Tipping Points

Thursday, September 26, 2019, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Greta Thunberg's speech before the UNGA captured the attention of the press as she warned that the climate catastrophe may have reached its tipping point. Trump was also at the UNGA. While his speech was overshadowed by Thunberg, Trump is reaching his own tipping point as the Biden-Ukraine complaint by force Pelosi to start impeachment procedures.

Both stories are developing so I will wait until Thursday morning before selecting the videos for the meeting. But are are some videos to provide background:

• Greta Thunberg to world leaders
• What in the world is going on with Biden, Trump and Ukraine?

------------------------------------ Updated 9/26/19 ----------------------------------------

Here on the other videos shown at the meeting:

• Fiery calls to action at UN climate summit don't win pledges from worst emitters
• Did President Trump Mock Teen Activist Greta Thunberg?
• Pelosi Moving Forward With Trump Impeachment Inquiry
• Congress given whistleblower complaint
• Trump, Save Earth!

Debate Before Climate

Thursday, September 19, 2019, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

For the next meeting, we will review the 3rd Democrat Debate and then preview Climate Week which starts Thursday evening with the MSNBC Climate Town Hall and the continues with the Thunberg school strikes and the Climate Summit at the UN on Monday. At the debate the dems showed that they did not need the Green New Deal to push further to the left. That would normally be a problem in the general election except that Trump keeps on saying crazy things.

Here are the videos for the meeting:

• Democratic debate, the moments that mattered
• Trump Is Waiting for Saudi Arabia to Tell Him Who to Attack
• Greta Thunberg - Inspiring Others to Take a Stand Against Climate Change

------------------------------------ Updated 9/20/19 -----------------------------------

Here is the other video shown at the meeting:

• Greta Thunberg to Congress

The Climate of the Debate

Thursday, September 12, 2019, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Our next meeting will occur on the mourning before the third Democrat debate. With Trump's showing signs of mental decline, as exemplified by Sharpie-Gate, a Democratic victory in 2020 should be assured. But at last week's CNN Climate Town Hall, the top ten Democratic candidates proposed climate change solutions that may be too radical for the average voter. Furthermore, the Democrats are proposing to do away with the filibuster to insure that their climate policies will be enacted. Even if the voters find Trump unacceptable, they may want the Republicans to keep control of the Senate.

Here are some of the videos for our meeting:

• Internet mocks Trump's doctored weather map
• 'The Five' react to 2020 Democrats' climate change marathon
• John Oliver: Filibuster

------------------------------------ Updated 9/12/19 ---------------------------------

Here is the other video shown at the meeting:

• Biden's EPIC Stumble In CNN Town Hall

Dorian and climate models

Thursday, September 5, 2019, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Hurricane Dorian has grown to a Cat 5 and has dominated the news for the past week, and will not be over for another week. So instead of talking about the effects of Dorian, it may be instructive to discuss why the weather models failed to predict its intensity early on. Warmer waters caused by climate change is only part of what makes a hurricane so strong. It turns out that El Nino increases wind shear which breaks up hurricane formation. Weather models have difficulty in predicting when El Nino comes and goes, which can affect the predictions for the whole season.

Weather models are analogous to climate models. Is there something in climate forecasting like El Nino that can throw off the predication of the magnitude of the coming warming? The short answer is yes, clouds.

Here are the videos for the meeting:

• What to expect from the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season
• Weather pattern "El Nino" has come to an end
• Tracking the path of Hurricane Dorian
• El Niño and Why It's So Hard To Predict the Weather
• Gavin Schmidt: The emergent patterns of climate change
• Kate Marvel: Can clouds buy us more time to solve climate change?

-------------------------------------------- Updated 9/5/19 --------------------------------------

Here is the other video shown at the meeting:

• Modeling Our Climate