A short update on the energies

Thank you Aisha!

aisha north

Once more the anticipation will seem to be rising alongside with the incoming flux of energetic missives coming your way, and rightly so. For once more you stand on the cusp of a momentous occasion, one where you will all feel elevated in the very best sense of the word as these projections of light continue to enlighten the very rock upon which you stand. And yes, we do mean that in a very literal sense beside the more esoteric one, for in this, no one nor no thing will go untouched. For once again, you will all be painted with that same brush, the one that delves out broad strokes of shimmering light that again will serve to unfasten quite a few of the old skeptics along the way. You see, there are still those clinging steadfastly to the old ideas within, and so, for every new stroke of…

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Greenland Reels: Climate Disrupting Feedbacks Have Begun

• Greenland Reels: Climate Disrupting Feedbacks Have Begun

Thursday, 05 March 2015 11:10By Bruce Melton, Truthout

The author waves from a point about a mile onto the ice sheet near what is called Point 660, about 25 miles from Kangerlussuaq, on the west coast of Greenland, 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Dust accumulates on the ice from as far away as Siberia. As the ice melts, most of the dust is left behind to absorb more sunlight and melt more ice in a climate change feedback that has already begun. (Photo: Bruce Melton)

Greenland is warmer than it has been in more than 100,000 years and climate disrupting feedback loops have begun. Since 2000, ice loss has increased over 600 percent, and liquid water now exists inside the ice sheet year-round, no longer refreezing during winter.

Melt and ice loss dynamics from Greenland are far more complicated than we understood just a few years ago. New discoveries have been made that add large uncertainties as to exactly how fast ice melt and iceberg discharge will increase in the future. Over the last decade, continued research into the rate of ice loss in Greenland has downplayed any rapid acceleration of current melt rates. New discoveries could be changing our understanding of this last decade’s work.

Greenland: Warmer Than in 100,000 Years

About 5,000 years ago, Greenland reached its warmest period in over 100,000 years. Since this time, Greenland had been cooling and the ice sheet was stable or growing. Beginning 30 to 40 years ago, however, a rapid reversal of cooling and ice sheet growth began.

The last 18 years have seen more melt than average across the ice sheet every year with an increasing trend that peaked in 2012 when the entire ice sheet surface temperature went above freezing for four days. (1)The melt line, or the elevation on the 11,000-foot-high ice sheet where the temperature does not rise above freezing in any given year, has steadily been increasing since the 1970s. (2) All of this melt is exposing areas beneath the ice sheet that have not been exposed in a very long time.

Across Baffin Bay to the west of Greenland is Baffin Island. This is the largest of the islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and ranked the fifth largest in the world; it is almost as big as Texas (Greenland is the largest). Baffin Island has its own ice cap as well as satellite ice caps to the main body of ice. It is these satellite ice caps that attracted the attention of researchers.

Collecting samples, Baffin Island, Professor Gifford H. Miller, University of Colorado, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)

Led by the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, these researchers found dead plants and mosses still rooted in the ground immediately adjacent to the melting ice. The plants were dated with carbon-14 dating techniques to a time period 44,000 years ago that was in the depths of the last 100,000-year-long ice age. (3) At that time, the ice was growing and temperatures in the Arctic were 25 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit colder than the warmest time of our current interglacial era – the time between ice ages. The average temperature across the globe was 9 to 14 degrees colder than today. (4)

To find temperatures similar to today’s, we would have to go back nearly 120,000 years ago to the previous warmup between glacial periods, so it is virtually certain from these findings that the plants that these researchers found have not seen daylight in over 100,000 years. One of the amazing things this work reports is that some of the mosses at the 145 sites surveyed began to regrow once the ice melted away. (5)

Since the global thermal maximum temperature that occurred after the end of the last ice age about 5,000 years ago, Baffin Island cooled nearly 5 degrees Fahrenheit, but since the 1960s, this area has warmed nearly 7 degrees Fahrenheit, and the snow line has increased in altitude over 2,700 feet (half a mile). (6) This research definitively puts to rest the talking point that Greenland was warmer than today at any time in the past 100,000 years. The warming has also taken place entirely in the last 50 years, and during this entire 5,000-year-long period the natural cycles have been cooling, not warming.

The Dust Feedback

As the ice sheet melts around its edges, dust captured in eons of snow becomes exposed. Most of this dust does not get washed away by melt, (please click the link below to read this article on Truthout- http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/29462-greenland-reels-climate-disrupting-feedbacks-have-begun)

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – March 7, 2015 White Bison

White Bison is a wonderful group. They have a book with meditations for each day and you can sign up to receive the meditations in email every day (free). Similar to other organizations focused on helping people in recovery but from a Native perspective instead of the colonized/settlers religions. I think the meditations are useful and beautiful for everyone, not just those who might need them most. But if you know someone with problems with addiction their book might be the perfect gift to gently encourage them toward healing.
Blessings,
ohnwentsya

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – March 7 “We are responsible for the condition of the Earth. We are the ones who are responsible and we can change that. If we wake up, it is possible to change the energy. It is possible to change everything.”

