Weather modification as a weapon

 

2017 Is Strange

Houston under water

Published on Aug 29, 2017

Tens of thousands of people have had to flee their homes in Houston, Texas, as a result of flooding caused by Tropical Storm Harvey. Sky News Correspondent Ashish Joshi reports.

A new record for planet-wide heat

August 17, 2016Tom Randall tsrandall

Photographer: Ringo Chiu/AFP via Getty Images

Firefighters battle the Blue Cut wildfire near Cajon Pass, north of San Bernardino, California, on Aug. 16, 2016.

As more than 100,000 Americans flee destructive wildfires in California and floods in Louisiana, earth sends yet another reminder that the worst is yet to come: a new record for planet-wide heat.
Last month wasn’t just the hottest July on record for the surface of earth. It continued the longest-ever streak of record-breaking months—15, according to data released on Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). July followed the hottest June, May, April, March, February, January, December, November, October, and September, along with last August, July, June, and May.
The extremes of recent months are such that we're only midway into 2016, and there’s already a greater than 99 percent likelihood that this year will go down as the hottest on record, according to Gavin Schmidt, who directs NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. NASA and NOAA maintain independent records of the earth’s temperatures, and both agree that last month was a scorcher. "July 2016 was absolutely the hottest month since the instrumental records began," Schmidt wrote on Twitter.
The interactive chart below shows earth’s warming climate, measured by land and sea, dating back to 1880. 

In Baton Rouge, La., days of heavy rainfall caused water to overrun levees along several tributaries this week. About 40,000 homes in southeastern Louisiana have been affected by the floods, and at least 11 people have died. In California, more than 80,000 people fled out-of-control wildfires after the state's fifth year of drought turned forests into tinderboxes. Wildfire season typically doesn't begin until fall. 

The July heat was experienced differently across the globe but was felt to some degree almost everywhere. The dark red swaths on the map below show areas that set new records. 

NOAA

Some of this is still the result of El Niño, which releases heat from the Pacific that typically lingers for months after the underlying conditions subside. Last year's powerful El Niño may soon shift to a cooling La Niña, according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. The agency gives a 55 percent to 60 percent chance of a La Niña pattern developing in the fall or winter. That, however, doesn’t change earth’s long-term trajectory.

This year is on track to be the third consecutive year to set a new global heat record. So far, 15 of the hottest 16 years ever measured have come in the 21st century. Results from the world’s chief monitoring agencies vary slightly, but all agree that the extremes of 2016 are unrivaled—for now.                           Bloomberg

Pope Francis on Wednesday thanked the Jain community for its commitment to protect “our sister Earth.”

Pope Francis meets with members of the Institute of Jainology - OSS_ROM

01/06/2016 12:02

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday thanked the Jain community for its commitment to protect “our sister Earth.”
The Pope’s words came as he received members of the Institute of Jainology in private audience in the Vatican before leading the weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square.
Expressing his joy for the encounter, Pope Francis welcomed the Jains saying that “this encounter nurtures our responsibility to care for creation”, and calling creation a “gift that we have all received” he said “creation is God’s mirror, the mirror of the Creator, the mirror of nature, and it is our mirror too.”
“We all love mother Earth, because she is the one who has given us life and safeguards us; I would also call her sister Earth, who accompanies us during the journey of our existence. Our duty is to take care of her just as we would take care of a mother or of a sister, with responsibility, with tenderness and with peace” he said.

And he thanked the Jains for what they do to protect and care for the earth and said “we remain united within this ideal (…) in the awareness that healing and caring for the Earth is healing and caring for the whole of humanity”.
After the audience with the Pope a meeting took place between a delegation from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Chairman of the Institute of Jainology.
A statement was released describing how during this third meeting between the PCID and Jain delegation satisfaction was expressed for the cordial relations and cooperation that exist between them. It said that the desire was expressed to further deepen cooperation and that areas of convergence were identified as regards the common mission for both Jains and Christians to work together, joining hands with all believers and people of good will, to make the earth liveable and peaceable for all.
The Institute of Jainology was established in 1983 and it was subsequently registered as a Charitable Trust.
Compassion and non-violence towards all living beings are the fundamental principles of Jain philosophy. Its mission is to propagate Jainism and its values through art, culture and education.     Radio Vaticana

Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and pretty much every other crazy rich tech team up to take on climate change

thegatesnotes

 

Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and pretty much every other crazy rich tech leader you can imagine have announced that they’re banding together to combat climate change with a new partnership called the Breakthrough Energy Coalition. Their timing couldn’t be better—or more telling.

Through the partnership, the group’s members have committed to use a substantial portion of their hundreds of billions of dollars in collective net worth to invest in early stage clean energy companies. 

The timing of the announcement coincides with the global climate conference, COP21, taking place in Paris this week, where world leaders including President Barack Obama will convene to discuss their plans to deal with climate change. On one hand, with this timing, the Coalition is capitalizing on the fact that clean energy is on everyone’s radar this week. On the other hand, the announcement smacks of a distinctly tech-centric belief, shared by so many in Silicon Valley, that there’s only so much that the government leaders gathered at COP21 will ever be able to accomplish without the private sector’s help. Wired