Andrew Henry

Canadian. Local paper occasionally publishes pieces I write about climate, energy, and Passivhaus.  Also interested in disability issues, for reasons.  Nordic skier who played rugby. Happiest out skiing on a sunny and cold winter's day.

Public Key

npub1ckesxjurqz25xsdmrn0qmzxsnj7cxp68tvh07pz03r7llam8hgqq8eg7rv

NIP-05 Address

andrewhenry_at_mastodon.energy@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsvtvcrfwpsp92rgxa3ehsd3rgfe0vrqar4kthlq38c3l0l7anm5qqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dswz2qwc

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1ckesxjurqz25xsdmrn0qmzxsnj7cxp68tvh07pz03r7llam8hgqq8eg7rv

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Last Notes

2026-02-06 12:31:51 UTC

No good can come of this. Right @npub1mzd…58f4
‘
This quiet rule change means Ontarians now have to pay for nuclear plants before they’re built
Premier Doug Ford has quietly changed the rule that used to mean Ontario ratepayers would only start paying for new generation once it was completed.
‘
#ontario
https://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/this-quiet-rule-change-means-ontarians-now-have-to-pay-for-nuclear-plants-before-they/article_b66d728f-93c1-4669-9b07-9265b3f5a9af.html

2026-01-25 00:57:54 UTC

`
Germany holds the world’s second biggest national gold reserves after the US, of which approximately €164bn (£122bn) worth – 1,236 tonnes – is stored in New York.
Emanuel Mönch, a leading economist and former head of research at Germany’s federal bank, the Bundesbank, called for the gold to be brought home, saying it was too “risky” for it to be kept in the US under the current administration.
'
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/24/repatriate-the-gold-german-economists-advise-withdrawal-from-us-vaults

2025-09-24 21:21:00 UTC

A libertarian pulling themself up by their own bootstraps!
/s
‘
The U.S. Treasury is preparing a $20 billion currency swap with Argentina, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday. He announced the plan after Argentine President Javier Milei met a day earlier with President Donald Trump at the United Nations General Assembly.
‘
#economics
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/09/24/argentina-argentina-united-states-currency-swap/2881758735936/

2025-09-22 16:05:59 UTC

This is good journalism. Worth the read if you are interested in how the petroleum industry captured the regulators.
`
‘Broken’ trust: senior political staffers met by jeers at meeting with rural Albertans
Alberta’s oil and gas well problem is a ‘giant stinking pile of shit,’ according to the premier’s special advisor, who wrote the province’s strategy to address the issue and is on the Alberta Energy Regulator board
'
#canpoli #abpoli #energytransition
https://thenarwhal.ca/alberta-oil-and-gas-meeting-warburg/

2025-09-10 22:08:56 UTC

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For details on hail damage and the impact on car insurance in Alberta.
https://www.ibc.ca/news-insights/news/latest-hailstorm-in-calgary-causes-92-million-in-insured-damage

2025-09-10 22:06:36 UTC

Increasingly bigger hailstones in a hotter region that pulverizes the windshields of Albertan’s light trucks is driving insurers out of the province.
‘
CUMIS, which is a subsidiary of Co-operators General Insurance, said it's making a "necessary" decision to leave the Alberta market. Its decision is in direct response to "ongoing challenges" in the market, the announcement said, including the rising cost of auto claims.
‘
#insurance
#climatecrisis
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/cumis-auto-insurance-alberta-1.7629772

2025-08-26 02:33:33 UTC

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If only Alberta had good photovoltaic potential.
https://natural-resources.canada.ca/energy-sources/renewable-energy/photovoltaic-potential-solar-resource-maps-canada
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/115/092/713/441/225/637/original/175ce5f10ca1c949.png

2025-08-18 12:58:33 UTC

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A potential Monty Python sketch!

2025-08-18 00:29:40 UTC

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This doctor.
`
She Exposed the Insurance Industry’s Worst Behavior. Now They’re Coming After Her.
Dr. Elisabeth Potter went viral after accusing UnitedHealthcare of interfering with cancer surgery. She’s still speaking out—despite legal threats.
'
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/she-exposed-the-insurance-industrys-worst-behavior.-now-theyre-coming-after-her

2025-08-12 23:33:11 UTC

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That is a bummer. With flash drought a regular occurrence one might hope they could prioritize translation.
https://www.drought.gov/what-is-drought/flash-drought

2025-08-12 23:27:01 UTC

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BTW, the U.S. Drought Monitor comes out weekly.
Ag Canada's Canadian Drought Monitor comes out once a month, and when it does come out the data is already 12 days stale.
#canpoli
#drought

2025-08-12 23:21:28 UTC

Through July, most of Canada recorded below- to well below-average precipitation driving both the spread and intensification of drought across the country. In British Columbia, persistent rainfall deficits and dwindling stream flows exacerbated dry conditions. The northern and central Prairies saw exceptionally low precipitation, rapidly deepening drought in those regions. Meanwhile, southern and eastern Ontario received hot, ...
#drought h/t @npub1jay…80k8
https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/agricultural-production/weather/canadian-drought-monitor/current-drought-conditions#a1
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/115/018/336/579/126/179/original/ae258ee9feb7028f.jpg

2025-07-29 12:59:46 UTC

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Think of it as tree dentistry.

2025-07-19 11:39:35 UTC

The Outauoais is overlooked as always.
‘
More than two weeks later he remains at a Montreal rehabilitation centre, with his mother unable to transfer him closer to home in Gatineau, Que., because the nearest suitable hospital is in Ottawa, part of the Ontario health-care system.
‘
#Ottawa #Gatineau
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/outaouais-football-player-paralyzed-in-pool-mishap-facing-lengthy-recovery-1.7588888

2025-07-11 16:20:51 UTC

From: Arthur Charpentier
@npub1a2x…ygq0
‘
Despite these signals, banking models continue to underestimate these risks.
Yet the chain reactions are obvious: a flood destroys a neighborhood, property loses its value, borrowers default, guarantees collapse. A drought ruins crops, farmers can no longer repay their loans, local authorities lose revenue, banks reduce credit. The shock spreads throughout the economy.
‘
#insurance #ClimateCrisis
https://freakonometrics.hypotheses.org/82455

2025-07-07 18:02:42 UTC

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Sorry, I should never have hopped on the gravy train.
I will delete it.

2025-07-07 16:49:05 UTC

Poutine is a dish usually eaten at breakfast and lunch by Western Canadians, but occasionally dinner. It is made of French fries, aged cheddar, and #gravy
It was long spelled putin by francophone Canadians. During the last decade of the twentieth century it switched from masculine to feminine which is why there is now the letter e at the end of the word. No one knows why the letter ‘o’ was added.

2025-06-05 20:57:35 UTC

Gatineau’s air quality this evening is ‘high risk’.
Probably the same for Ottawa.
#ottawa #gatineau
https://weather.gc.ca/airquality/pages/provincial_summary/qc_e.html

2025-05-23 22:45:54 UTC

A neighbour’s tall white pine came down a couple of years ago. I lifted up a section of bark the other day and there was all sorts of squirmy things that would appeal to a woodpecker (narrator: it was gross) so I wasn’t too surprised to see this pileated woodpecker on the fallen pine today.
(Turn on the sound)
#birds #BirdsOfMastodon
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/114/559/534/134/553/337/original/e79b8b6886af7ab1.mp4

2025-05-21 00:41:47 UTC

`
California’s Assembly Bill No. AB 1167 (AB 1167) required full-cost financial assurance upon the transfer of low-producing oil wells. The result has been to curtail the transfer of low-producing wells that likely posed greater risk of operator defaults to the State of California. Comparing transfers prior to the bill and after its implementation reveal a stark contrast – from over 1,300 wells in the first half of 2023, to just six wells in 2024.
'
#abpoli #canpoli
https://carbontracker.org/reports/closing-the-oil-well-transfer-loophole/

2025-05-18 13:46:39 UTC

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I am here for #BuildingScience mastodon!
Let’s build some bridges, as long as they aren’t thermal bridges.
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/thermal-bridging

2025-05-10 00:50:42 UTC

‘
Renae was just five months old when she got the measles – too young to be vaccinated, but unable to avoid being exposed during an outbreak in Manchester, England, in 2013.
The infant was hospitalized, but recovered. For the next 10 years, Renae had no other medical issues, her mom says.
But the measles virus was sitting dormant in her brain for years. When it woke up, Renae started having seizures. Then, she couldn't speak, or eat, or even stay conscious.
‘
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/measles-complications-1.7530506

2025-04-29 21:09:08 UTC

`
The outlook appears alarmingly bleak. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and natural catastrophes are increasing, a trend that may be exacerbated in the coming decades by long-term shifts in climate patterns. Variations in temperatures, rising sea levels, and changes in precipitation patterns could disrupt natural ecosystems, agricultural productivity, and human health, resulting in persistent environmental and economic damage.
'
#climatecrisis
https://www.zurich.com/knowledge/topics/climate-change/strategies-for-building-resilience-in-a-more-volatile-world

2025-04-27 11:33:44 UTC

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Coffee, tea, chocolate and now coconuts!
#heatflation
https://mastodon.energy/@AndrewHenry/114406923902817093

2025-03-29 18:28:14 UTC

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On the way to Brown cabin in the Gatineau park this morning.
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/114/247/118/118/644/688/original/ddd79329bcb4ceb3.mp4

2025-03-27 23:54:05 UTC

‘
Residents near a south London, Ont. intersection where a 73-year-old man was fatally struck by a vehicle on Saturday say the stretch of road where it occurred often sounds more like a racetrack than a city street.
‘
@npub1z7x…q5jf
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/south-london-road-where-man-struck-and-killed-was-previously-flagged-as-unsafe-1.7494417

2025-03-01 19:05:47 UTC

If only there was a way Americans could prevent 🇺🇸 egg producers from artificially creating an🥚egg shortage in order to reap windfall profits.
`
Supply management is an innovative system that matches Canadian demand with made-in-🇨🇦 eggs. It means Canadians have access to a consistent supply of fresh, local and high-quality eggs, while ensuring farmers earn a fair return for their work.
'
https://www.eggfarmers.ca/2020/01/supply-management-101/
FT: https://archive.ph/hBD4w
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/114/088/719/667/146/327/original/190cf51c3b7f9c27.png

2025-02-16 12:11:04 UTC

The Gatineau Loppet 50 km skate ski race is still on. It will be miserable.
‘
As you know, Environment Canada has issued a winter storm warning for heavy snow accumulation, starting tonight and ending Sunday night.
Snow, wind and blowing snow in places will increase the level of difficulty for the races.
In response, the Gatineau Loppet has moved the grooming plan closer to the start time, but considering that 1.5 to 3 cm per hour are expected between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m
‘
#gatineau #ottawa

2025-02-15 15:57:21 UTC

Best to clear out snow from your home's intake and exhaust vents before tomorrow's storm covers them completely, especially if you heat your home or hot water with gas.
Blocked vents can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning.
#ottawa #gatineau #onstorm #qcwx #onwx
#CleanExplodingNaturalGas

2025-02-02 22:22:23 UTC

Looks like a #fediverse solution is needed for the online retail presence of small businesses.

