It Ain't The Humidity
Current Wx: Temp: 84.42°F Pressure: 1019hPa Humidity: 76% Wind: 17.27mphWords: 471
We made it to DC safely. A couple of interesting/scary moments. People are insane. Though for the most part, traffic was rather light and we encountered only a small amount of construction. Right at twelve hours door to door.
Apple Maps let me down on finding a rest area in North Carolina just over the border from South Carolina. There were two entries indicated on the map when I searched for rest stops, one indicated being closed, the other was a bit north on the map and indicated it was on I-95 North. Well, suffice to say, there is only one and it is closed.
Mitzi had been driving for a while and it's our custom to pull over at a rest area, stretch our legs and eat lunch before switching drivers. I relied on Apple Maps and was disappointed. We ended up eating standing up next to the car in the shade of a tree by the side of a road off one of the other exits.
It's hot here. Unsurprising.
Supposedly, one of the best things we can do about climate change is "talk about it." I do that a fair amount here, perhaps too much.
I get frustrated by "attribution" reports. That climate change has made a certain weather event X-percent "more likely."
It's not "more likely," because there is no "likely" climate that exists anymore, and hasn't for some time. But the cumulative effects are now being felt with regularity.
The climate system that produces the weather we experience today is unprecedented in earth's history. Not just human history, the history of the planet.
All of the weather we are experiencing is due to this new reality. It's not "more likely," it just is. It's not going to revert to some "normal" state.
Attribution analyses were kind of a response to denialism, but I think reality is a sufficient response to denialism and these attribution analyses seem misleading to me with these weasel words, "more likely." Likely compared to what? A climate that doesn't exist anymore?
The reality is that there is more energy in the climate system. Energy is the capacity to do work. Weather events will do "more work," be "more extreme" (Although even that's misleading because they're by no means "extreme" in the context of our present climate system.)
We have a civilization with a physical and economic infrastructure built for a climate that no longer exists and that we cannot return to. We can stop making it worse, and we must. But the sooner we wake up and accept the new reality and what brought it about, the sooner we can begin making the kinds of changes that will reduce suffering.
Anyway...
The beat goes on.
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Current Wx: Temp: 56.35°F Pressure: 1012hPa Humidity: 86% Wind: 1.88mphWords: 440
Caitie texted me Friday night and mentioned she was coming into Albany on Saturday, not Sunday. So I left early yesterday (0550) and drove straight through to Clifton Park without stopping. I guess it makes a difference if you skip breakfast and have nothing to drink! Traffic was light so I made good time. Got to Jimmy's Egg in Clifton Park a little after 9:00 to have some breakfast before I went to Mom's.
Visited with her for a couple of hours before I went to pick up Caitie at the train station. Went back to Mom's so Caitie could visit with her, and Mark was there which was a nice surprise. We stayed for about an hour and then got back on the road. Caitie drove for over half the trip. She's probably a better driver than I am, but she doesn't drive for fuel economy like I do. I looked over and saw the speedometer was at 85mph at one point. I suggested it might ruin the weekend if she got a $500 traffic ticket. She said she thought the Subaru in front of her would get it first.
When we stopped to switch, I looked at the computed fuel economy and it was only 34mpg. Every 10% increase in speed requires a 22% increase in energy with a corresponding decrease in fuel economy. I did not mention this to her. Highway driving is where hybrids get their worst fuel economy.
I'm a little disappointed because my lifetime fuel economy in the Mav is 39mpg. I was hoping this trip would get me closer to 40mpg. The previous trip to Clifton Park came in at 41.6mpg, since over half the trip is stop-and-go where the hybrid excels. I was hoping for about the same on this one but I don't think that's in the cards.
It was a beautiful night last night, and we sat outside on the back patio and watched the hummingbirds at the feeder. A little downy woodpecker was quite upset that we were out there while it was trying to visit the bird feeder. It would perch on the shepherd's crook and Chirp-chirp-chirp at us. It chased off a hummingbird or two while we were out there too. To my surprise, they like the hummingbird feeder too.
We had a little fire in Mitzi's fire pit, and I'm coughing a lot this morning. Knowing what we think we know now about PM2.5 fine particulate pollution, we probably shouldn't indulge in sitting around a fire for fun anymore.
It's a beautiful morning, so I probably should get on with it.
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