by Daniel Brouse
March 23, 2024
You asked: I am terrified of what the summer will bring. Yet I also wonder if enough people suffer from out-of-control heat, might it wake up some sleepers? There aren’t enough people paying attention.
This is also a significant concern for me. Traditionally, we would expect to observe a slowdown in ocean surface temperatures during ENSO-neutral and La Niña phases; however, two primary factors may hinder this cooling effect:
- The unprecedented acceleration in ocean surface temperatures and sea level rise could counteract the upwelling of cool water typically associated with La Niña.
- The restriction on sulfur in marine fuel has indirectly contributed to increased ocean surface temperatures. When sulfur emissions from marine fuels are reduced, ships switch to using cleaner fuels that emit fewer sulfur compounds. However, these cleaner fuels often contain more carbon dioxide (CO2), a potent greenhouse gas.
PART II: Don’t Wake a Sleeping Giant
Regarding people waking up to the climate crisis:
- It seems that nothing can prompt the anti-woke to acknowledge the severity of the issue. For instance, Arizona experienced nearly two months of days with temperatures exceeding 110 degrees last year, with wet-bulb temperatures posing lethal risks for outdoor workers. Despite this, Arizona remains one of the strongest concentrations of climate deniers.
- If those who are currently unaware suddenly awaken en masse, the resulting panic and knee-jerk reaction could be equally harmful. We wrote a paper on this phenomenon in 2004 titled “The Sleeping Giant Rages Against the Ghost in the Machine.” The essence of the paper is that awakening the sleeping giant leads to panic, potentially resulting in harm to others.