I generally ignore climate change denialists on Twitter. I use The Zapper to do that, and it works great, better than blocking. But sometimes I check my Twitter feed on something other than Chrome on my own desktop or laptop and then I see them, and occasionally engage. When I do, I often see troubling or annoying visual tropes that seem to go along with this breed. Guns, exploitative photos of women, flag-draped symbols, and Nazis. That sort of thing. So, this morning I put together a collage of images off the Twitter home pages of just the last handful of Denialists who were obsessively…

How do birds survive the cold weather, especially during really cold winters like the one we are having now in much of the United States? One part of this answer has to be, sadly perhaps, that the sometimes don't. But I'll get to that later. You need to know two things as context. First, there are a lot of different kinds of birds, and the adaptations I'll mention below are not found in all of them, and probably all of these adaptations are not found in very many species. Second, many birds are actually at great risk during cold periods because birds generally live on the edge when it…

...About Tim Ball Associate John O'Sullivan This is the latest on an interesting and complex legal battle related to climate science denialism. Affidavits filed in the British Columbia Supreme Court libel litigation brought by climate scientist Michael Mann against climate science denier Timothy Ball reveal that Ball's collaborator and self-styled "legal advisor" has misrepresented his credentials and endured some significant legal embarrassments of his own. The affidavits also reveal that Tim Ball was "aware of the charges against John O'Sullivan almost from the start" and has tried to…

This search engine will scan a large number of sites known to have good climate change related information on them. Below is a list of sites scanned. If you know of a site that is not included here but that should be, please put a link in the comments. Don't bother with climate science denialist sites, they will not be added. Also note that many sites are parts of larger domains. So if the site you suggest is already part of, for example, Scienceblogs, The Guardian, etc. then it is already on the list by default. This, of course, means that some of the hits from this search…

Paul Douglas send me this photo: "Check out the piles of melting slush in the foreground; looks like half a foot (?) of dirty snow in that one clump. This takes weather whiplash to a new (and ridiculously jaw-dropping) level. Photo courtesy of Dana Cottingham Fricke, from Concord, Illinois." The biggest loss of containers from a container ship (that didn't just plain sink) happened a few days ago as the Svendborg Maersk was battered with hurricane like conditions including Waves Of Unusual Size generated in the Global Warming Enhanced megastorm, while at the same time tornadoes, some…

Mother Jone's Climate Desk has an excellent and important interview with Jennifer Francis and Kevin Trenberth. I can't really comment on it now due to lack of time but I think it is time for me to update my AA->QR->WW linkage post based on this discussion. I'll also bring this into my next talk on Climate Change, possibly in Plymouth sometime during the next couple of months (still being arranged). Anyway, CLICK HERE to get the blog post by Chris Mooney which includes the stream of the Inquiring Minds Podcast. Also, thanks to Chris for asking the question I suggested. Very…

I have some information on an interesting event coming up in Union, Missouri, in case you happen to be in the neighborhood: “Climate Disruption in Missouri: Consequences and Solutions” Date/Time: April 17, 2014 from 7pm to 9pm Location: East Central College, Union, MO Format: 60 to 75 minutes of presentations and 45 to 60 minutes of open forum discussion Audience: Expected to be between 100 and 150 Synopsis: Missouri business leaders, educators and environmentalists discuss dangers and opportunities related to human-caused climate change in Missouri. Climate change is disrupting the…

I'd love to describe the details to you but I don't think I can ever do as good a job as Representative Henry Waxman and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. They wrote a letter to McCain and Gingrich. Gave 'em a good shellacking, they did. I love this letter so much I'm giving it to you three times. First, as a picture of the letter because it is so cool looking. Then, as a transcript so it is searchable. Then, as a link to a PDF file. And now, here is the text, from here: February 20, 2014 The Honorable John McCain 241 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Newt…

Remember the Fall Olympics in Vancouver? That was the year that skaters ... not the racing ones but the dancing ones ... were falling all the time as if they had some kind of special extra slippery ice on the skating rink. Well, this year, at Sochi II, we are witnessing the Fall Olympics mainly on the snow slopes and half pipe, where lousy snow conditions, caused by warm conditions with some rain, have messed everything up. But there is an interesting twist this year. According to a piece in the New York Times, women are being affected more than men: ...most of the injuries have been…

The BBC stepped in it. First, they engaged in a totally absurd "false balance" presentation regarding climate change, then in response (link below) they aired very reasonable complaints by listeners, and to this, they responded officially that everything is fine, you can go home and lock your doors and windows, nothing to see here, our balance is in balance, thank you very much. Or words to that effect. If I was British I would be ashamed of the BBC for this, but since I'm not British I'm peeved. Should the Today programme have invited Lord Lawson, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and…

