an even more frightening perspective

[ousdahl]

Back on topic:

It’s been raining here on and off all week.

It’s kinda pleasant in itself, but April is otherwise usually a snowy month here, and we normally don’t see this kinda weather til June.

[KUTradition]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate- ... _p001_f001

[KUTradition]

3 degrees by the end of the century is now the “optimistic” goal, apparently…not 1.5

parasites

[KUTradition]

https://www.popularmechanics.com/scienc ... ck-of-ice/

[Shirley]

https://www.popularmechanics.com/scienc ... ck-of-ice/

Sadly, beyond description, news like this makes me wonder if I could have kids with a clear conscience these days.

Oh, and mods, would you mind banning this guy?

tia

[ousdahl]

Have kids?

Good luck.

https://amp.theguardian.com/environment ... erm-counts

Microplastics found in every human testicle in study

[TDub]

good god, I just had a brief,but aggressive conversation with an employee who apparently is an avid climate change denier. My fucking lord....insane. Just a complete lack of grasping mountains of evidence and sources proving the contrary. Incredible and really painful. I guess, his opinion carries just as much weight as every scientist for the last 100+ years.

His reasoning? we had an ice age 10,000 years ago so it can't be real. What?

Oh also, this county was hotter 4 years ago than it is today, so..boom, proof it's all a sham. what....the fuck?


It's essentially what I imagine a real life conversation would be like with Q on the basketball board or poli bored.

[MICHHAWK]

my general rule of thumb for my everyday real life interactions with real people. i only discuss:
chicks
music
sports
television

that's it. I have never had a problem with anyone. if i limit the interaction to that.

[TDub]

my general rule of thumb for my everyday real life interactions with real people. i only discuss:
chicks
music
sports
television

that's it. I have never had a problem with anyone. if i limit the interaction to that.

I didn't bring it up.

[MICHHAWK]

in that case my response is always "i don't know anything about it."

[TDub]

in that case my response is always "i don't know anything about it."

i could've done that.

but my tongue was bleeding from biting down on it and I opened my mouth instead

[TDub]

also it's 52 degrees and raining today...and its almost June so of course I'm the idiot....aye aye aye. I will note that and remember to never rely on his opinion for anything that requires braincells in the future.

[pdub]

in that case my response is always "i don't know anything about it."

Which is very likely true.

[Shirley]

in that case my response is always "i don't know anything about it."

Which is very likely true.

^^^

#insightful

[KUTradition]

Mexico City and millions of its residents could run out of water in weeks

The metropolitan area of 22 million gets about a quarter of its water from a system that is running dry. Some say it could be unable to provide water by June 26.

[KUTradition]

Venezuela becomes first country in the Americas to lose all their glaciers (once home to six)

[TDub]

Mexico City and millions of its residents could run out of water in weeks

The metropolitan area of 22 million gets about a quarter of its water from a system that is running dry. Some say it could be unable to provide water by June 26.

meanwhile 50 consecutive days of rain predicted for England

[Shirley]

Let's hope it works:

From Carlsbad Aquafarm to Chula Vista | Seashells help preserve San Diego Bay

[japhy]

I don't fish in Alaska so it doesn't really affect me.

I just bought some fresh Copper River sockeye, it was $36/lb. Thanks Brandon.

Researchers for years have been baffled as rivers and streams across Alaska turned orange, but new research points to climate change as an answer.

Scientists suspect the drastic color change is the result of thawing permafrost — which essentially is frozen ground — releasing minerals into crystal clear water, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Earth and Environment. The change could threaten drinking water and fisheries in the area.

"Those orange streams can be problematic both in terms of being toxic but might also prevent migration of fish to spawning areas," lead author Jon O'Donnell, an ecologist for the National Park Service Arctic Inventory and Monitoring Network, said in a press release.

Here's a closer look at what's happening to Alaska's water.

Where are the orange streams and rivers?

The impacted water is in federal lands, including Gates of the Arctic and Kobuk Valley national parks, researchers said. Scientists sampled affected water across 75 locations in a Texas-sized area of northern Alaska's Brooks mountain range. Some of the sampled areas are so remote that helicopters are one of the only ways to access them.

