I met James Hansen several decades ago, and remember him all the back to  1988 when he first testified in Congress .  This was six years after I had left the U. S. Senate, a time period when global warming was an issue of importance only to a very few scientists.  I am on his mailing list, and this morning received his views on  The Venus Syndrome and Runaway Climate . Paper starts with: Mars, Venus and Earth   are the Goldilocks planets – too cold, too hot, and just right. These planets reveal how a planet’s surface temperature depends on atmospheric gases as well as the planet’s distance from the Sun. The physics is energy balance: a planet sends back to space, as (infrared) heat radiation, the energy in sunlight that it absorbs. Absorbed solar energy depends simply on the Sun’s irradiance, ⁱ   the planet’s distance from the Sun, and the fraction of incident sunlight that the planet absorbs (the remainder being reflected). The surface temperature is then ...

I've been on a long trip and have not said much about Ukraine, Israel, Donald Trump and global warming.  I don't feel particularly spiritual today, so will spend this Sunday on the latter. The media have trumpeted the seriousness of how hot Planet Earth's atmosphere is getting. A new report by the  Global Climate Project consortium  says that we will reach an all-time high this year in carbon emissions.  I thought renewables and conservation measures were beginning to work.  Guess not, especially in reducing coal usage.   Meanwhile, the USA has done well.  What are those emission numbers on the second graphic?  The graph was obscured, but the trends look good.   You can go to this article for details . The  World Meteorological  Organization and Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service  reported that 2023 will certainly be the warmest year on record, with last month being the hottest November. With all that happenin...

Last month James Hansen sent to his mailing list  To Understand and Protect the Home Planet .  He said this effort will be published with several colleagues as co-authors in  Oxford Open Climate Change  as  Global Warming in the Pipeline .  The  New York Times  reported on this paper yesterday by David Wallace-Wells. He called Hansen the Godfather of Climate Science. In 1988 Hansen appeared before a U.S. Senate committee, beginning the era for climate alarm. Actually, I worked for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee from 1979-1982, and  Professor David J. Rose  of MIT presented a view about climate warming, which was totally ignored.  Wow, that was more than 40 years ago.  He soon thereafter retired and moved to Honolulu, where we had long discussions on the seriousness of this phenomenon.  Thus, when Hansen suddenly made headlines in the later 1980's I met with him to discuss solutions.  I had a few geo...

Hurricane Calvin was once up to 125 MPH.  Now down to a tropical storm and positioned 230 miles due south from where I am composing this posting. The rain and floods were not much.  I almost could have gone golfing.  From where I sit composing this blog, here is a photo towards the eye of Calvin. Three sports events of note this weekend: The Women's World Cup will begin with New Zealand vs Norway at 3 AM EDT tomorrow morning ( 9 PM Hawaii tonight ) and U.S. vs Vietnam at 9PM EDT ( 3PM Hawaii ) Friday.  Not sure if she will start, but Trinity Rodman is a rookie on the American team.  Yes, daughter of Dennis Rodman, here with her mother. The  Tour de France  bike race ends on Sunday, with a recap on NBC at 5PM EDT ( 11AM Hawaii ).  The entire race can be seen on Peacock and USA. The Open tees off at Royal Liverpool from 4AM EDT Thursday ( 10PM Hawaii tonight ) on the  USA channel.   Your NBC channel will then show the entirety ( 8 hours th...