2025-01-20 17:53:15 UTC

The cost of food will rise; it will rise faster the slower we decarbonize.
`
Roasters are still selling their coffee in the supermarket as if wholesale prices were at around $2.5 per pound, according to my soundings within the industry.
Given the lag between wholesale and retail prices, the cost of your cup of morning heart-starter could increase by at least 20% to 25% in the next few months
'
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-01-20/coffee-prices-your-cup-of-morning-joe-is-about-to-shock-you
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/113/861/927/783/628/526/original/29343b47d64263b0.png

2024-12-27 23:12:57 UTC

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For federal records maybe start here: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/corporate/portfolio/service-canada.html

2024-12-27 13:57:26 UTC

`
To get ahead of the game, some firms are frontloading orders. Others are seeking new suppliers or, if that’s not possible, renegotiating terms with existing ones. A common theme: The renewed stress comes with higher costs, in the form of bigger inventories, costlier expedited shipping, or taking a chance on untested partners. Profits will suffer and expenses will be reduced elsewhere, they said. Ultimately consumers will foot the bill.
'
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-12-26/trump-tariffs-how-importers-shippers-worldwide-are-preparing
https://archive.ph/to8Yu#selection-1675.0-1675.439

2024-12-26 12:55:51 UTC

`
Collusion isn’t unprecedented in Japan’s notoriously clubby, ¥9.92 trillion ($63 billion) general insurance market, the fourth-biggest in the world. But the pressures brought on by the effects of climate change – worsening natural disasters, skyrocketing claims – triggered a wave of price-fixing that gobsmacked even the most jaded regulators.
'
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-12-25/crime-climate-force-japan-s-insurance-industry-to-sell-stocks
https://archive.ph/aCz56#selection-1573.0-1573.344

2024-12-21 15:05:36 UTC

I wrote this for the local paper. It's about Christmas stockings and the climate crisis's impacts to agriculture.
`
We take for granted the availability of our everyday luxuries. In an increasingly hotter and drier world, the availability and affordability of the foods we cherish most are in jeopardy.
'
https://lowdownonline.com/valley-voices/an-orange-may-be-a-rarer-treat-than-you-think/
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/113/691/414/783/338/478/original/c4b96e336a0d89b6.jpeg

2024-12-16 00:35:36 UTC

`
Beijing is clear it sees climate science as a geopolitical battleground. President Xi Jinping has said he wants China to become a “weather superpower,” and made it a national priority to win the world’s second-largest economy a bigger say in global meteorological governance. To that end, the country boosted spending on climate diplomacy by nearly 500% from 2013 to 2023, following a tried-and-tested playbook of offering other nations financial help and support.
'
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-12-11/trump-gives-china-a-shot-at-becoming-the-world-s-next-weather-superpower

2024-12-14 12:41:31 UTC

‘
In those 11 years, though, Duchesne said he's seen the number of days the slide can be open shrink due to climate change. Last year, the company had to close the slide for 32 out of its target 95 days of operation because of the weather, about a third of the season.
So the company is investing $400,000 to refrigerate the slide, thanks to financial help from Tourisme Québec for winter infrastructure.
‘
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/toboggan-slide-refrigerated-1.7410202

2024-12-07 22:40:26 UTC

`
This spring, Dems wrapped up an investigation into the fossil fuel industry’s role in climate disinformation, and asked the Department of Justice to pick up where they left off. In House and Senate Democrats’ final report, investigators concluded that major oil companies had not only misled the public on climate change for decades, but also were continuing to misinform them about the industry’s preferred climate “solutions”— particularly biofuels and carbon capture.
'
https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/documents-whistleblowers-and-public-comments-are-clear-oil-companies-know-carbon-capture

2024-12-04 03:12:53 UTC

`
But climate change is supercharging storms, floods and fires. Conventional insurers are determining that houses in places struck often by extreme weather are too risky to insure, canceling hundreds of thousands of policies. In the last two years, seven of the 12 biggest home insurers have limited their coverage in California. For those whose policies have been dropped by major insurers, non-admitted insurance is one of their only remaining options for coverage.
'
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-home-insurance-risky-policy/

