Comments can be a good motivator

My original intent for starting today's blog post was this article because I'm fascinated by climate change signatures existing in sectors other than just temperature records. In summation, the article describes a handful of species and how their migration patterns and living ranges have changed as the climate has gotten warmer. The key to this is that they have moved farther north and/or to higher elevations, indicating that as the climate warms, they move to a region to which has a climate they are more accustomed. Also, the article points out that the change in migration patterns are mostly in the northern hemisphere and the greatest changes in species location are those in the mid-latitudes. This falls in line with the fact that the mid-latitudes see a greater swing in annual temperatures and precipitation when compared with the tropics, so changes in the climate will affect these changes in a greater manner than in the tropics.

So I read this article, assuming I would set out to write this amazing blog post finding more articles (both journalistic and scientific) to corroborate the findings presented here, but I was distracted by the user comments on the article. This happens most of the time when I read any article about climate change (and probably why I don't do it as often as I would like). The comments are, for the most part, heartbreaking. The ignorance presented in them is astounding. These people have made up their minds about the subject and have no desire to change, regardless of what facts are presented. Many of the anti-climate change comments hinge on their denouncing the information presented by scientists, often with a slam at the political left as being the funding partner for it. The fact that climate change has become such a politicized issue is something I never fully understood, probably because I try to keep myself away from politics. My distaste for blind arguing based on the political agenda that a person identifies with keeps me out of that arena. That, and I have become incredibly optimistic about anything being done politically in terms of climate change legislation.

The initiation of a first (legitimate) blog post today is slightly symbolic in that today marks the beginning of the protesting the tar sands pipeline. I will elaborate on this at another time, as it deserves its own blog posts (there will be multiple, I assure you). Hopefully there will be a positive result from all of this and the tar sands pipeline will not be created.

Here might be a good place to mention that I love reading what climate change deniers have to say. I will admit that I was hesitant to just accept anthropogenic climate change as fact. Climate cycles come in all shapes and sizes and have existed for billions of years. However, that does not change the fact that when presented with some of the simple physics behind why increased carbon dioxide levels would lead to an increased greenhouse effect, I changed my outlook. I even became more curious about it and set out on my own quest to learn more. People can change their minds, they just need the facts. And they need them presented in a way that does not immediately just side with some political agenda.

I'm ending this post here before I get on a path of even more rambling and ranting. These themes will be reoccurring throughout this blog. That is my intention. To fully explore my own curiosities about the world within a public forum through which others can participate if they like. It'll be a process, and I'm okay with that. I am all about figuring things out piece by piece and putting them into a cohesive thing. Thing is probably not the best/most intelligent word. I'll be able to work on things like that too.

And so it begins...

As a firm believer in the ability to communicate ones ideas, especially about science, to a variety of communities, it only seems fitting that I would have a blog associated with my love and passion for the environment, climate, and impacts. There might be a time when I decide how I will label posts to make it more coherent, but that is a decision that can be left for anytime.

I want to keep this introduction post short and sweet. I have been sitting on this idea for a long time and decided that today will be a good day to put it into action. There will be a Twitter associated with this blog ( @thekristinleigh ) where I will predominantly share news articles and fun fact type tidbits. This blog, however, will be more of a forum for me to elaborate on some of the ideas presented on Twitter and elsewhere. I have a tendency to ramble on sometimes when I am in the blog atmosphere (as I am not faced with the character limitations imposed by Twitter), but perhaps this will be an exercise to allow me to practice being more concise and to the point, even when gushing about something I care very deeply about.