Global Dimming

In simple terms- it is when clouds reflect the sunlight back to space before it can reach the ground. Man made pollutants such as aerosols particles are the primary suspects. This phenomena is suspected to have been reducing evaporation leading to reduced rainfall and the failure of the monsoon in sub-Saharan Africa during the 1970s and 1980s which has lead to famine and the Sahel drought. Pacific regions like here in the Philippines also depend on the arrival of the monsoon rains for agriculture.

Scientists now are considering that global dimming may have been reducing the effects of global warming and that solving the problem of global dimming will therefore lead to the further increase of temperature higher than forecasted by global warming models. Who may have thougt that some pollutants we put in the air are also helping in a way by delaying the effects of global warming.

 Please watch this BBC documentary
 

On Climate Change

A great standing debate of our age is the reality and nature of climate change. Scientists debating about it, are now being labeled as either deniers or believers. But to me this is not an issue of denying or believing like it's an issue of Faith. So, I prefer to refer to them as either proponents or skeptics. of climate change. The proponents now holds the consensus and the attention of the UN.

Proponents of global warming holds that man made Co2 is the cause of the warming that started in the mid 70's. Skeptics on the other hand while agreeing that the global temperature is rising, are disagreeing on the cause. They say that is something more natural and not man made.

I first heard about the global warming issue while in high school. One of my teachers even explained the behavior of Co2 using an old nursery rhyme which goes - "Pataas! Pababa! Paikot-ikot pa"

But I never really bothered to look deeper until I saw that famous film by Al Gore.
The "An Inconvenient Truth" has been a successful propaganda film for the proponents, or at least to me.

I never really doubted the film, to me it was convincing. Not until another film came up in response for the side of the skeptics. The film "The Great Global Warming Swindle" also brought good points about the issue to my attention.
[Please find and watch both films I embedded below]

As a young kid,  I made myself interested about of incoming typhoons - wind speeds, locations and directions. I read about it in books and I remember always listening to the radio and watching TV weather reports from the weather report icon Ernie Baron, whenever there is one coming.

If you would notice, the most destructive typhoons are almost all happening in the past recent decade. Hotter days and hotter nights have become more frequent even climate in Baguio City which used to be cooler have never been the same. Extreme weather events have also occurred more frequently since the 1980's. These include deadly and damaging typhoons, floods, landslides, severe El Niño(abnomal warming of the Pacific waters) and La Niña(opposite of El Nino) events. A few case in point are Pepeng(2009), Pedring (2011), Sendong (2012) and who could forget Ondoy (2009). All of them has caused billions worth of destruction if not lost of lives. And while 1st world countries are in the  front line on the research, as a local response Deparnment of Energy has a Presidential Task Force on Climate Change, which i think focuses more on the local economic/agricultural effects of the issue.

The Most Astounding Fact

Caught this yesterday from a post of the Bad Astronomer. Its about Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson answering a question from a reader "What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?" This is his answer.

The way this video was put together, made me remember how it felt like when I first learned about the same fact from reading a book years ago.

Credits and thanks to the maker and uploader: Max Schlickenmeyer

Great graphics and perfect music. Please watch in full screen to appreciate.