Category: Climate Change

Letter Re: Climate Change Myth and Reality

Jim: Regarding the recent Odd ‘n Sods link to the article about “The Prophet of Climate Change”: This planet on which we live has been “globally warmed” before, during that episode of time sometimes referred-to as the “Medieval Warm Period”. This warming (which is acknowledged to have been even warmer than our present-day) occurred without benefit of (the) Industrial Revolution, or even of a large human population. It (the Warming) waxed into being beginning around 750-850 A.D., waned, and then moved into the next bit of planetary-cycle, often thought of as (the) “Little Ice Age”. This globe on which we …


Poll Results: Why are You Preparing to Survive?

Here is the first round of responses to this question: Those who are well educated enough to see a societal collapse of some sort or another in the making fall into two groups, the merrymakers and the preparers. The merrymakers don’t see life worth living post-SHTF, so they live it up now. We on SurvivalBlog are the preparers and have chosen to survive, but why? Our children? To rebuild civilization? Because the collapse will only be temporary? Because we can and we’re stubborn with a stronger than normal will to survive? The following is just the first batch of responses. …


Letter Re: Unexpected Climate Change

Dear Jim and Family, The movie The Day After Tomorrow was on FX (cable TV channel) tonight. The first hour is entertaining weather disasters and fun science building up, the second hour was a travesty which insulted intelligent people and scientists everywhere. But it was pretty, and it’s just a movie. It’s okay for it to be half cr*p as long as its entertaining. The reality of climate change is much more interesting, and considerably slower paced. This week I found a web site with a drought map which is updated weekly. US Drought Monitor. It is pretty darned interesting. …


Two Letters Re: Pondering Some Personal Consequences of Global Climate Change

Dear Jim and Family, Wow, people sure are getting worked up and personal about climate change aren’t they? I agree that as survivalists we should do our best to plan for reasonable emergencies. Cold weather gear in Central America? Probably not. A larger cistern system than you think you need in the desert or great plains? A good idea. Why? Climate change, whether caused by man or not, makes for changing rainfall patterns. Maybe heavier so your soil gets waterlogged and you get unexpected floods. In Hawaii this may mean more hurricanes. Or maybe Hawaii turns into a desert island …


Letter Re: Pondering Some Personal Consequences of Global Climate Change

Jim, The subject of Global Warming is one that creates an intense reaction in people who have a political investment in opposition to it. As you can see by the letters my comment generated, it made the writers so angry that it actually interfered with their ability to read! We, as survivalists, need to be acutely aware of when this happens to us, as the ability to react to any information coolly and logically is a cultivated adaptation that will give us a leg-up in stressful situations. In reply to M.W.A., I should probably expand on something about CO2 that …


Three Letters Re: Pondering Some Personal Consequences of Global Climate Change

JWR, Both M.W.A. and Michael Williamson bring some sanity and reason to the subject of climate change. Thanks for publishing their letters. Weather/climate is probably the most complex system on earth. For anyone to say they can tell with any kind of certainty what the climate on earth was like millions of years ago is ridiculous and what is the point. On a very basic level, the one universal truth about the weather/climate is change, unending change. You could even make the case that change is a universal physical law. The writers are correct to question the motives of the …


Two Letters Re: Pondering Some Personal Consequences of Global Climate Change

Jim, I have been reluctant to comment on the climate change hysteria, but the recent letter by Hawaiian K was too much. There are several important facts to remember on this topic: 1) We don’t have enough data to determine whether we are in a long-term warming trend, or in a counter-cyclical move in a long term cooling trend. Lot’s of people have ‘data’ but no ‘facts’ have been established. Remember in the 1970’s how the next ice age was right around the corner? 2) Even if we do happen to be in a warming trend at the moment, there …


Two Letters Re: Pondering Some Personal Consequences of Global Climate Change

Jim, With regards to the recent flurry of postings on Global Warming (I prefer this term to the Frank Luntz, focus group tested “climate change”, which is designed to remove anxiety about the issue and thereby stifle any action on it), I wanted to clear up some common misunderstandings that have been intentionally spread around to confuse folks. I live very close to the laboratory on the slopes of Mauna Loa that first discovered the Global Warming trend over 30 years ago. After a long search for truth on the subject, I’ve come to understand that climate scientists are dealing …


Three Letters Re: Pondering Some Personal Consequences of Global Climate Change

Dear Jim, In response to this: “(See the movie The Day After Tomorrow regarding tipping points). Discoveries of animals flash frozen solid with fresh grass their stomachs points to the possibility of a very fast onset to global climate change.” The Day After Tomorrow was roundly slammed by scientists and went beyond ludicrous, and the “flash frozen” animals are a myth that has never been documented. The recovered frozen mammoths have all been highly putrefied. At present, the evidence of warming is mixed, with glaciers in Europe, South America and Antarctica all increasing [in size]. Even with the current Northern …


Letter Re: Pondering Some Personal Consequences of Global Climate Change

James: While the pundits assure us that global warming, if real at all, won’t affect us in our lifetime, other scientific models suggest explosive climate shifts as ‘tipping points’ are reached. (See the movie The Day after Tomorrow regarding tipping points). Discoveries of animals flash frozen solid with fresh grass their stomachs points to the possibility of a very fast onset to global climate change. While suddenly finding yourself in an Arctic climate is likely not survivable, we must consider if we have the flexibility to survive in a radically different or highly volatile climate. Global warming can make warm …


Letter Re: More on Asteroid Impacts

Dear Jim: For those who still think an asteroid impact is nothing to worry about, this was just posted on the Australian survival site forum, http://www.aussurvivalist.com: a 10 inch asteroid just hit the moon with the power of four tons of TNT, making a crater just over 42 feet wide. The event was captured on video. Although it is acknowledged that this would have been unlikely to make it through Earth’s atmosphere, the point is this goes on all the time, and Earth being hit by one that makes it through is just a matter of time. It is also …


The Year Without A Summer (a.k.a. “Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death” and “The Poverty Year”) By Tim P.

Since moving to Chenango County, New York in 2001, I have tried to do a bit of studying on the history of the area. My father lived in Fulton – North of Syracuse – as a boy and I spent the first 12 years of my life in Rhode Island with trips to the Upstate region for camping, family visits, etc. so I was not completely unfamiliar with the area. However, I had never really studied the history of the region and some of the things that I have found surprised me. I have always been fascinated by the catastrophes …


A “Little Ice Age” Starting at Mid-Century?

The UPI recently ran a news story from the RussianNovosti news service about a Russian astronomer that has predicted that Earth will experience a “mini Ice Age” in the middle of this century, caused by low solar activity. See:  http://upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060207-041447-2345r. Here is an excerpt from the article: “Khabibullo Abdusamatov of the Pulkovo Astronomic Observatory in St. Petersburg said Monday that temperatures will begin falling six or seven years from now, when global warming caused by increased solar activity in the 20th century reaches its peak, RIA Novosti reported.  The coldest period will occur 15 to 20 years after a major …


More Severe Weather Patterns Ahead?

Although climatologists are sharply divided as to long term global warming versus global cooling, there is some evidence of at least short term changes in climate. Consider the following “Hundred Year Forecast” from the pundits at LiveScience: http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/051013_stronger_storms.html However, you might just log this as “Food for Though and Grounds for Further Research” (FFTAGFFR), rather than as reliable data for making decisive relocation plans. I’m sorry to say that the jury is still out about global warming.