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COMMENTS ON GLOBAL DIMMING
COMMENTS ON GLOBAL DIMMING
CU Salon Series
How Serious Is Climate Change?
April 17, 2008 - Moderated by: Richard Brenne
Featured Panelists:
NCAR Social Scientist and IPCC Report author Dr. Patricia Romero Lankao
CU Atmospheric Science Department Chair Dr. Brian Toon
NCAR Social Scientist and IPCC Report author Dr. Kevin Trenberth
produced by OnSight Media
www.onsight-media.com COMMENTS ON GLOBAL DIMMING CU Salon Series How Serious Is Climate Change? April 17, 2008 - Moderated by: Richard Brenne ... more -
The Documentary Network: An Enlightening Virtual Video Vault
by Nicole
The Documentary Network is a veritable online goldmine of shorts and full-length features. Visitors can watch sample documentaries from a selection of 81 for free. Repeat customers can register and watch more stuff for free, plus a further selection of pay-per-view films which start at around 1 Euro (approx $1.50). As an added bonus, funds go directly to the filmmakers, minus a modest hosting fee, which makes this a great way of cutting big media distributors out of the equation.
The Daily Mantra got sucked in watching the illuminating Global Dimming, a Nova/BBC production that hypothesizes that the true power of global warming has been significantly underestimated, being masked by the counter effects of global dimming, which is caused by visible pollution such as smog and airplane contrails. To support this theory they interview scientists who collected and analyzed data from 5,000 weather stations taken during the three days after 9/11 when a flight moratorium was imposed, and our skies were free of planes and their contrails for the first time in decades. The three-day period created a sudden data spike, with the temperature change jumping significantly.
Continuing on the 9/11 theme, the Documentary Network has the seminal internet conspiracy flick, Loose Change, which outlines numerous inconsistencies and loopholes in the official version of how 9/11 played out. In the interest of being fair and balanced they're also showing Conspiracy Theory, which sets out to debunk the debunkers, and The Great Global Warming Swindle, which has a pretty self-explanatory title and should appeal to the diminishing pool of flat-earthers.
Talking of being fair and balanced, the Documentary Network also has OutFOXed, which documents "Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism." One journalist who certainly won't be suppressed however is Greg Palast, who showcases his homage to Bush's Election Fraud on the site. In his 15 minute short he succinctly explores the statistical anomalies of the "spoiled" and simply "not-counted" 2004 votes, and shares with us some misdirected emails from Rove to Bush which indicate the not-so-dynamic duo are plotting to use illegal caging-list techniques to steal the election in '08.
Other films well worth viewing include the Pirates of Silicon Valley, which takes a humorous look at the characters in the Jobs' and Gates' camps who formed the technological landscape we know today, and the eye-opening Origins of Aids, which explores the idea that the disease may have infected humans due to contaminated oral vaccinations made from chimpanzee tissue that were used in an immunization program in the Belgium Congo. (Indeed something similar occured here in the U.S. in the 1950's with the polio vaccine which was contaminated with the simian virus SV40, potentially exposing 98 million Americans to the monkey disease which has been linked to cancer in humans.)
It's often said that truth is stranger than fiction, and continuing in this spirit there's documentaries on corrupt world governments (The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and Stealing A Nation), the CIA (Crack The CIA and Secrets of The CIA), Iraq (Baghdad ER, The Power of Nightmares and Iraq For Sale), and the environment (Biofuels: Think Outside The Barrel), plus an investigation into the conspiracy theory perhaps above all others, the "faked" lunar landing (Moon Hoax: Astronauts Gone Wild), which all add up to a most enlightening video vault that remains open long after Blockbuster closes the doors on their edited-for-content DVDs.
http://www.dailymantra.com
http://www.myspace.com/thedailymantra by Nicole ... more -
BBC Global Dimming
Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth's surface that was observed for several decades after the start of systematic measurements in 1950s. It is thought to have been caused by an increase in particulates such as sulfur aerosols in the atmosphere due to human action. The effect varies by location, but worldwide it has been estimated to be of the order of a 4% reduction over the three decades from 19601990. The trend reversed during the past decade. Global dimming has interfered with the hydrological cycle by reducing evaporation and may have caused droughts in some areas. Global dimming also creates a cooling effect that may have partially masked the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=395208797626231... Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth's surface that was observed for se... more -
NOVA | Dimming the Sun | PBS
Dimming the Sun homepage
Are vapor trails from aircraft influencing the climate, and if so, should we worry?
I've always wanted to hate contrails, the "condensation trails" streaming out from behind jets. They're man-made. They force lines on nature, which knows no lines. They arise out of pollution, and they generate visual pollutionaircraft graffiti that can erase blue from the sky and light from the sun. All good reasons to despise these artificial clouds.
But I don't. I've always been drawn to them. When I see one above, I like to run my eye along its length until I find the plane, a tiny silver toy. I like to wonder at the blank space between the plane and the start of the contrailemptiness full of potentialand then to see the churning new cloud as it forms, a tumbling cascade. When the roiling slows and the newborn cloud settles into a contrail proper, I admire its perfection: a straight white line sharply etched against the blue. Even when numerous contrails made fat by the wind crisscross the sky, I don't mind.
Well, I might now. After a lifetime of enjoying contrails, it came as a surprise to me to learn recently that something so ephemeral may not be a harmless by-product of the jet age but may in fact impact the climate. This is of particular concern in well-traveled air corridors, where contrails by the hundreds can spread into man-made cirrus clouds that can both block sunlight from reaching the Earth and trap radiated heat from escaping to space.
Whether contrails cause a net cooling or a net warming, even whether their effect is something to worry about, remains unclear. But with air traffic expected to double or even triple by 2050, leading contrail researchers say the influence of these artificial clouds cannot be ignored. Dimming the Sun homepage Are vapor trails from aircraft influencing the climate, and if so, should we worry? ... more -
NONVIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE TO TAKE OVER CAPITOL HILL
The Iraq war and the threat of climate change are the twin global threats that millions of Americans said they wanted immediate action on after the U.S. mid-term election. But as Iraq continues to devolve into violence and chaos, and as we hit another year of record warm temperatures, our legislators are failing to respond to the will of the people. We want a safe and healthy planet for years and years to come. Please join us in a series of actions in 2007 to fight climate change, not wars for oil!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We need to take immediate action
To end the war in Iraq and all future oil wars
To halt the impending climate crisis
To end the US addiction to oil and other fossil fuels
To rebuild New Orleans and all impacted communities
To end racism and corporate greed
To promote green jobs in a clean energy economy The Iraq war and the threat of climate change are the twin global threats that millions of Americans said they wanted immediate action... more -
Black balloons: making CO2 real
"Check out the Alliance for Climate Protection's first ad in our national advertising campaign. We are helping alert Americans about the urgency of the climate crisis and engage them in solving it."
' "Check out the Alliance for Climate Protection's first ad in our national advertising campaign. We are helping alert America... more -
NO NEW NUKES
We have to stop the push for nuclear power, Greenpeace can help play a big part.
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Global Dimming
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Global Dimming
