The Dying Planet - 05/24/2015

Yukon's record breaking temperatures enter second week

Heat wave continues into 8th day with new records set in 7 communities

Four sinkholes open up on golf course near Branson

Mother Nature added four new holes at Top of the Rock Golf Course in Ridgedale, near Branson, Missouri.

Engineers were at the course Friday.

Gary Pendergrass, a geological engineer and principal with GeoEngineers, said the largest sinkhole of the four that opened was 60 feet by 80 feet wide, and 35 feet deep.

California Oil Spill 5 Times Worse Than Expected

Officials are saying that about 105,000 gallons of crude oil have spilled into the Refugio State Beach in California, up five times from the measurement that had been predicted.

Now, it may take months to restore the nine-mile Santa Barbara coast line hit by the spill on Tuesday, according to U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jennifer Williams.

First prize for insanity and denialism

“Man can’t change climate,” only God can, says Senate chair of Environment & Public Works

“Climate is changing, and climate has always changed,” said James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican who has previously pointed to the Bible as evidence that human-caused global warming is a hoax. “There’s archeological evidence of that. 

There’s biblical evidence of that. There’s historic evidence of that.” He continued: 

“The hoax is that there are some people who are so arrogant to think that they are so powerful, they can change climate. Man can’t change climate.”

Anatomy of the worst fire year

In a gorgeous warm May this year, we have not yet sniffed the bitter scent of flaming spruce. When we do, many of us will think back to a year that still haunts us.

In summer 2004, a Vermont-sized patch of Alaska burned in wildfires. That hazy summer was the most extreme fire year in the half century people have kept core.

Antarctic glaciers thinning so fast, it's like a switch was flipped

A new study finds that processes related to global warming are weakening several Antarctic ice shelves surprisingly quickly – causing glaciers to lose large amounts of ice.

Methane goes ballistic - 

5/23/2015 — MOUNT HAKONE IN JAPAN — HASN’T ERUPTED IN OVER 800 YEARS — GROUND RISING + STEAMING

After 2 weeks of being on alert, now it appears Mount Hakone may be taking another step toward actual eruption.

Most recent video showing activity here (May 23-24, 2015):

Nepal landslides spark fear of flash floods

Villagers evacuated after landslips block fast-flowing river, with emergency 

China's CO2 emissions have been plummeting lately. What's going on?

Arguably the most important climate story in the world right now is the question of what's happening in China. A recent analysis by Greenpeace International found that China's carbon dioxide emissions have plunged nearly 5 percent, year over year, in the first four months of 2015.

Changing climate brings ticks, Lyme disease into Canada

The blacklegged tick population is creeping northward into Canada, and with it climbs the risk of contracting Lyme disease.

York University researchers are warning that climate change is causing the country to become increasingly habitable to the blood-sucking bugs, which migrate by clinging to travelling birds and дdeer.

Bee-friendly: World’s first ‘bumblebee highway’ opened in Norway

Oslo has inaugurated the world’s first ‘bee highway’, a route for bumblebees to help them survive in hostile city environments.

The corridor is set to cover a pollen station every 250 meters.

“The idea is to create a route through the city with enough feeding stations for the bumblebees all the way. Enough food will also help the bumblebees withstand manmade environmental stress better,” Tonje Waaktaar Gamst of the Oslo Garden Society told Osloby newspaper, The Local reports.

2015 Is Crushing It For Hottest Year On Record

Last week NASA reported that this has been the Earth’s hottest January-April on record. This week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed that finding with its latest monthly report on global temperatures.

Separately, NOAA released its monthly report on “Global Ocean Heat.” It makes clear that the ocean’s heat content down to 2000 meters (1.24 miles) has been soaring this century — and nearly gone off the charts this year: