A conversation with Guy McPherson and Kevin Hester

Seemorerocks talks to Guy McPherson and Kevin Hester

I recorded a conversation with Guy McPherson and Kevin Hester,

They are divided (inadvertantly) into two parts

Part one

Part two

Here are some of the headlines just from the past four weeks

Global Temperature Increase Depletes Oxygen in Most Ocean Zones by the 2030s

A reduction in the amount of oxygen dissolved in the oceans due to climate change is already discernible in some parts of the world and should be evident across large regions of the oceans between 2030 and 2040. — The National Center for Atmospheric Research in a press release on April 27th.

Climate Change Drives Half a Billion People to Suffer Hunger, Water Shortages as Droughts and Heatwaves Wreck Crops Across the Globe

At least 12 Indian states are believed to be facing famine and experts have warned that the water crisis could worsen if urgent action is not taken. — Greenpeace statement taken yesterday by The International Business Times.

High Noon in the Arctic

Melt Expanding into East Antarctica as Nansen Ice Shelf Crack Produces 20 Kilometer Long Iceberg (26)

A Death of Beauty — Climate Change is Bleaching the Great Barrier Reef Out of Existence - 21

It’s a hard, tough thing to consider. One of those possibilities people justifiably do not want to talk about. This notion that a creature we’re fond of and familiar with — a glorious living being along with all its near and distant relatives — could be entirely removed from the web of existence here on Earth.

Our aversion to the topic likely stems from our own fear of death. Or worse — the notion that the entire human race might eventually be faced with such an end. But extinction is a threat that we’ll see arising more and more as we force the world to rapidly warm. For species of the world now face existential crisis with increasing frequency as atmospheric and ocean temperatures have risen so fast that a growing number of them have simply become unable to cope with the heat.

Record warm oceans have spawned scary slate of monster tropical cyclones -20

Canadian Fire Season Starts Far too Early as Fort St. John Residents are Forced to Flee the Flames – 20

Hothouse Summer is Coming — Lingering California Drought, Record-Shattering Heat in Washington, and Thunderstorms Pounding the Northwest Territory in April -19

As a result, Winter temperatures in the Arctic hit levels that were likely never seen by any human that has ever lived in a settlement resembling a town or a city. And one of the paths over which this heat ran was Western North America. A region that is now experiencing a number of early warning signs that trouble is on the way.

Greenland’s Ice Sheet Is Melting So Fast Right Now, Scientists Thought It Was an Error – 17

March 2016 Was Hottest on Record by Greatest Margin Yet Seen for Any Month -16

Conditions Promoting the Arctic Sea Ice Collapse Are Exceptionally Strong This Spring -15

Angry Earth Causing Record CO2 Level Rise? - Paul Beckwith

Feb, 2016 the atmospheric CO2 level was 404.16 ppm, or 4 ppm larger than just a year ago. Mar 25, 2016 hit 405.81 ppm, almost 5 ppm larger than only one year ago. Average levels rose a record 3.09 ppm in 2015, slightly less in 2014 and a record (then) 2.90 in 2013.

Yet global emissions from humans have been reported to have levelled off the last few years.

The Greenland Summer Melt Season Just Started in April

12 Percent. That’s how much of Greenland’s surface experienced melt yesterday according to a report from DMI’s Polar Portal as an unprecedented flow of warm, wet air slammed into its great ice sheets. 10 Percent. That’s how much of Greenland’s ice sheet surface is required to melt in order to mark an official start to the Summer melt season. Late May or early June. That’s when Greenland melt season typically begins.

What gives? Could be BAD. Could mean Earth sinks are maxed out and/or sources are rising.

CO2 emissions reach 409 ppm - 12

Heatwave Mass Casualties Strike India in April Amidst Severe Drought, Water Shortages

"Climate change is starting to impact India’s breadbasket. Record high temperatures over the Gangetic Plain — India’s productive farming region south of the Himalayas — are starting to take hold as a result of a human-forced warming of the globe"

Early Warning Signs for James Hansen’s Superstorms Visible — North Atlantic Cool Pool As Harbinger to “All Hell Breaking Loose” 9

Arctic Sea Ice Melt Update Laptev Sea Alert - Ice is breaking up - - Harold Hensel

Record Arctic Warming - 5

On April 3rd, 2016, Arctic sea ice extent was at a record low for the time of the year, reports the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

CO2 breaks 406 ppm

Climate Model Predicts West Antarctic Ice Sheet Could Melt Rapidly – 30

2016 Arctic sea ice wintertime extent hits another record low

Ten Times Faster Than A Hothouse Extinction — Human Carbon Emission is Worst in at least 66 Million Years

“If you look over the entire … last 66 million years, the only event that we know of … that has a massive carbon release and happens over a relatively short period of time is the PETM. We actually have to go back to relatively old periods. Because in the more recent past, we don’t see anything [even remotely] comparable to what humans are currently doing.”

---Richard Zeebe of the University of Hawaii in a recent paper published in Nature.


I didn't get to mention this but I wanted to post this call-in from a caller from Hawaii.  It was one of the most emotionally switched-on contributions from a caller on Nature Bats Last that I have heard and certainly left an imprint on me.