Republicans in Florida are running on Climate Change.

[rdean]

Climate change makes waves in Florida races

Patton, the GOP consultant, said he hopes Republicans can eventually write a winning agenda on climate change. But he acknowledged that’s not going to happen in an election year as ugly as this one.

“It’s a topic more important to Florida than in a landlocked state like Idaho,” Patton said.

“If adults were having an election, we would be talking about what’s happening in Miami Beach. We would be talking about the number and strength of storms affecting Florida. I think we would be talk about it more, just not in this climate.”

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Republicans don't believe in climate change. After all, the earth is only 6,000 years old. There is no such thing as evolution. It was all shimmered into being with a magical wave of the hand. God put bones in the earth to show us what animals on other planets look like. Vaccines cause autism.
Irreducible complexity. And Ted Cruz was the only GOP nominee to apologize for going to a "kill the gays" rally. It's all been rigged.

Dear God, please make these people lose. Trump is Bush on steroids. We can't afford to through that again. The nation can't take it and even the world is in danger.

 

[waltky]

Climate change is now affecting almost every living thing on Planet Earth...

Study: Climate Change Having Worldwide Impact
November 10, 2016 - Australian researchers say climate change is now affecting almost every living thing on Planet Earth. The new study from the ARC Centre for Excellence of Coral Reef Studies (CoE) is published in Today's Science magazine and looked at the "key ecological process" that support healthy ecosystems on land and sea.

Climate change is changing everything

What the researchers found was that 82 percent of these key processes, ranging from genes to entire ecosystems, are being impacted by global warming. "The study shows that genes, organisms, populations, species and processes are being impacted across all of Earth's major ecosystems," says Dr. Tom Bridge from the Coral CoE. What that means is that all across the world, species are adapting and evolving to find ways to thrive in a warming climate. The changes are varied, according to Professor John Pandolfi from the University of Queensland. "These responses include changes in tolerances to high temperatures," for instance. He also says the team is seeing "shifts in sex-ratios, reduced body size and migration of species."

A malnourished cow walks along a dried up river bed in the village of Chivi, Zimbabwe.​

Is this good or bad?

It's unclear what effects these changes and adaptations are having on the species' overall health. On the one hand, the fact that species are adapting could mitigate the potentially disastrous effects of climate change. But at the same time, the researchers are also concerned because these changes are happening so quickly. "Some people didn't expect this level of change for decades," says senior author Associate Professor James Watson, from the University of Queensland. "The impacts of climate change are being felt everywhere, with no ecosystem on Earth being spared. It is no longer sensible to consider climate change as a concern only for the future."

Climate change is impacting most life on Earth.​

And that could be bad, says Bridge. "These multi-level biological impacts of climate change will affect humans. Increasing disease outbreaks, inconsistent crop yields and reduced fisheries productivity all threaten our food security." The real concern among the researchers is that this much change, this fast, could outpace the ability to adapt. "Emissions targets must be actively achieved," Watson stresses, "...and time is running out for a synchronized global response to climate change that safeguards biodiversity and ecosystem services." The researchers warn that the speed of climate change could put a number of species, and even entire ecosystems, at risk.

Study: Climate Change Having Worldwide Impact

See also:

New York braces for the looming threats of climate change
November 11, 2016 - - On calm days, waters innocently wash against the aging seawalls at Manhattan's southernmost park, but in decades to come they could inundate the island's lower districts.

If the latest apocalyptic climate change projections come true -- with sea levels rising upwards of 28 inches (70 cm) by 2050 -- Wall Street and Ellis Island could be swallowed up. The wrath of Superstorm Sandy -- which killed more than 40 people -- paralyzed New York in October 2012. The storm left the city shocked and sodden, ushering in new urgency among many over the looming threats of climate change in America's largest city. "The conversation changed," said Daniel Zarrilli, who oversees the mayor's office of recovery and resiliency. "It's not something that's happening 100 years from now to someone far away. "It is happening here and now."

Superstorm Sandy -- which killed more than 40 people -- paralyzed New York in October 2012 and left the city shocked and sodden​

A professional engineer, Zarrilli supervises the city's efforts to fortify its infrastructure and strengthen more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) of coastline against the threat of rising waters. The number of days hitting more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) is predicted to triple. "New York City is staying where it is," Zarrilli said, seeking to project assurance about an uncertain future. "It has developed over the last 400 years. "We are here because we are the gateway to America."

- Building for a warmer era -

The engineer says the key to climate adaptation is assessing and reducing risk, and swiftly investing in those zones under the greatest threat. Many hard-hit areas -- as well as parts of the city's subway system -- are still rebuilding from the destruction wrought by Sandy, reconstruction funded by a budget of more than $20 billion allocated by the city, state and federal governments. At the same time the city has been erecting new developments in some of its most vulnerable areas: the new Hudson Yards district on Manhattan's northwest coast boasts skyscraper apartment buildings practically teetering on the banks of the Hudson River. But Zarrilli says those buildings are actually among the city's most secure: "The safest place to be right now during any sort of threat is in a new building."

Many hard-hit areas of New York, as well as parts of the city's subway system, are still rebuilding from the destruction wrought by Superstorm Sandy​

Steven Cohen, the executive director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, explained that future skyscrapers will install heating and electricity units on the second or third floors, rather than in basements, which had been standard protocol. Cohen said scientists assume sea levels could rise anywhere from 4.5 to 15 feet in the future, but abandoning one of the world's most economically powerful cities is unreasonable. "There is so much money and infrastructure in the city," he said. "The idea that you can walk away from it is just not cost-effective."

- 'Climate-ready' construction -