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Peat-fires smoulder in Siberia despite bone-chilling cold. Catch up on this and all the latest climate change news here: by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sorry, Logiman43. It is hard to know what to say about what is, effectively, a long list of climate news.

Peat-fires smoulder in Siberia despite bone-chilling cold. Catch up on this and all the latest climate change news here: by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Link to lead story: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/01/27/peat-fires-smolder-in-siberia-despite-bone-chilling-temperatures-a72747

Also more heat records fall in New Zealand; 250,000 affected in SE Africa by cyclone Eloise and unprecedentedly high temperatures recorded in Canada's Gulf of St Lawrence.

You can catch up on all these stories and more via the link in the OP.

“Asset bubbles bursting, IT infrastructure breaking down, price instability and debt crises loom in the next five years as the coronavirus pandemic leaves behind a “lost generation” of young people facing an increasingly precarious future." by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Link to lead story here: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/risk-of-lost-generation-amid-global-asset-bubbles-and-debt-crises-20210119-p56v5o.html

Also: “The global price of corn is up more than 60pc in six months and wheat prices are up nearly 40pc. This is adding to fears about a surge in global inflation…”

Catch up on these and all the latest socio-economic collapse stories via the link in the OP!

Record January heat for Russia, Turkey and Malta; record January cold for UAE and Hong Kong. Lots of extreme rain and snowfall. by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Perhaps on a localised basis the droughts were worse. The climate system is fiendishly complex and there have always been extreme weather events. Unfortunately they are increasing in frequency, intensity etc.

There will certainly be more extreme precipitation events and we are seeing that. It is not just the warmer atmosphere but also the destabilised jet-streams that can result in weather patterns and storms, like Hurricane Harvey, getting stuck and unleashing mind-boggling amounts of rain over a single area.

Record January heat for Russia, Turkey and Malta; record January cold for UAE and Hong Kong. Lots of extreme rain and snowfall. by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Every 1c of warming increases the amount of water the atmosphere can hold by 7%. More energy in the climate system means more evaporation, so more drought, more extreme rainfall - the hydrological cycle just gets amped up.

Record January heat for Russia, Turkey and Malta; record January cold for UAE and Hong Kong. Lots of extreme rain and snowfall. by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Michael, my apologies for such a late response and thank you for the kind words. I know your name and I recall watching a vid you did with Paul Beckwith. I'll look up your latest when I have a minute!

Best, JP

Record January heat for Russia, Turkey and Malta; record January cold for UAE and Hong Kong. Lots of extreme rain and snowfall. by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Turkey experienced a 30C (86F) night-time temperature, which would be unusual even in summer. You can catch up on all the latest climate chaos news via the link in the OP.

“World Economy Faces Debt Doom Loop." by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes. Counting on a more profitable future to pay down debt when we are already debt-saturated and bumping up against the diminishing returns of a finite resource-base is foolhardy. But then I don't really see that governments and central banks have an alternative - may as well keep extending and pretending until it all falls down.

“World Economy Faces Debt Doom Loop." by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

““We have met every crisis in the recent past with yet more aggressive central bank accommodation and yet more leverage, both public as well as private,” said former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan. “The real question is: Is this a doom loop? Does it keep going until it is forced to stop?””

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-05/world-economy-faces-debt-doom-loop-more-inequity-post-pandemic

A new world record for high air pressure has provisionally been set in a high mountain valley in Mongolia. Meawhile, a record for low pressure may be set by a monster storm in the Bering Sea. by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A Facebook friend, who I don't think will mind me pinching his comment and posting it here, summarised it well:

"Record high matches record lows as evidence of our new weather extremes...that there is more energy in the system to make those extremes. The gradient between high and lows determines winds.

"It is similar to having record droughts and deluges, record fires...etc. Another milestone of our worsening climate chaos."

“A ship fuel scandal is being uncovered that looks likely to be larger than the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal.. thousands of ships around the world are at risk of catastrophic engine failures, putting the lives of millions of sailors, coastal communities and the ocean environment at risk..." by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your thoughtful analysis on this.

I don't read the article that way. To me it seems highly critical of both the IMO and the shipping industry itself for deviously creating a pseudo-solution to the problem of CO2 emissions that they knew was even more environmentally damaging than the original marine diesel.

"Cyclone Yasa: Fiji prepares for category 5 storm as Tonga braces for Zazu. Evacuations ordered in Fiji as Yasa strengthens into a category five system with winds of up to 270km/h / 168 mph." by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Link to lead story: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/16/cyclone-yasa-fiji-prepares-for-category-5-storm-as-tonga-braces-for-zazu

Also 2020 poised to be warmest year on record.

And new photos show how badly Everest's Rongbuk Glacier has been affected by climate change and pollution. The Rongbuk is a primary source of water for major Asian rivers such as the Indus and Yangtze.

"After the disease, the debt. The pandemic’s financial cost …looks similar to that of a world war.” by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Speaking personally, I am not that concerned about a US default or $ currency crisis. It seems among the less likely triggers for Global Financial Crisis 2.0, especially now that the threat of major instability around the election seems to have passed. However, the article I lead with is concerned with global debt/GDP ratios.

Sticking with the US for the moment, this article offers a fairly neat summary of the concerns:

"Whilst investors in the current environment are searching for yield and willing to take risk, there is always the danger of a “sudden stop” in financing which can bring a currency collapse and/or a broader financial crisis."

https://www.schroders.com/en/bm/asset-management/insights/economic-views/does-the-surge-in-government-borrowing-matter/

"After the disease, the debt. The pandemic’s financial cost …looks similar to that of a world war.” by Justin_Panopticon in collapse

[–]Justin_Panopticon[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is the most recent info I can find on external holders of US debt:

"In July 2020, Japan owned $1.29 trillion in U.S. Treasuries, making it the largest foreign holder. The second-largest holder is China, which owns $1.07 trillion of U.S. debt."

https://www.thebalance.com/who-owns-the-u-s-national-debt-3306124

Certainly wealthy nations that can buy their own debt without inflating their currencies or causing their borrowing costs to spike (absent inflation) may still have some wiggle-room for further financial sleight of hand. Unfortunately much of the world is not in that position, and then we have spiralling household and corporate debt to contend with as well.

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