Environment and climate change

[Mori Chu]

Seems bad.

[JeremyG]

This is now obsolete…because the high temperature doesn’t get this low anymore

[Nodack]

You can save money in Phoenix by cooking on the sidewalk.

[Nodack]

Electric cars face ‘punitive’ fees, new restrictions in many states
A growing number of conservative states are imposing new taxes on drivers using electric vehicle charging stations and trying to limit EV sales.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/1 ... n-00110125

Electric vehicle drivers in Texas have started to get some bad news in the mail.

Starting in September, they’ll have to pay the state an extra $200 each year to register their climate-friendly cars and trucks. And if they want to buy a new EV, that will cost $400 upfront.

Supporters say it ensures every driver pays their fair share. But the fee is nearly double what an average driver would pay in taxes at the pump, according to consumer advocates.

Unchanged since 1991, Texas’ gas tax is one of the cheapest in the country. Now, its new EV fees are among the most expensive. That’s no accident, experts and advocates say. A growing number of mostly Republican-led states are adding speed bumps to electric vehicles — from new taxes on drivers using charging stations, to limits on how automakers sell EVs, to registration fees that critics call punitive.

[Mori Chu]

The world is burning up. Western Canada (BC) is being engulfed by wildfire, even as Maui is devastated by its recent fires. Southern California is under a hurricane warning. Climate change is here, and it's bad.

[Mori Chu]

Hilary is now a Cat 1 hurricane. Expected to hit California soon, including flooding.

[Mori Chu]

And now an earthquake in SoCal.

[BKinSJC]

I'm in Southern Orange County, CA - within the original projected path of the storm, although more recent data make it look like it'll pass off to the East of where I live. We've had steady rain all day but nothing too concerning yet. Have to see how it ramps up as the storm gets closer.

Didn't feel that earthquake, but it was up North of L.A. even. We get magnitude 5-ish earthquakes all the time, so it happening at the same time as this once-a-generation-type storm just seems like a bit of a coincidence.

[Superbone]

I’m just North of San Diego. Just a lot of rain so far today for me. Started slow. Picked up for a while. Now back to light. I canceled movie plans with friends so now in the spirit of the hurricane, I’m watching This Is the End.

[Cap]

And now an earthquake in SoCal.

For once, a natural disaster that has nothing to do with fossil fuels or climate change.

[Mori Chu]

And now an earthquake in SoCal.

For once, a natural disaster that has nothing to do with fossil fuels or climate change.

Not sure if this post is serious or sarcastic. But I sort of assume all these things are connected. The planet is under duress. Weird weather phenomena and disasters are likely to be more common going forward. Don't know whether earthquakes specifically are connected, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

[Cap]

And now an earthquake in SoCal.

For once, a natural disaster that has nothing to do with fossil fuels or climate change.

Not sure if this post is serious or sarcastic. But I sort of assume all these things are connected. The planet is under duress. Weird weather phenomena and disasters are likely to be more common going forward. Don't know whether earthquakes specifically are connected, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

It’s not the whole planet that’s under duress. It’s the atmosphere and oceans. Any changes to the density and currents of those entities has negligible effect on the tectonic forces that govern earthquakes.

Tectonic stress builds up over time. That has nothing to do with climate. The stress can be released a little at a time, or build up for a long time and be released all at once. The latter is far more damaging. Quakes like this one, which release significant tectonic energy without causing major damage or casualties, are desirable.

[Nodack]

Quakes have been an integral part of the planet for billions of years. I am not sure if the tectonic plates care about global warming.

[Superbone]

Quakes have been an integral part of the planet for billions of years. I am not sure if the tectonic plates care about global warming.

I guess if heat has no effect on earthquakes, that would be true. Heat and the environment have also been an integral part of the planet for billions of years. Not sure why time matters.

[Nodack]

I am only talking about earthquakes and whether they are caused by man made global warming or not. I think they are always moving slowly. Like cap said the small ones are desirable because the plates are sliding without too much restriction. When they get stuck bad they can release a lot of energy when they do bust loose.

[Mori Chu]

I googled it, whether climate change affects earthquakes, and I got inconsistent answers. I can't point to a source that definitively says that they do in a convincing way.

[Nodack]

I googled it, whether climate change affects earthquakes, and I got inconsistent answers. I can't point to a source that definitively says that they do in a convincing way.

That sounds logical to me. Ask if global warming is real or not and I think you will get inconsistent answers depending on who you are talking to. Ask if masks helped during Covid. Ask if alternate fuels are better than fossil fuels. Ask if raising interest rates is the best way to hold off a recession? Ask if sugar causes diabetes.

I don’t think we know enough about earthquakes and global warming to get a definitive answer on whether global warming causes earthquakes. I don’t think global warming has much of an effect on earthquakes. I have no scientific facts to prove it. I do think man has made global warming worse than if he wasn’t here but I am not positive. I also think whether man was here or not that changes will happen. Ice ages come and go. It seems that those changes happen very slowly and our global warming is happening very fast on an earth timeline scale.

[Mori Chu]

We're seeing the devastating effects of climate change all around us this summer. Burning Man just got evacuated. July was the hottest month ever recorded in human history.

[Mori Chu]

Biden undoing some Trump drilling. I support this.

[Nodack]

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-envir ... this-year/
PHOENIX (AP) — How hot is it in Phoenix? In what has been the hottest summer ever measured, the sizzling city in the Sonoran Desert broke yet another record Saturday when temperatures topped 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius).
It was the 54th day this year that the official reading at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport made the mark, eclipsing the previous record of 53 days set in 2020.