If you're wondering how I use "esoterica", it's the simplest (and third) of the Webster's common definitions, to whit, "of special, rare, or unusual interest". Actually, that's esoteric; esoterica is thusly items, things, images, collectibles, thoughts... that are special, rare, or unusual. So far the past couple of days I've indulged a bit on the esoteric side.
Enough of that. For now at least. Maybe 'til Friday again.
Today's topic is water worries. The question is: are weather patterns changing? The reason that's important is that if there is a consistent shift in weather patterns in a certain area over a long-enough period of time, that qualifies as regional climate change; if that same pattern seems to be consistent in similar-type regions around the world, that might, might, MIGHT quality as global climate change.
So the topic today is drought. First up: Tejas (i.e., southern Texas). Michael Tobis informates us:
Texas drought on the ground
No doubt it's bad. So was the drought in Georgia, northwestern South Carolina and southwestern North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee, but that's abated a bit, but I don't think the reservoirs are anywhere close to being full again. But is it persistent? I.e., how long has this been going on?
Only since 2007, according to the august Wall Street Journal. But it's intense, the article says. But it's not a regional climate shift -- yet. And the notoriously accurate weather forecasters say it will get better in the autumn. It better!
Texas Scorched by Worst Drought in 50 Years
Moving on to China:
Nearly five million short of water in northern China drought: report
So northern China has been dry, and that does affect a few people. (To put it mildly.) Compound that with all the noxious compounds that China allows its rampant industrialists to dump into the water, and the "good stuff" is getting harder and harder to come by. I still think that China is a festering boil waiting to pop when the people en masse rise up against the monolithic government as they realize it really hasn't been operating with their best interests at heart (despite quarantining tourists with a fever in hotels for a week).
But this drought, like Texas, is still short in duration. So it's still "just" a drought, despite the number of people affected and the region that's affected.
And then there's Australia:
Despair as drought cripples Australia's Mississippi
If you haven't heard about this one in Australia (recently written up in Natty Geo), it's bad. Real, real bad. Eight-years-long and counting bad. Running out of enough water to do anything bad. This is a potentially harbinger of actual climate change. And in case anybody thinks it won't be disruptive to lifestyles accustomed to a locale and customs of living -- they're wrong.
(Here's what I'm speculatating: the Southern Ocean has warmed up. That's obvious from what's happening to the Antarctic Peninsula, which sticks out like a thumb that got hit with a hammer on land surface warming maps, and it's losing ice shelves at a rate of roughly one every two years or so. With warmer frigid waters, there's less heat contrast with the Australian land surface, so less cold air sneaking up to Down Under to wring some water out of a slightly humid air mass. It's just an idea.)
Anybody feeling frivolous now? And Australia is also suffering from the loss of the Ashes, too; might seem trivial but it still impinges on the national psyche.
And yet their leaders in Parliament couldn't pass a climate change bill. But there's more to it than that: politics are involved.
From the article:
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2009/4405/?source=cmailer
A majority of Australians (55%) approve of Australia’s
proposed Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme:
A large majority (83%) of Australians believe Carbon Emissions
are a contributor to Global Warming
Gee, I wonder why the global warming skeptics in the U.S. don't publicize THOSE numbers, eh mate?
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