2024-11-23 03:23:58 UTC

`
“Adani Green’s terrible governance was in plain view,” said Henry Kinnersley, co-founder of shortseller Snowcap Research.
The Adani Group has denied the allegations. But news of the US indictment wiped about $27 billion off the Adani Group’s combined market value as investors digest the details.
Together, the 770 funds oversee about $400 billion and some of them are managed by the world’s largest asset managers.
'
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/investing/commodities/2024/11/23/adani-shock-exposes-esg-fund-managers-clinging-to-terrible-bet/

2024-11-13 01:11:53 UTC

`
How oil and gas companies disguise their methane emissions
FT analysis shows that firms regularly hide leakages of the deadly greenhouse gas — despite this being one of the easiest climate fixes there is
---
Energy companies have found numerous ways to hide the magnitude of their emissions, according to analysis by the Financial Times. “Oil and gas is emitting far more methane than we realise,” says Eric Kort, professor of climate, ...
'
https://www.ft.com/content/374e78dc-69ae-419e-a583-0842b3833d9d

2024-11-10 23:35:52 UTC

`
Trump appears to be on the cusp of barricading the US economy behind a tariff wall and cementing its role as the world’s biggest fossil fuel producer. If China wants to build the alliances that it will need to acquire the status of a global hegemon, it has the perfect opportunity now to present itself as the clean alternative to an oil-stained and declining American empire.
'
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-11-10/china-s-energy-dominance-gets-a-boost-from-trump

2024-10-27 21:17:24 UTC

`
The aftermath of Hurricane Helene is yet again drawing attention to the fragility of the US drug supply chain, and should push leaders to act with more urgency to improve the resilience of the nation’s medicine cabinet. But solving the IV, vitamin and dextrose shortages aren’t enough to help this fragile group of patients. They also need the for these most basic services to be reimbursed at a rate that allows providers to stay in business.
'
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-10-27/iv-shortage-puts-parenteral-nutrition-patients-last-in-line
https://archive.ph/pCpYv#selection-1775.0-1775.443

2024-10-26 22:40:12 UTC

`
Three weeks after Hurricane Helene, the frantic hunt for critical, basic medical products continues. The storm knocked out production at Baxter Inc.’s North Cove plant in North Carolina, which reportedly produced some 60% of the US supply of IV fluids.
That scramble is becoming too familiar. When Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico in 2017, the damage to a Baxter plant that made small IV bags led to a shortage...
'
#ClimateCrisis
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-10-26/iv-shortage-after-hurricane-helene-reveals-a-bigger-problem
https://archive.ph/7Gw6O#selection-1681.0-1697.62

2024-10-14 11:47:19 UTC

‘
"None were asked if they had ever tried learning the Governor-General's Indigenous language, Inuktitut," Fraser wrote.
Journalists who engaged in critical coverage of Simon's language skills didn't acknowledge that she wasn't taught French in Quebec schools, despite being raised in the province, Fraser wrote, adding that "going there is too much hypocrisy to bear."
‘
#qcpoli
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/gov-gen-s-spouse-criticizes-quebec-media-over-coverage-of-mary-simon-s-trip-to-province-1.7351366

2024-10-12 15:52:11 UTC

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The initial post was specifically about air-to-water heat pumps which really are novel to North America.

2024-10-12 14:38:08 UTC

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No, I installed a waterr-to-water ground source heat pump in 2008 at my house. These air-to-water heat pumps weren't available then. They are considerably cheaper to install. In very cold climates though the coefficient of performance approaches 1, whereas a GSHP stays steady around 3.