Last night I attended a talk by meteorologist Paul Douglas, at the Eden Prairie High School. The talk was “Weird Weather: Minnesota’s New Normal? Our Changing Climate and What We Can Do About It,” and it was sponsored by Environment Minnesota, Cool Planet, and the Citizens Climate Lobby. I didn’t count the number of people in the audience but it was well attended (over 100, for sure). Extra chairs had to be brought in. You probably know of Paul Douglas either because of his own fame or because I often link to (or facebook-post) his blogs at Weather Nation or the Star Tribune, and I…

One of our local news stations, WCCO (Channel 4) CBS, has this story. Blindness Isn’t Stopping This 15-Year-old H.S. Senior’s Quest For Knowledge WAYZATA, Minn. (WCCO) – When the Wayzata Science Bowl team practices, they mean business. They just won the state championship, and they are now getting ready for nationals in Washington, D.C. They’re all smart kids, that’s obvious, but one of them stands out — team captain Nathan Stocking. “The other team gets intimidated,” said teammate Jayant Chaudhary, “because he doesn’t even need paper for pretty complex complications.” Stocking is a high…

It has become difficult to rely on natural cold and snow even in traditional winter sports venues. This is because of increased temperatures caused by global warming. This may not be the biggest problem caused by climate change, but it is one that has attracted a certain amount of helpful attention. Perhaps the North American visitation of the Arctic Vortex, which has made some people think that climate change is not real, is partly offset by a Winter Olympics with more than its share of problems, including injuries and lost medals, caused by crappy snow conditions. Also, it is kind of a…

Every year the Twin Cities Creation Science Association puts on a science fair which is sometimes called the Home Schooling Creation Science Fair. It used to be held at Har Mar mall, which was great because it is always a pleasure to stop in at Har Mar. But for the last two years, including last weekend, it was held at a local Bible College. I haven't gone every year, but most years, as does The Lorax at Angry By Choice and a variable handful of others. This year, PZ Myers also attended. (Speaking of PZ I just noticed that his book is now available as an audio edition, just so you know.)…

Global warming, shifting ecozones and changing the climatology of large reasons, is expected to, and has already shown the ability to, affect distribution and incidence of various diseases. The brain-eating Ameba comes to mind. As it were. There is some new research by Michael Grigg of the NIH that addresses a different change. Along with melting Arctic ice comes an erosion of natural barriers that once separated parasites from hosts. That erosion has allowed at least two pathogens to infect marine mammals they were previously unknown in... A newly identified parasite was once frozen safely…

The vast majority of the 10,000+ living species of birds are passerines, and the vast majority of those have a similar system of breeding: Mom and dad bird make a nest and share parental responsibilities roughly equally, if not identically. There are variations on that theme, of course. Even the non-passerines often follow this pattern. So, when we find a pattern that is different it is reasonable to try to explain this in adaptive terms; what features of this variant pattern provide enhanced fitness, and what ecological or social factors underly it? There are two patterns that are fairly…

First, let me note that if you are not a regular reader of Peter Sinclair's "Climate Denial Crock of the Week" you should be. Peter's latest video is "Abrupt Climate Change, and the Expected Unexpected" Senior Scientists discuss the potential for sudden disruptions of human and natural systems as a consequence of climate change.

Links to sites/commentary/lists for extreme weather events. Articles or blog posts listing events Top 10 Global Weather Events of 2011 2012 Extreme Weather Sets Records, Fits Climate Change Forecasts 2012 Infographic on severe weather events Heat, Flood, Cold in 2012 Weather extremes: freak conditions from around the globe for 2013 2013’s Most Terrifying Weather Disasters 2013 NOAA report on Billion Dollar Disasters (overview) and the report as a PDF file is here Timelines, official lists, maps, etc. State of the Climate: Extreme Events Severe weather information centre NOAA list of daily…

As PZ Myers points out, it is time for the Twin Cities Creation Science Fair! It is this Saturday, details here. Lorax is going. Normally, those of us from the science community who go to this simply show up and wander around looking at the exhibits and talk science to the kids. No shenanigans. Also, we often go to a nearby venue and get lunch. Last year it was Grumpy's. Over the years, I think, the quality of the exhibits has gone up and the attention to the usual "creation science" myths has gone down. I like to think that a bunch of evolutionary biologists showing up every year has…

For the first time in weeks we are experiencing warm weather in central Minnesota (it is now 21 degrees F) with a bit of snow off and on. But elsewhere there are interesting things happening. First, in far northern California and the Pacific Northwest there will be rain. A LOT of rain. That's great because it will help a little with the drought. But, it will also probably cause some severe flooding. Also, everywhere on the east coast from Atlanta up to New England is experiencing some kind of bad. Snomageddonapocalypse. On fire. A friend of mine in the Raleigh-Durham area told me…