Prickly City by Scott Stantis for March 27, 2021

The pressing issues of the day are “political” only because there are those who made it so.

From masks to global warming.

Oh. Global warming was too “politically correct.” So, denial part one was the name change to “climate change.”

Climate change isn’t politics, Carmen, it’s science.

Tucker Carlson’s lawyers: “No reasonable person would believe the crap that comes out of his mouth.”

The Kraken’s lawyers: “Only a crazy person would believe what she said is true, so she shouldn’t be held accountable for the damage she did.”

Fox News viewers: “I believe Bill Gates put microchips in my breakfast cereal, democrats drink baby blood, Joe Biden is secretly Donald Trump in disguise, and duh climate change is CRAP."

The collapse of almost* every known civilization was due to climate change. The fact that the right thinks it’s a political issue is cause for grave concern. Mass migrations will make border paranoia quaint.

probably all, not almost…

Well…

Sunrise / sunset changes may not be “climate change,” as much as they are pollution….

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To get a red sky, you need aerosols, explains A. R. Ravishankara, director of chemical sciences at the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. Aerosols are solid or liquid particles suspended in the air that originate from both natural processes and human activity.

Natural aerosols come from forest fires, mineral dust kicked up by sandstorms, sea spray and volcanic eruptions, among other things. Volcanoes, which have produced some of the most spectacular sunsets in history, can inject sulfuric acid droplets into the stratosphere, the layer of the atmosphere between 10 to 35 miles in altitude.

These droplets can be swept across the globe, painting brilliant crimson twilights wherever they go. Following the 1883 eruption of Indonesia’s Krakatoa, brilliant sunsets appeared around the world, one of which is said to have inspired Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream.

But “in a large city, you can ignore natural aerosol products for the most part” because the number of aerosols produced by human activity far exceeds natural sources, says Sergey Nizkorodov, a chemist at the University of California, Irvine.

Human-generated aerosols can enter the atmosphere directly, as is the case with soot emitted by internal combustion engines in cars and trucks, he explains.

Aerosols are also produced when molecules in the gaseous state enter the atmosphere and react with other chemicals, he adds.

A classic case: burning fossil fuels releases sulfur dioxide gas into the air, which then turns into sulfuric acid aerosols.

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https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-smog-creates-beautiful-sunsets/

Remember Acid Rain?

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Acid rain describes any form of precipitation that contains high levels of nitric and sulfuric acids. It can also occur in the form of snow, fog, and tiny bits of dry material that settle to Earth.

Normal rain is slightly acidic, with a pH of 5.6, while acid rain generally has a pH between 4.2 and 4.4.Causes of acid rain

Rotting vegetation and erupting volcanoes release some chemicals that can cause acid rain, but most acid rain is a product of human activities.

The biggest sources are coal-burning power plants, factories, and automobiles.

When humans burn fossil fuels, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are released into the atmosphere. Those air pollutants react with water, oxygen, and other substances to form airborne sulfuric and nitric acid.

Winds may spread these acidic compounds through the atmosphere and over hundreds of miles. When acid rain reaches Earth, it flows across the surface in runoff water, enters water systems, and sinks into the soil.

Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are not primary greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, one of the main effects of climate change; in fact, sulfur dioxide has a cooling effect on the atmosphere.

But nitrogen oxides contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, a major pollutant that can be harmful to people. Both gases cause environmental and health concerns because they can spread easily via air pollution and acid rain.

Acid rain has many ecological effects, especially on lakes, streams, wetlands, and other aquatic environments.

Acid rain makes such waters more acidic, which results in more aluminum absorption from soil, which is carried into lakes and streams.

That combination makes waters toxic to crayfish, clams, fish, and other aquatic animals. (Learn more about the effects of water pollution.)

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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/acid-rain

Anthropogenic climate change is not proven. (A consensus of scientists is not proof, it’s an opinion. Biologists, geologists, physicists, are scientists, but not climatologists). Real science demands testable, provable hypotheses and theories.

The climate change the anti science republicans ignore is driving the migrant crises, which the anti human republicans ignored.

Climate always changes.

lame

“Climate change” is not a political thing. Ask the people of Kiribati. When they’re gone, ask the people of Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Boston, Antwerp, Hong Kong, et cetera.

Carmen, you’re not standing.

Like sand at a picnic on the beach, politics gets into everything.

Politics can ruin anything – that is the main function of politics.

How about just fighting pollution because it’s pollution & let the climate sort itself.

Greta Thuneberg & Long-Eared Friend

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-pentagon-climate-change-how-deniers-put-national-security-at-risk-176393/

This is old, but still important today.

Climate change isn’t a color. Sunset colors are more related to pollution, dust and volcanic particulates.