2024-10-12 12:34:33 UTC

It's a bit sad how unwelcoming the U.S. has been to heat pumps.
`
Stiebel Eltron’s WPL air-to-water heat pump has been available for over a year, but the company would have liked to have introduced it to the U.S. even earlier.
“We have sold a similar product in Europe for over 10 years now,” he notes. “In the U.S., regulations relating to monobloc air-to-water heat pumps are behind Europe. Our product currently has to be tested as ‘a chiller that can also heat’ .”
'
https://www.pmmag.com/articles/105927-air-to-water-heat-pumps-a-game-changer-for-the-hydronics-industry

2024-10-11 00:09:56 UTC

`
The United States and the world have warmed tremendously over the last 90 years, but not, remarkably, during the summer in the Midwestern corn belt — the big blue dot on the map, a “warming hole.” That region has cooled during summer while warming like the rest of the planet during other seasons. That blue dot contains one of the world's highest concentrations of food production. It is very influential for world food commodity prices,
'
https://grainsgigawatts.substack.com/p/revisiting-crop-sensitivity-to-extreme
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/113/285/862/133/189/710/original/bbd7bc33d3c621bf.png

2024-10-11 00:02:08 UTC

`
England has suffered its second worst harvest on record – with fears growing for next year – after heavy rain last winter hit production of key crops including wheat and oats.
On staple crops, England’s wheat haul is estimated to be 10m tonnes, or 21%, down on 2023,
Winter barley was 26% down on last year, and the winter oilseed rape harvest was down 32%, in data released by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs on Thursday.
'
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/10/harvest-in-england-the-second-worst-on-record-because-of-wet-weather

2024-09-24 23:15:25 UTC

Wrote a piece about the resignation of Quebec's super minister of energy, and about the former minister's aspersions upon Quebec's households for 'wasting' electricity, and about why the blame for Quebec's peak winter electricity demand should be assigned to the provincial government and not it's citizens.
Worth a read if you live in New England or New York, because Hydro Quebec has committed ~10% (afaict) of it's electricity capacity for export.
#qcpol #energytransition
https://sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/cdn.mastodon.energy/media_attachments/files/113/195/016/421/109/553/original/5702d83af15c9095.jpeg

2024-09-19 01:08:15 UTC

`
Pounding rain hit Emilia-Romagna late on Wednesday afternoon and the situation rapidly worsened as night fell.
Jader Dardi, the mayor of Modigliana, a town in Forlì-Cesena province that was also hit badly by devastating regional flooding in May 2023, said the river had “exploded”.
“The situation is very dramatic,” he told Sky TG 24. “It is worse than in 2023.”
'
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/18/storm-boris-batters-northern-italy-bringing-severe-flooding-and-landslides

2024-09-18 23:57:27 UTC

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Insert classic 🇨🇦 Red Green quote here, "..., they should at least find you handy."

2024-09-18 21:47:29 UTC

`
A seismic hum signals a new era of climate uncertainty
An enigmatic sound has shown that the frozen corners of the world are creaking — and in more ways than one
---
The headline is not that climate change is happening, nor even that it is happening faster than anticipated. Rather, it is that the consequences are not always apparent, predictable, measurable or explicable. We are moving into a new era of climate uncertainty.
'
https://archive.ph/XXpyS#selection-1687.0-1691.106

2024-09-17 23:40:49 UTC

Weatherman Jeff Berardelli over on xitter.
Cross posting as the GIF showing the weather events relative to the jet stream is important to understand.
'
Everything is stuck! That partly explains the 20” of rain along the Carolina Coast and extreme rains and snows in Central Europe. Take a look at the jet stream in the US and Europe. Rex blocks (high over top of low) abound with an extremely wavy jet stream!
'
https://x.com/WeatherProf/status/1835777548170473925

2024-08-09 21:54:01 UTC

‘
I often do the annual charity bike ride on Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway and wonder what idiots thought it was a good idea to allow glass apartments hanging over a highway that is filled with idling cars and trucks most of the time and screeching stunt drivers for the balance. These people probably get one morning a year when they can use their balconies, and that’s when the bikes take over. The rest of the time they are sucking exhaust fumes and particulates.
‘
https://open.substack.com/pub/lloydalter/p/ultrafine-particles-are-killing-us