Art in the dark

POLAR VORTEX: Too high combustion of hydrocarbons (oil, coal, gas) has triggered the climate change. In addition to global warming various irregularities in climate have increased.

Polar vortex – a large circular mass of cold air is a normal pattern close to poles. Past years polar vortex has weakened and sent away bursts of cold Arctic air. These cold fronts have remained even weeks over certain areas.

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2023 HOTTEST YEAR: EU funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) is an organisation collecting and analysing long term weather data. By combining numerous climate key indicators, it has concluded 2023 to have been the hottest year since 1850.

Average annual temperature on Earth was 14,98 degrees Celsius, which is 1,48 degrees warmer than the pre-industrial 1850-1900. The report concludes that reasons for high temperatures are greenhouse gas concentrations, “El Niño” and other natural weather variations. Lowering fast the use of oil, gas and coal is essential in slowing down the climate change.

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REPLACING FOSSIL FUELS: Electrical cars are replacing cars with combustion engines. They produce less carbon dioxide (depending, how their electricity has been produced), but require lot of rare earth metals, mining of which may be burden for nature.

So instead of only producing more electrical cars, we could consider using more public transport and to walk. Walking is also healthy and good way to keep fit. Also, we might give serious thought on what really is “necessary” moving – and how often it is needed.

It is difficult to electrify heavy traffic (trucks), so there some artificial fuels may be a solution. So called P2X (Power-to-X) means using surplus electric power to produce for example hydrogen or methane or further processed to synthetic fuel.

There is loss of energy in these processes, but they build on the idea, that if there is lot of unused “green” energy, the extra could be converted to a form, that could be used when winds or solar radiation are low.

A. YOU

A1. Bad weather.  Have you postponed or decided not to go to some event because of bad weather? When was that? What was the weather like and did you eventually go? How was it?

A2. Outdoor events. Are there some outdoor festivals or sport events in your area? Do you know if extreme weather has affected to them? Like heavy rains stopping sports games or forest fire warning or drought has cancelled fireworks.

A3. Snow. Have you ever walked on snow? What was the temperature – roughly? Did you know, that depending on the temperature and the structure of the snow it can be like dry powder, hard as ice or soft and wet – from slush to nice snow ball snow. What would be closest place to you, where there tends to be snow every winter?

B. SOCIETY

B1. Water and extreme cold. Most obvious – and lately unfortunately also more frequent extreme water conditions have been too hot and dry periods and torrents, i.e., heavy rains. So too little or too much rain. Both are bad for people and nature. Yet, normal amount of water combined with too cold temperatures can be harmful, too. Can you think how – for society? See “TIPS”, below, if in doubt.

B2. Energy. Often, but not always the air is quite calm, when it is really cold. So, the windmills do not produce energy. Yet, lot of extra energy is needed to heat houses. That means electricity may become quite expensive and scarce momentarily. What should be done then? How could you save energy? See “TIPS”, below, if in doubt.

C. REVALUING NATURE

C1. Replacing fossil fuels. Cheap fossil energy (oil, gas and coal) has been efficient and economic catalyst of our growth-oriented societies. As it causes global warming, we must stop using them. What ways there are to use less petrol for example in traffic?

DISCLAIMER AND CITATIONS:

All gif-icons here have been produced by DebaTales.com.

The map with red Africa, Asia and Europe and blue Scandinavia base to weather data of EU Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS), but is simplified.

Click the bolded heading by the triangle to open the drop down TIP.

Water and extreme cold:

If temperatures drop considerably lower, than usual, waterpipes may freeze. Once it gets warmer, water expands and may break pipes creating leakages, which are harmful for houses. Imagine water leaking to walls, ceiling or floor.

To avoid freezing waterpipes it is important to have proper insulation and to limit the access of the cold air close to the pipes. Sometimes it may even be good idea to leave water running a little to keep it moving in the pipes. Moving water freezes slower, as it keeps its temperature better, than still water.

Energy:

If there is less wind, more hydropower, nuclear, solar or even combustion energy plants will be activated. This is called regulating power. Electricity can also be imported from neighbouring countries. Yet, when it is really cold, people and businesses are often asked to lower their consumption. That could include lowering housing temperature, avoiding or minimizing use of machines that use lot of energy (stove, washing machines, etc.) and (warm) water. 

Replacing fossil fuels:

Electrical cars are replacing cars with combustion engines. They produce less carbon dioxide (depending, how their electricity has been produced), but require lot of rare earth metals, mining of which may be burden for nature. So instead of only producing more electrical cars, we could consider using more public transport and to walk. Walking is also healthy and good way to keep fit.

Polar vortex: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_vortex

Power to X: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-to-X

Sustainable energy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_energy

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