Tidbits

The endless persistence of ridging over the Intermountain West has finally led to writer's block, so here are some items that caught my attention the past few days.

• Climate Change: Count me amongst those who are skeptical that carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) will every work effectively on the massive scale needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Some reasons why are discussed by Tom Zeller Jr. in an article posted today in the Huffington Post.  The article also contains a great quote by Gavin Schmidt about carbon dioxide levels recently reaching 400 ppm: "We are a society that has inadvertently chosen the double-black diamond run without having to learn first.  It will be a bumpy ride." I wish I'd thought of that one.

• Chemtrails: I used to get calls a couple of times a year from people asking about chemtrails, which conspiracy theorists believe are trails left by aircraft that are laced with chemical or biological agents.  There are of course good explanations for contrails, which are produced by aircraft, including their longevity and occasionally strange characteristics.  Learn more in this blog post by Cliff Mass.  

• Don't sweat the small stuff: Humans have a long history of worrying about the wrong things.  The latest: Bear attacks.  The threat posed by these invading menaces has finally been exposed  by CNN.  Yup, this is serious stuff.  From 1900–2009, 63 people were killed in bear incidents in the the contiguous US, Alaska, and Canada.  63!  Thank goodness they didn't include numbers from Hawaii and Mexico as that would be really scary.  I don't want to belittle the importance of taking proper precautions when in bear country, but really.  We have plenty of other things to be worried about.