Our weather is such a mess - even the plants are confused
Climate change from my own back yard of Johannesburg.
This years winter has been so mild, the trees are in two minds about whether to lose their leaves or not.
The group of trees pictured below are all the same species.
The one circled on the right has lost most of its leaves but should have been totally bare by now. The one in the middle is yellow but hasn't lost very many leaves and the more sheltered one is still partially green.
These are Jacaranda trees and in this part of South Africa they should have been completely leafless a month ago.
The lawn is also confused.
By this time of year we should have had at least a full month of very cold nights with thick frost on the ground every morning, that burns the grass white.
Instead I have only noticed light frosting, on two mornings, that I can count and the lawns look like this.
Still plenty of patches of green which is highly unusual for Mid winter.
Not only has the autumn fall of leaves been incomplete but the weather is so balmy that trees are starting to bud and blossom.
Only the top portion of this young tree lost its leaves, and now it has already budded and is getting new leaves as it would in spring.
July is mid-winter for us in the southern hemisphere.
It's supposed to be our coldest month of the year, but here we now have trees that haven't yet completely lost their leaves already sprouting new leaves and getting ready for spring.
The weather is a mess.
Last year, the north of the country was in a serious drought.
Dams which fed the most populous province were perilously low, but then we had some massive storms. I wrote about one here and the dams filled up in a matter of a week or two.
The year before we had tornadoes, which are vary rare for our area.
Great post! Thank you for sharing.
the climate is coming to get us... tic toc tic toc tic
Signs of the time! We've been in a drought here for about 2 yrs or more in Northern California. We've had water restrictions, water price increases and fines. It's been so dry mostly everything has died. The slogan around here is, the new green is brown.
Gavvet, renewables is the answer for now and future generations. I grew with 4 seasons in the State Michigan in the USA. while I miss the long cold winters, year round golf is a plus.
https://steemit.com/craigrant/@matrixdweller/craig-grant-a-cold-blooded-killer-and-part-time-frivoulus-lawsuit-filer
Solar!
Yes, I hope to be in Solar in 2018 if not before end of year. I even fancy the Tesla's but I am partial to used vehicles.. so I may have to be more patient on that...
I'm invested in SunWorks (SUNW) and Canadian Solar (CSIQ)! Bullish!
Thanks for the weather update @gavvet. Very high fence and lights at the back of that pic. Unbelievable...
It's a close to ground level billboard, they have just removed the old one... but yea it does look like a fence at the moment.
Someone tag Mr. Donald Trump please... Hahaha! ☺ Our climates gets messier and messier as the years goes by. Sad!
Most of us can all see and feel the effects of climate change, except for Mr Donald Trump and probably a few others. It is affecting our environment in devastating ways, we need to do our part to protect the ozone layer from further depletion. Johannesburg is very beautiful, I hope I can visit there for a repatriation vacation in the near future. That will be very cool. Maybe steemit might make that dream a reality. Nice post by the way!
Blinded by greed and willful ignorance... as the saying goes "there are none so blind as those who do not wish to see"
the climate may be changing the question is wether or not it is man made or just the climate changing, there is not enough proof on either side to make a decision, the models are corrupted and they have all but admitted that, we need to start from scratch with real uncorrupted data and see where it leads us.
1+1=2 is all the proof I need.
We are producing more carbon dioxide and CO2 is at record levels. Whether you agree or not that it is influencing climate, it is an unprecedented imbalance that is human induced.
Yes it is,but in a good way.More CO2 = more food,if you lover CO2 we wouldnt even exist, becouse no plants cant grow, if there isnt any.Humans are part of nature like animals,evrithing on earth is part of nature even cemicals and plastic.Snakes produce poison,we produce cemicals,plants produce poisons too,but its all nature.
Sustainable Energy
Carbon Dioxide Emissions Keep Falling in the U.S.
Despite continued economic growth, emissions in the U.S. are on a steady decline thanks in large part to cheap natural gas.
by Mike Orcutt May 10, 2016
20
Carbon dioxide emissions in the United States fell again in 2015, according to new data from the federal government. Though the levels increased slightly in 2013 and 2014, last year’s drop is in line with the gradual decline that’s been occurring for a decade. The nearly 5.3 billion metric tons of energy-related carbon dioxide the country added to the atmosphere in 2015 is 12 percent smaller than that number in 2005.
Most of the reduction comes from burning less coal. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, changes in the national mix of electricity production—especially the shift toward cleaner-burning natural gas—accounted for 68 percent of the emissions reductions between 2005 and 2015.
A relatively mild winter likely also contributed to the drop seen in 2015. The number of so-called “heating degree days,” an indicator that reflects energy use for heating, was the lowest since 2012.
Fluctuations in annual emissions have also historically tended to reflect economic changes, as seen in the fairly dramatic decrease in 2009, when the country was in a recession.
More recently, however, the U.S. economy has continued to grow even in years that have seen decreases in emissions. In 2015 the economy was 15 percent larger than in 2005, but the country emitted 23 percent less carbon dioxide per dollar of GDP last year compared with 10 years prior.
Europe has also seen a general decline in emissions despite continued economic growth, and a small drop in global emissions in 2015 was the first that did not coincide with a worldwide economic downturn (see “Have Global CO2 Emissions Peaked?”). Whether or not this will continue, however, will depend heavily on how developing economies—especially China and India—meet growing demand for energy.
In the U.S., the decoupling of emissions from economic growth was largely a result of the boom in domestic gas production thanks to hydraulic fracturing. And while the deployment of renewable energy technologies has also increased substantially of late, burning natural gas instead of coal for electricity will likely continue to be the main contributor to emissions declines for years to come.
i guess unless you ask those highly circumspect folks at MIT
True, I agree..
I agree with you.
All this is happening and still to so many people, the concept of global warming is a conspiracy theory!! SMH
The easiest way to dismiss something inconvenient, these days, is to label it a conspiracy.
LOL, so true!
In Italy it has been very strange aswell, we had moments of calmness followed by very fast storms with strong winds and heavy rains. But the thing that troubled me the most was almost 2 years ago when I witnessed a giant hailstorm with 25°+ C. I do not know how will nature answer to this, but today the weather is completely insane.
One last thing, they started to pump oil out in the Mediterranean sea, and the earthquakes started to peak, so much blood and suffering for the money's machine.
every nation should focus on climate change... it should not just be england... not usa not china not russia.... it should be the whole world... we should unite to do something about it... because we are all affected by it... and soon it we will experience how bad it is...
we take mother nature for granted.... we never care for her... we should all stand to create a
better world to live in... not just for ourselves but for the future generation to come....