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Captain Obvious
11-12-2014, 12:07 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/opinion/john-kerry-our-historic-agreement-with-china-on-climate-change.html?smid=tw-share&_r=2


Today, President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping are jointly announcing (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/world/asia/china-us-xi-obama-apec.html) targets to reduce carbon emissions in the post-2020 period. By doing this – together, and well before the deadline established by the international community – we are encouraging other countries to put forward their own ambitious emissions reduction targets soon and to overcome traditional divisions so we can conclude a strong global climate agreement in 2015.

Our announcement can inject momentum into the global climate negotiations, which resume in less than three weeks in Lima, Peru, and culminate next year in Paris. The commitment of both presidents to take ambitious action in our own countries, and work closely to remove obstacles on the road to Paris, sends an important signal that we must get this agreement done, that we can get it done, and that we will get it done.

This is also a milestone in the United States-China relationship, the outcome of a concerted effort that began last year in Beijing (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/04/207465.htm), when State Councilor Yang Jiechi (http://english.gov.cn/statecouncil/yangjiechi/) and I started the United States-China Climate Change Working Group. It was an effort inspired not just by our shared concern about the impact of climate change, but by our belief that the world’s largest economies, energy consumers and carbon emitters have a responsibility to lead.



http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/u/4/kerry_munster_separated.jpg

Bob
11-12-2014, 12:12 PM
Today, President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping are jointly announcing (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/world/asia/china-us-xi-obama-apec.html) targets to reduce carbon emissions in the post-2020 period. By doing this – together, and well before the deadline established by the international community – we are encouraging other countries to put forward their own ambitious emissions reduction targets soon and to overcome traditional divisions so we can conclude a strong global climate agreement in 2015.

Our announcement can inject momentum into the global climate negotiations, which resume in less than three weeks in Lima, Peru, and culminate next year in Paris. The commitment of both presidents to take ambitious action in our own countries, and work closely to remove obstacles on the road to Paris, sends an important signal that we must get this agreement done, that we can get it done, and that we will get it done.

This is also a milestone in the United States-China relationship, the outcome of a concerted effort that began last year in Beijing (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/04/207465.htm), when State Councilor Yang Jiechi (http://english.gov.cn/statecouncil/yangjiechi/) and I started the United States-China Climate Change Working Group. It was an effort inspired not just by our shared concern about the impact of climate change, but by our belief that the world’s largest economies, energy consumers and carbon emitters have a responsibility to lead.

The man is a stoned narcissist to assume he will control China or the USA in 2020.

Any such targets by Obama will be voted up or down by Congress.

Obama has to learn he has limited power and not virtual control of this country.

Common Sense
11-12-2014, 12:14 PM
The man is a stoned narcissist to assume he will control China or the USA in 2020.

Any such targets by Obama will be voted up or down by Congress.

Obama has to learn he has limited power and not virtual control of this country.

Your perception of reality has clouded your judgment. There is nothing there that indicates Obama is trying to control China. They have simply made an agreement.

I'm sure there is a Chinese poster out there saying Jinping is a narcissist to think he can control Obama.

waltky
04-12-2016, 02:55 AM
El Nino causin' heat wave in Malaysia shuts down schools...
:shocked:
Severe heatwave closes Malaysian schools
April 11, 2016 -- Steamy temperatures, brought on by the current El Nino, have closed hundreds of schools in the states of Perlis and Pahang.


With temperatures soaring above 98.6 Fahrenheit, authorities have closed 259 schools, affecting 97,533 students. The ministry also asked parents to monitor the movement and activities of children while not in school. The country's capital, Kuala Lumpur, usually only sees high temperatures around 90 degrees. Besides school closings, food production has slowed and water shortages throughout the region have been reported.


http://cdnph.upi.com/sv/b/upi_com/UPI-5901460403037/2016/1/55b96c556b4847a44b1af78c248a5f2f/Severe-heatwave-closes-Malaysian-schools.jpg

Many parts of Asia have been affected by the El Nino dry spell. Vietnam has the worst drought in a century, and Thailand and the Philippines have seen reduced crop production. Malaysia might be in store for some relief. The nation's meteorological department predicts more showers and thunderstorms are forecast to cool down the area. Director-general Datuk Che Gayah said the country had already entered the inter-monsoon season with more rains and thunderstorms in the afternoon.

The world Meteorological Organization announced that temperatures in the first two months this year had soared to new highs. The organization warns that the "alarming" and "unprecedented" rate of climate change was "sending a powerful message to world leaders."

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/04/11/Severe-heatwave-closes-Malaysian-schools/5901460403037/?spt=sec&or=tn

See also:

World Bank to shift focus to climate change
April 11, 2016 -- The World Bank announced Thursday it is making a "fundamental shift" away from financing efforts to ease global poverty, towards tackling climate change.