"The more we flew around, we started noticing more and more orange rivers and streams," O'Donnell said. "There are certain sites that look almost like a milky orange juice."

Some of the stained areas are so large that the orange rivers are visible from space, according to Brett Poulin, an assistant professor of environmental toxicology at UC Davis and a study researcher.

"These have to be stained a lot to pick them up from space," Poulin said in a press release.

O'Donnell first noticed a change in water in 2018, but researchers said satellite images recorded stained waters dating back to 2008.

"The issue is slowly propagating from small headwaters into bigger rivers over time," O'Donnell said. "When emergent issues or threats come about, we need to be able to understand them."

The National Park Service previously pointed to Salmon River as a particular point of concern. The water there was "pristine" before 2019. That summer, the clear water turned orange-green. The discoloration stuck around and there remain orange stains on the river banks.

What's in the orange water?

Scientists believe that minerals stored in permafrost were released as the climate warmed. The metal ores were exposed to water and oxygen, causing them to release acid and metals.

Samples showed elevated or high levels of iron, zinc, nickel, copper and cadmium in the impacted water. Iron is one of the most dominant metals and it is believed to be behind the orange coloration

Some of the water samples had a pH of 2.3, compared to an average pH of 8 for rivers, which means the impacted water is significantly more acidic.

What are some future concerns?

Researchers are still working to understand what's happening with the colored water and what risks might exist for fishing stocks and drinking water. The study did note that "stream discoloration was associated with dramatic declines in macroinvertebrate diversity and fish abundance."

Alaska's Arctic rivers are home to a variety of fish that are "critical for subsistence, sport, and commercial fisheries," researchers wrote. Iron and other toxic metals in the water could threaten those fish.

Metals in the water could also impact rural drinking supplies. Researchers said that, at a minimum, they could impact the water's taste, requiring rural communities to enhance their water filtration.

"There's a lot of implications," O'Donnell said. "As the climate continues to warm, we would expect permafrost to continue to thaw and so wherever there are these types of minerals, there's potential for streams to be turning orange and becoming degraded in terms of water quality."

Researchers plan to study whether the rivers and streams can rebound if cold weather promotes permafrost recovery.

But don't worry, somewhere out there is an engineer who will save our asses.

Every week for almost 36 years, a group of mostly older adults with a Pennsylvania Trout Unlimited chapter have performed an unheralded but vital task: keeping Stony Creek, the state’s first designated scenic river, livable for fish.

They drive, bicycle, cross-country ski or snowshoe — whichever is necessary — 4 miles into Pennsylvania’s second-largest roadless area, where they take turns hurling 160 shovelfuls of limestone gravel into two round, grate-covered holes in the ground.

From there, gravity and physics take over and do a remarkable thing. Water tainted with acid mine drainage from adjacent Rausch Creek, Stony Creek’s primary tributary in northeast Lebanon County, is diverted by pipe into the limestone-filled wells. The churning limestone rocks both remove the acidity and send a plume of dissolved limestone downstream, raising the pH in Stony Creek.

The now-alkaline water counteracts the lingering mine pollution and enables trout and other aquatic life to survive in the gorgeous wild stream for about 20 miles, until it joins the Susquehanna River above Harrisburg. Without the regular dose of limestone, trout stocked in the stream — and now sometimes reproducing — would die within weeks.

Well OK, some of your kids will be saved. We are just going to have to figure out how to get by with less. People, that is. Because the cost of changing our systems to reduce carbon is economically too high for me and mine to consider the hit it would have on my stock portfolio. The economic trade off does not have a payback for me in the near term.

I will be dead before I can't afford Copper River sockeye. Thanks Brandon!

[Shirley]

How depressing.

The difference between a pH of 2.3 and 8 in nature is nearly unimaginable.

As I read your article, I was thinking how "they" could possibly spread enough baking soda around Alaska to counteract the acidic metals being released.



mods, after you ban Trad, ban japhy

tia