Drone-eyed view of a melting ice sheet: Greenland

By GREG OLMSTED

Greenland, the world’s largest island, supports “one of the biggest and fastest-melting chunks of ice on earth,” according to an article in the New York Times.  And it’s quickly melting away.  The ice melts and forms lakes.  The lakes feed rivers.  The rivers flow into moulins or giant holes in the ice.  And the sea level rises.  Watch Josh Haner, a Pulitzer Prize winner in feature photography, drone along a beautiful, fast flowing river that vanishes into a moulin. 

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Drone update:  In my earlier blog (Breakfast with weather researchers and drones, October 17), I reported on the difference between hobby and commercial drones.  Since then, Anthony Fox, U.S. Secretary of Transportation announced that the Department of Transportation will be “Having a national registry of folks who are owners of drones and users of drones.”  Drone owners and users be advised: According to Mr. Fox, the Federal Drone Registry will include retro-active registration, too.  In fact, the control of drones is being fast-tracked: a task force will make recommendations before Thanksgiving and the federal government will require registration before Christmas sales of drones.  This is a major undertaking.  Both Amazon Prime Air and Google X’s drone delivery programs/businesses are task force members, along with Best Buy and Walmart.  But who is representing journalists and videographers?  In addition to the registration requirement, the FAA is working with CACI to develop a program that will track use of drones near airports and identify their owners.

Delaware’s Vulnerable Beaches

By GREG OLMSTED

“Global sea level has risen about eight inches since reliable record keeping began in 1880. Best projections are that it may rise another 1 to 4 feet by the end of the current century.  What does that translate into? If we continue on that path, by mid-century, by 2050, between 66 and 106 billion dollars worth of coastal property – existing coastal property – will likely be below sea level, nation wide. Big numbers.” — Kathryn Sullivan, NOAA Administrator, NOAA Administrator and Under Secretary of Commerce of Oceans and Atmosphere, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A switch — Americans accept climate change

By GREG OLMSTED

“Please give us something optimistic to take away, here,” Seth Borenstein, the moderator asked his panel. “Something a little … less pessimistic than we have been hearing.” Berrien Moore, the Director of the National Weather Center replied, “There are tipping points politically. And I point only to the Tobacco case. For how many years were we told, ‘Oh no, there is no health risk.’ And then finally the body politic said, ‘That is just idiotic. Clearly there is a health risk.’ And it switched.”

Well, the switch has occurred among Americans, including the majority of Republicans, too. Survey results by the University of Texas show that three quarters (75%) of Americans accept the science of climate change. Similarly, the National Surveys on Energy and Environment results show that seventy percent of Americans believe in climate change.

But what of the body politic? When will the body politic switch, too?

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Seth Borenstein and Berrien Moore, question and answer, recorded at the Opening Plenary, Climate Change and Extreme Weather: Planning for an Uncertain Future, October 9, 2015, Society of Environmental Journalists 25th Annual Conference, Norman, Oklahoma, by Greg Olmsted. From left to right: Kathleen Tierney (Director, Natural Hazards Center and Professor, Department of Sociology and the Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, Boulder), Berrien Moore (Director, National Weather Center; Dean, College of Atmospheric & Geographic Sciences; Chesapeake Energy Corporation Chair in Climate Studies; and Vice President, Weather & Climate Programs, University of Oklahoma), Seth Borenstein (Science Writer, The Associated Press; moderator), Kathryn Sullivan (NOAA Administrator and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Jonathan Overpeck (Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Professor, Regents’ Professor of Geosciences and Atmospheric Sciences, and Co-Director, Institute of the Environment, University of Arizona).

Fracking Earthquake Wakes Journalists

By GREG OLMSTED

A 4.4 magnitude earthquake woke guests at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Norman, Oklahoma last Saturday. Ironically, many hotel guests, including myself, were members of the Society of Environmental Journalists. We were attending SEJ’s 25th Annual Conference, focusing on Weather, Water, Energy: News in Every Neighborhood. The earthquake made for lively conversation during our continental breakfast.

More than two years ago, Joe Wertz, a StateImpact reporter, explained How Disposal Wells Might Cause Earthquakes. Earlier this year, NPR StateImpact documented the nexus between fracking in Oklahoma and earthquakes. And last Saturday, Seth Borenstein, an AP Science Writer, reported the details of the earthquake that we experienced. And tomorrow … ?

Life is Good!

So much to see and do and share.  Tomorrow I’ll watch a seven year old play soccer.  The next day we’ll launch an Estes rocket together.  And then my wife and I will return to our jobs in Washington D.C., just in time to see Papa Francis.  The Pope will meet with President Obama in the White House, ride his popemobile around the Washington monument, address Congress in the Capitol, and then fly to New York to address the annual United Nations General Assembly of world leaders.  I visited his online webpage http://www.popefrancisvisit.com and discoved his online store.  “Love Like Francis” is a major theme with bumper stickers, T-shirts, posters, coffee mugs, and even key-chains.  I was so moved, that he almost inspired me to start my own line of T-shirts.  Something like “Rock Solid Atheist” on the front.  And on the back of the T-shirt: “And I tell you, we are human, and through evolution we now dominate the planet, and we should sing and dance and rejoice, responsibly!” — Gregarious 16:18.  That’s what my new website http://www.dirtybusinesspublishing.com, and this, my very first post, is all about.