The group, which provides financial assistance to the developing world, said all future spending under its new Climate Change Action Plan would be respectful of the environment and specifically 28 percent of new investments will fund projects that fight climate change.

The Climate Change Action Plan spells out the organization's actions to help nations deliver on their commitments to the Paris climate conference -- or COP21-- agreements from December 2015 and puts forth ambitious goals in renewable energy, climate-friendly agriculture, green transportation and urban resilience in the developing world for 2020. "Following the Paris climate agreement, we must now take bold action to protect our planet for future generations," said Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group president. "We are moving urgently to help countries make major transitions to increase sources of renewable energy, decrease high-carbon energy sources, develop green transport systems and build sustainable, livable cities for growing urban populations. Developing countries want our help to implement their national climate plans, and we'll do all we can to help them."


http://cdnph.upi.com/sv/b/upi/UPI-8821460339352/2016/1/4f46a09331bd9850191708fc888e4afd/World-Bank-to-shift-focus-to-climate-change.jpg

John Roome, senior director for climate change at the World Bank, told reporters at a press conference: "This is a fundamental shift for the World Bank. We are putting climate change into our DNA. Climate change will drive 100 million more people into poverty in the next 15 years [unless action is taken]." The group has been criticized in the past for investing in not-so-eco-friendly projects, like coal power stations, but said it would do so in the future based on how great the need was while a country transitioned from high-carbon fuels to clean energy.

"Climate change is the defining issue of our time and cannot be tackled through isolated actions, one sector at a time," said Laura Tuck, Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank Group. "The complexity of the challenge requires solutions that cut across many different sectors such as energy, water, agriculture, transport, urban planning, and disaster risk management. The World Bank is in a unique position to work with countries to develop the solutions that build their resilience to climate impacts, protect their people and environment, and reduce their emissions."

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/04/11/World-Bank-to-shift-focus-to-climate-change/8821460339352/?spt=sec&or=tn

waltky
07-03-2016, 02:32 AM
Changing monsoon pattern due to climate change...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/icon_omg.gif
Climate change altering monsoon pattern: study
Sun, Jul 03, 2016 - Each year as temperatures rise across India, farmers look to the sky and pray for rain.


The all-important monsoon forecast becomes a national priority, with more than 70 percent of India’s 1.25 billion citizens engaged in agriculture and relying on weather predictions to decide when they will sow their seeds and harvest their crops. However, getting the forecast right remains a challenge, thanks to the complex — and still poorly understood — ways in which South Asia’s monsoon rains are influenced by everything from atmospheric and ocean temperatures to air quality and global climate trends. Even the amount of ice in Antarctica is suspected to have an impact. And it is only getting harder to figure out, scientists say, as the monsoon becomes increasingly erratic.

A new study released on Friday in the journal Science Advances helps clear up a bit of the mystery, by showing that human-induced climate change is responsible for most of the change seen in ocean surface temperatures near the equator across Asia, which in turn affect regional rainfall patterns including the Indian monsoon. By showing that link, the study indicates future ocean warming in the region, which could in turn increase the amount of rainfall during monsoons, strengthen cyclones and increase precipitation over East Asia. “This has important implications for understanding changes in rainfall patterns for a large, and vulnerable population across Asia,” said oceanographer Evan Weller, who led the research team while he was at Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea, before recently shifting to Monash University in Australia.


http://www.taipeitimes.com/images/2016/07/03/P04-160703-309.jpg
Indian school children play in a flooded street in Mumbai, India

The study looks specifically at a mid-oceanic body called the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool, which holds some of the world’s warmest seawaters and spans the western Pacific Ocean to the eastern Indian Ocean. Scientists have long known that India’s monsoons are partly influenced by that warm pool. And they have known that the pool has been expanding — and warming — for decades. That expansion and warming have already caused some sea rise around islands in Asia. It was not entirely clear why the pool was changing, until now.

Weller and his team compared data observations with several climate models, and deduced that rising greenhouse gases along with aerosols and other atmospheric pollutants were the dominant cause of the pool’s warming and expansion over the past 60 years, though regional climate variations also had some effect. “This was not entirely surprising. We have long suspected climate change to be behind the changes, but no one had yet proven it,” Weller said. What they did not expect was to find that the western portion of the pool, near India, was expanding more than the eastern part in the Pacific. “We don’t really know why. We’ll try to figure that out next,” Weller said.

MORE (http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2016/07/03/2003650259)

Peter1469
07-03-2016, 09:23 AM
Hint. The planet warms in between Ice Ages.

Or there would have been only one Ice Age. And it would still be here.