The answer to the climate

Head Rambles Posted on by 6

The climate mob are getting their knickers in a twist again.

They have produced a long repost which has presumably been translated into some format that us mere humans can understand. I still can’t understand it.

The report is full of percentages that apply to the last ten years or last year or something. Basically every single sentence can be further distilled to one word – PANIC. Yes, we are all to panic as we have a mere five years [I think] before we are dooomed. This presumably the same five [or three] years we have been hearing about for the last couple of decades?

Some kind person has created bullet points so that us uneducated can digest it.

Greenhouse gas emissions at ‘an all-time high’ causing unprecedented rate of global warming

Yup.  This is a standard letterhead on all their reports.

Human-induced warming averaged 1.14C over the last decade.

I’m not sure what this means.  Is it 1.14C per year totaling 11.4C?  Or did it take the full ten years, in which case why not just say that?

A record level of greenhouse gases is being emitted each year, equivalent to 54 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide

Equivalent to Carbon Dioxide?  So not Carbon Dioxide but something else?  I suppose CO2 is being used as the unit of measurement as it’s the one we have been told to be scared of?

The remaining carbon budget – how much carbon dioxide can be emitted to have a better than 50% chance of holding global warming to 1.5°C – has halved over three years

I’m sorry but you have lost me completely here.

Reduced particulate pollution from coal burning has temporarily added to global warming as the particulates had been having a cooling effect

Hold on a minute… Burning coal added to global warming by having a cooling effect?  Surely this is the golden key they have been looking for?  The Holy Grail of Climate Change?  Burn more coal!  The smoke reduced the sun’s effect and cools the planet.  Failing coal, let’s burn the world’s forests.  The Canadians have obviously copped on to this already?

Key climate indicators to be updated every year, so people can be kept informed about critical aspects of global warming

Annual Panic Alerts?  God help us.

 

In the heat of the night

Head Rambles Posted on by 3

Is it just me or is the world growing colder?

I suppose it could just be another lovely aspect of exiting my youth but I do seem to notice temperature more, and not in a nice way. I used to smile condescendingly when walking around the village in a short sleeved shirt [and occasionally a pair of trousers] and would see some old dear shuffling along wearing a heavy woolen overcoat. I am now beginning to see why.

I like a cool bedroom and it was the one aspect of summer I used to dread – hot sticky nights when I tossed and turned and thought wistfully of cold frosty nights. Last winter was fine but I did find I had to throw a blanket over the bed as it seemed to be colder than usual. That blanket stayed on until a few weeks ago. Summer had arrived at last.

Now I’m having to throw a coat over the bed as the nights seem colder again. In June?

I had a coffee down in the village yesterday. I was wearing a sweater! And it’s still June. The height of summer. I even found myself thinking of heavy woolen overcoats. What has happened to me?

I have just fired up the central heating………

 

A failure in communication

Head Rambles Posted on by 4

Penny is a very strange dog.

In my time I have known many dogs and am familiar with their general needs, habits and personalities. However I have never met one quite like Penny. She has a unique and rather strange personality.

Possibly her strangest quirk is a complete indifference to people, other animals and birds. If for example we are walking through the village and encounter another dog or two, generally they will show a lot of interest in Penny and may even bark at her. She will possibly glance in their direction but otherwise they mightn’t as well exist. She will just carry on with her nose in the air.

There is a cat called Boots who belongs to a neighbour. He’s a cheeky little bugger and will sometimes appear at the garden doors and stare in at us. He treats our garden as his own and he is more than welcome. The other night Penny asked to go out. Boots was sitting there on the lawn and the two of them stared at each other for a moment or two and then Penny went about her business completely ignoring a cat in her territory.

She has a strange habit of talking. If she wants something she’ll walk up to me purposefully and then start snapping at me. This is like a silent bark as she maintains steady eye contact. Sometimes I snap back and we can have long conversations this way. I haven’t a clue what’s being said however. Most of the time she’s asking for something, like food or to be let out or for me to fetch her favourite blanket so she can lie on the floor beside me. The latter is the easiest to guess because if she wants tit she’ll snap and paw the ground as well.

Last night she started the snapping lark. I had fed her and her dish of dry food [which she uses for snacking] was full. She had her blanket on the floor by me and she had just been out. There was nothing she could want but she persisted on standing at my knees, staring me straight in the eyes and snapping. I haven’t a clue what she wanted but it was something important. Then she would break off and go trotting around the house, examining every corner, nook and cranny, even going into the bathroom and checking behind the toilet and into the shower. And then back to the snapping again.

I never discovered what she wanted so it will remain a mystery.

I have to go down to the village later. I may bring her along so we can see a lot of people and dogs which she can ignore. The only time she’ll show interest will be in seeing how much chicken she can scrounge in the coffee shop.

I love that dog for her loyalty and trust.

But I would love to know what goes on in her head at times.

Penny
 

Restless

Head Rambles Posted on by 4

We are in the middle of the Leaving Heatwave.

This happens every year just as students are heading into the exam halls to sit their end of year [and end of school] exams. It is a fair bet each year so I used to book the first two weeks in June every year for my summer leave.

This year it was quite early, staring in mid May and our poor weather forecasters had nothing to say each evening except more of the same tomorrow and the day after and the day after. The trouble was though that while Ireland basked under cloudless skies the east coast was constantly cooler because of a breeze from the east. That breeze has finally moved more to the south so temperatures are quite pleasant now.

This brings a problem.

Warm days are a rarity here to there is a compulsion to sit outside. But they keep warning us about deadly UV rays and how we’re likely to be burned to a crisp and get loads of cancer everywhere.. So I had better stay indoors.

Sitting indoors is something I do every day so it would be nice to sit out for a change. I’d go down to the village but it would be packed with tourists as this is a Bank Holiday.. Tourists annoy me at the best of times. They tend to grab all the parking and clutter up the place so I can’t get any peace, or even my usual seat in the coffee shop.

Damn!

Maybe I’ll sit out after all and doze in the sun. Boost the Vitamin D and all that shit.

Fuck the UV rays.