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Showing posts from September, 2021

The dilemma of climate scientists

by Andrew Glikson “in private conversations, many climate scientists express far greater concern at the progression of global warming and its consequences than they do in public” - Andrew Glikson (2016) Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Many climate change models, including by the IPCC, appear to neglect or minimize the amplifying feedbacks of global warming, which are pushing temperatures upward in a chain reaction-like process , as projected by Wally Broecker and others . A climate chain reaction is believed to have pertained about 55 million years ago (Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum [PETM]). During the Anthropocene (post-1750 and in particular post-1900) greenhouse gas and temperature growth rates levels exceeded those of the PETM and of the end of the last glacial termination (LGT). During 2010-2020 an acceleration of global warming is reflected by an anomalous rise in greenhouse gas levels and temperatures (Figure 1). Figure 1. 1880-2020 temperature anomalies relative to the 1

On borrowed time: How long to a Miocene-like tropical ~+4°C world?

On borrowed time: How long to a Miocene-like tropical ~+4°C world? by A/Prof Andrew Glikson Earth and climate scientist Toward late this century global temperatures are likely to either reach super-tropical levels of >>14°C or/and extreme levels of storminess consequent on clashes between Arctic and Antarctic sourced cold and warm air and water masses. Humans appear to be mainly concerned about any one issue at a time, and while COVID-19 is claiming the lives of millions Homo sapiens appears to be increasingly oblivious to the growing threat to billions of humans and to nature, including the inhabitability of large regions and extinguishment of habitats. The almost universal assumption as if a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is in itself sufficient to prevent further warming is misleading, since positive feedbacks from land and ocean would continue to raise greenhouse levels and temperatures. Such feedback effects include: increased evaporation with warming, water vapor

Almodovar's "The Human Voice"

Pedro Almodóvar released a short (30') film in English, " The Human Voice " in 2020 which was acclaimed by critics all over the world.  It is a free and personal adaptation of Jean Cocteau's classic " La Voix Humaine ", where a barroque Almodóvar is interested in showing the boundaries of artifice and the connection between cinema and theatre, deceit and sincerity, lies and truth.  The movie is, basically, a monologue, where Scottish actress Tilda Swinton , in a riveting performance, displays her vocal versatility to disclose all the feelings of a woman who has been abandoned by her ex-lover and receives a last telephone call to sort out the last mundane details of their separation: she pretends to be cool and casual at the beginning of the call, until she can't stand her own lies any longer, loses controls and admits to her ex-lover -who is a "dweeb", in Tilda's words, ("an idiot", in Spanish "un memo, un baboso"), that