softening the scorching city. It was dark and cool during my walk, and fog was riding a southwestern breeze. The offshore winds still haven't arrived as of early this morning. We've been taking advantage of the welcome sea breeze by opening windows to chase away living room temperatures in the 80s.

These Drake's Beach scenes are from September 2014, right in the middle of the 2011-2017 drought that killed millions of trees which became tinder for forest fires, and which caused billions of dollars in agricultural losses.

I'm reading Storms of My Grandchildren by James Hansen. I downloaded the e-book without realizing it came out in 2009, a million years ago. It's kind of an interesting memoir of Hansen's efforts to get policy makers to take action to curb global warming before irreversible effects kick into gear. Back in 2009, Hansen had revised his target estimate of when atmospheric carbon dioxide would be too hot to handle from 450 ppm to 350 ppm. I just checked, and we're now at 412 ppm.

Morning View

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Photo Shop 1984

 

This was my photo shop long before it became Photoshop. I found this picture yesterday while I was looking for something else and thought I would post it. And then I changed my mind. But then I read a good interview with Craig Newmark this morning and decided to post the picture and this really good bit from Craig, discussing his philanthropy in the realm of journalism:

In 2016, you started Craig Newmark Philanthropies. And under that you fund many, many initiatives. In particular, you’ve given millions of dollars away to support journalism and protect press freedom. Why is this such an important issue to you and what do you hope to achieve? The principles are from high school history and civics taught by Mr. Schulzki in 1970. He said, “A trustworthy press is the immune system of democracy.” And yet in 2016, we were attacked by a hostile foreign power using information warfare techniques to place an asset in high office. It’s incumbent upon patriotic Americans to fight back, to work together, and to take the battle to the enemy.

I’m working with people in journalism, cybersecurity, studying disinformation and voter suppression. I’m working to try to protect the country because we are at war. My dad had World War II where he fought in the Pacific; I figure I have what Marshall McLuhan called “World War III,” a guerrilla information war fought without distinction between civilian and military participants. That’s the only thing he said that I ever understood.

https://nobhillgazette.com/the-interview-craig-beyond-the-list/

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