The Latest in “Global Warming” News

John Baldwin January 30, 2018

257 2 minutes read

It’s been a long, cold winter for much of the United States. But we are not the only ones experiencing the “menace” of cold weather brought on by Global Warming. There are tales from all over the globe:

In Antarctica several thousand penguins have died because of ABOVE normal sea ice (I thought it was all melting???):Much ink has been spilled over the rising oceans, the warming globe, and the imminent demise of Arctic and Antarctic creatures. The ice is melting, the penguins are sweating, and the sky is falling, all at once. At least, that is how the story usually goes.
Which is why The Scrapbook was surprised to learn this week of the 150,000 Adelie penguins that have died over the last five years due not to the lack of ice, but to too much of it. The Guardian reports a colony of some 160,000 penguins has shrunk to around 10,000 after an “iceberg the size of Rome became grounded near their colony.”

It’s quite the chunk of ice. Scientists named it B09B and say it measures over 1,000 square miles. After the iceberg drifted into Commonwealth Bay, the penguins were unable to reach the ocean to feed. They have to make their way an additional 40 miles to find food. Researchers tell the Guardian that unless the chunk of ice can be dislodged, the colony will be gone within 20 years.
A U.S. Naval Ship is stranded in ice in Montreal until spring:A newly commissioned Navy warship will be wintering in Montreal after its journey to Florida was interrupted by cold and ice. A Navy spokeswoman says the USS Little Rock was commissioned in Buffalo on Dec. 16 and was expected to make its way to its home port in Mayport, Fla. Instead, the 118-metre Freedom-variant vessel has been moored in Montreal’s Old Port area since Christmas Eve due to unusually heavy ice conditions. Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson says the Navy has now decided to leave the ship in place until the winter weather improves.
Tokyo has experienced a rare snowstorm followed a few days later by record cold:The Japanese capital on Thursday (Jan 25) recorded its lowest temperature in 48 years, according to Japan’s Meteorological Agency, with temperatures in central Tokyo dropping to as low as -4 degrees Celsius in the morning. This is the first time since January 1970 that such low temperatures have hit central Tokyo, the report said, adding that Fuchu in the outskirts of the city recorded a low of -8.4 degrees Celsius. The cold weather is expected to continue over the weekend. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency on its website, it is forecasting lows of -4 degrees.
Environmentalists want to tax meat because cows add to global warming or something (wait…so humans aren’t the ONLY cause??):“We have never been closer to a meat tax,” said Ashley Byrne, associate director of campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). “We have seen people—including meat eaters—realizing that meat is bad for their health and meat is taking this incredible toll on the environment. People seem more open than ever to an excise tax on meat. If we are going to tax tobacco, if we are going to tax soda, it absolutely makes sense to have a similar tax on meat.”
And finally, there is a brand new culprit in global warming: the sandwich!:“Scientists at the University of Manchester have found a surprising global warming culprit – sandwiches. In the first study of its kind, the researchers carried out an in-depth audit of various sandwiches throughout their life cycles and found the triangular meals could be responsible for the equivalent annual carbon emissions of 8.6 million cars in Britain alone.”