Truthout Daily Digest Friday March 6, 2015

What Trickle-Down Economics Has Done to the US: The Rich Get All the Money

Dan Riker, Truthout: The majority of Americans are not experiencing the recovery from the Great Recession. Wealth is being redistributed from the poor and the middle class to the rich. Trickle-down economics doesn’t work for anyone except the wealthy.

Read the Article

Greenland Reels: Climate-Disrupting Feedbacks Have Begun

Bruce Melton, Truthout: Greenland is warmer than it has been in more than 100,000 years, and climate-disrupting feedback loops have begun. Since 2000, ice loss has increased over 600 percent, and liquid water now exists inside the ice sheet year-round, no longer refreezing during winter.

Read the Article

Violence Against Women Won’t Become History Until Mass Incarceration Is

Sheila A. Bedi, Truthout: To many, the phrase “violence against women” connotes person-on-person violence – things like spousal abuse or sexual violence on college campuses. However, the state is also very much involved in perpetuating violence against women, especially in the form of mass incarceration.

Read the Article

Petraeus and Snowden: Both Leakers of Classified Material, Same Punishment?

William J. Astore, The Contrary Perspective: A general with powerful friends gets a slap on the wrist for leaking highly classified material, and a young patriot who acts to shed light on the growing power of governmental agencies to spy on the people is hounded into exile.

Read the Article

Netanyahu Speaks, Money Talks

Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Moyers & Company: Everything you need to know about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress Tuesday was the presence in the visitor’s gallery of one man – Sheldon Adelson.

Read the Article

Our Planet’s Lungs Are Dying

The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program: As more and more tropical rainforests are wiped out from natural causes like drought or manmade causes like deforestation, we’re losing a key ally in the climate change fight. We need to start protecting our planet’s forests, so that they can in turn protect us.

Read the Article

Showdown in Chicago: Harold Washington Loyalist vs. “Mayor 1%”

Robert Naiman, Truthout: If the upcoming Chicago election is really going to be a referendum on where the Democratic Party is headed, with national implications, then we should all easily agree that every available Chicagoan older than 18 should participate.

Read the Article

Millions Could Lose Obamacare Coverage as Supreme Court Weighs Dubious Koch-Backed Case

Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now!: The US Supreme Court has heard arguments in a new challenge to the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare.” The Competitive Enterprise Institute, backed by the billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, sued the government over an aspect of the law dealing with tax subsidies.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript

White House Struggles to Explain Clinton Email Flap

Anita Kumar, McClatchy Newspapers: As Republican lawmakers criticized Hillary Clinton Tuesday for using her personal email account to conduct government business at the State Department, the White House would not say whether the former Cabinet secretary violated federal law.

Read the Article

“The Internet Is My Lifeline”: Hip-Hop Artist Jasiri X on the FCC’s Net Neutrality Vote

Kayla Schultz, YES! Magazine: The political artist from Pittsburgh speaks about the importance of the internet and social media in making the voices of low-income people of color heard. He is a cofounder of the anti-violence group One Hood and the 1Hood Academy, which teaches media awareness to African-American boys.

Read the Interview

What We Lose With a Privatized Postal Service

Katherine McFate, OtherWords: The Postal Service can reach all 150 million US households because it’s a public system that we’ve been investing in for more than 200 years. Our Constitution tasked the federal government with creating a national postal system.

Read the Article

When Capitalism Becomes an Act of War

Lynn Parramore, AlterNet: Novelist Rana Dasgupta recently turned to nonfiction to explore the explosive social and economic changes in Delhi starting in 1991, when India launched a series of transformative economic reforms. In his book, he describes a city where the epic hopes of globalization have dimmed.

Read the Interview

BuzzFlash

NYPD Commissioner Stricken With Giuliani Syndrome, Blames Marijuana for Increased New York City Murder Rate

Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: It is clear that the top New York City cop​ suffers from a chronic case of Giuliani Syndrome. It’s not just a personal ailment; it’s a threat to public health and safety.

Read the BuzzFlash Commentary

Computerized Vote Counting: The Hole in United States’ Political Bucket

Read the Article at BuzzFlash

US Ambassador to South Korea Slashed With Razor by Political Extremist

Read the Article at The Guardian

The Blue Wall of Silence Among Police Enables Cop Brutality

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Georgia “License to Discriminate” Bill Forced Through Committee During Bathroom Break

Read the Article at ThinkProgress

In Ferguson, Walking While Black Was a Crime

Read the Article at Grist

Tech-Savvy Women Farmers Find Success With SIM Cards

Read the Article at Inter Press Service

Everglades to Be Killed This October by Florida’s Own Koch Brothers

Read the Article at Daily Kos

YES! Magazine Weekly Digest | Friday 6 March 2015

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