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All the other stuff — 1 Comment
04
Sep 17

Hurricane Season

First thing I do when I wake up is check the status of Irma. It looks like a bad one and it is headed for a lot of places that have touched my life. Thinking of all of you in the storm’s path.

I can’t ignore that there, right now, appears to be another potential storm in the far Eastern Atlantic and there is another potential storm in the Gulf and while those storms may, or may not organize, I can’t help but worry about even more destruction following in the wake of both the destruction that has already happened from Harvey and that which is about to befall so many from Irma.

Now, I’m pretty sure these storms were not caused because there are gay people, as some would believe, I do believe Climate Change played a role.

Hurricanes have been going on as long as there have been seas on which they could form, but our seas are getting warmer and warmer seas feed hurricanes and, well, just do the math on that.

Let’s not stick our heads in the sand any longer.

We need to do better.

That said… those in the path of Irma, those impacted by Harvey, those to be impacted by whatever else follows… my thoughts are with you.

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Conservation — No Comments
13
Mar 13

Why Climate Change Matters – Science Wed

Just read about a group of outdoors sporting organizations asked President Obama to take action on climate change. Those groups included the American Fly Fishing Trade Association, Ducks Unlimited, TU and others.

Thought I’d share some thoughts about why climate change matters for you, the angler interested in pursuing bonefish.

While I can envision a future where water temps in the SF Bay support resident populations of bonefish, that future is likely very, very far away. However, climate change poses an immediate threat to a place we mostly all love… the Bahamas.

All you need is a one meter rise in sea levels and, well… bad things happen (source).

 1 m SLR places 36% of the major tourism
properties at risk, along with 38% of
airports, 14% of road networks and 90%
of sea ports.

Yeah… that’s not good. These places won’t be under water next year, but seas are rising faster than originally expected and it could me we have, oh, 100-150 years for a full meter sea rise.

This stuff has been here for thousands of years and it is supposed to be here for longer than just another 150.

So… it matters. It matters to me, and if you love bonefish and the Bahamas, it should matter to you.

sigh...

sigh…

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Conservation — 3 Comments
31
Oct 12

Science Wednesday – Storms on Steroids

Sandy was a real wench and her impact is still very much being felt along the Eastern Seaboard. One thing that has been brought up a few times is what impact Global Warming  or Climate Change played in Sandy’s creation or strength.

Now, I’m a big lefty, but I also tend to be a little cautious when drawing straight lines between a specific weather event and Climate Change.  Big storms have happened for as long as there has been weather. The first hurricane recorded along the East Coast was back in 1502!

So, with that in mind I was interested to see this little clip about how Global Warming is like… get ready for it… steroids in baseball.

So, did Climate Change cause Sandy? Probably not. Did it contribute to it?  Probably.

How much?  Maybe 10%, according to this snippet:

But, he added, human-induced global warming has been raising the overall temperature of the surface ocean, by about one degree Fahrenheit since the 1970s. So global warming very likely contributed a notable fraction of the energy on which the storm thrived — perhaps as much as 10 percent, he said.

Of course, these storms do impact bonefishing and bonefish and the places they live, the people who live there, the people who depend on those fisheries. Hurricanes have been known to kill mangroves and reefs. Increasing intensity, maybe even frequency… well… could be a bit rougher ride in the years to come.

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