Category Archives: Transhuman News

Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Mondaydenied that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are the primary cause of climate change.

Asked in an interview on CNBCs Squawk Box whether he believed that carbon dioxide was the primary control knobfor the temperature of the Earth and for climate, Perry said that No, most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.

Perry added that the fact is this shouldnt be a debate about, Is the climate changing, is man having an effect on it? Yeah, we are. The question should be just how much, and what are the policy changes that we need to make to effect that?

[A bitter scientific debate just erupted over the future of the U.S. electric grid]

Perrys comments fall in line with what Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt said in a March interview on the program. Pruitt said then that he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming.

Both mens views contradict the conclusions of scientists at Pruitts own EPA as well as NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century, the IPCC said in a 2013 report. Citing the IPCC report, theEPA said on its website, now removed,that recent climate changes, however, cannot be explained by natural causes alone. Research indicates that natural causes do not explain most observed warming, especially warming since the mid-20th century. The EPA added, it is extremely likely that human activities have been the dominant cause of that warming.

On Monday, Gavin Schmidt, a top climate scientist at NASA, tweeted that a paper he co-authored in 2010 used an almost identical phrase in its title principal control knob as the CNBCs Squawk Box used Monday. But the paper published in Science Magazine warned about the danger of anthropogenic, or man-made, carbon dioxide continuing unabated. The paper said that the high rate of atmospheric CO2 increase was particularly worrisome and that the atmospheric CO2 control knob is now being turned faster than at any time in the geological record.

The Center for Biological Diversity took issue with Perrys comment about the oceans. Perry has the science exactly backward, Shaye Wolf, climate science director at the center, said. Far from being climate changes key cause, the worlds oceans are actually another victim of greenhouse pollution.

Wolf added, Our oceans absorb millions of tons of carbon dioxide a day, making them dangerously acidic. Theyve also soaked up most of man-made global warmings excess heat, putting tremendous stress on marine life.

Its true that over far longer time periods, other factors have driven changes to the Earths climate, such as wobbles in the Earths orbit around the sun. But in the most immediate period and in the current climate debate, scientists have made very clear that human emissions are the cause.

Perry said, however, that being a skeptic about the causes of climate change was quite all right. He said, this idea that science is just absolutely settled and if you dont believe its settled then somehow youre another Neanderthal, that is so inappropriate from my perspective.

Perry is scheduled to testify three times this week on the Trump administrations proposed fiscal 2018 budget.

Perry has long avoided getting pinned down on mankinds contribution to climate change, and he has said that action on climate change should be weighed against economic costs. Although Perry urged President Trump to remain in the Paris climate accord, Trump cited economic impacts when he announced his decision to pull the United States out of the climate accord. Trump drew on forecasts about impacts from a controversial report.

At his confirmation hearing for the energy secretary position, Perry brought up the politically sensitive topic, saying he believed the climate is changing and some of it is caused by man-made activity. He added then: The question is how we address it in a thoughtful way that doesnt compromise economic growth.

Citing Perrys assertion in his 2010 book that the planet was in a cooling trend, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked him how much he thinks climate change is caused by human activity. Far from me to be sitting before you today and claiming to be a climate scientist. I will not do that, Perry said, dodging the question.

Chris Mooney contributed to this article.

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Rick Perry just denied that humans are the main cause of climate change - Washington Post

Ten years ago, Scott Cheney-Peters stood watch on the bridge of the USS Fitzgerald, a guided-missile destroyer deployed to the Pacific. Despite sophisticated navigation systems, keeping the ship a safe distance from other vessels in crowded maritime corridors was complex, especially at night, he said.

The bridge teams have help from some automated systems that suggest what they think is happening and can alert the human operators to potentially dangerous situations, said Cheney-Peters, the founder of the Center for International Maritime Security, which facilitates discussion of naval issues. But as with any algorithm, those alerts can be occasionally thrown off, in this case by things like large waves or two other ships very close together so its humans that have to ultimately make navigation decisions.

Early Saturday morning, the Fitzgerald found itself at the center of one of the ugliest maritime incidents in years for the Navy. The 505-foot long ship collided off the coast of Japan with the Philippine-flagged MV ACX Crystal, a 730-foot container ship. The Crystal ripped a 12-foot hole in the starboard (right) side of the Fitzgeralds hull, fully flooding the third and fourth platform levels of the ship and drowning seven sailors in sleeping quarters, according to Navy officials and an unclassified document obtained by The Washington Post.

Three additional people, including the ships commanding officer, Cmdr. Bryce Benson, were medically evacuated from the ship by helicopter, Navy officials have said.

[There wasnt a lot of time as water flooded U.S. destroyer below decks]

The dead included Gunners Mate Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19; Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25; Sonar Technician 3rd Class Ngoc T. Truong Huynh, 25; Gunners Mate 2nd Class Noe Hernandez, 26; Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, 23; Personnel Specialist 1st Class Xavier Alec Martin, 24; and Firecontrolman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., 37.

The damage to the Fitzgerald, which typically carries about 279 U.S. service members, is so extensive that senior Navy officials are discussing spending $8 million to put it on a powerful heavy-lift ship and bring it back to a shipyard for repairs, the document said. The Navy did the same with the USS Cole, which was hit by terrorists with explosives in October 2000, and the USS Samuel B. Roberts, which was nearly sunk by an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf in 1988.

Several investigations are now underway to determine what happened. And if past is prologue, the Navy will assess how human error on the part of either crew could have led to such a catastrophe, despite all of the radar and communication systems on board. Similar situations occur about once every decade or so, and are a deep, powerful reminder of how fundamentally dangerous it is to operate warships at sea, said retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, who was once the captain of a sister destroyer, the USS Barry.

To understand how could this happen, you need to think of that particular area of the sea as an eight-lane highway, at night, with ships moving at speed but no traffic lanes, Stavridis said in an email. Any sudden, erratic move by another ship poses an extreme risk, with little time to react, exactly as if a car just ahead of you on the highway suddenly turned around. At night, its hard to figure out the visual picture and correlate it with the radar images. The investigation will pull that apart with extreme diligence, and accountability will be swift and ruthless.

Stavridis, now thedean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, called the situation heartbreaking, and credited sailors on the Fitzgerald with saving the ship from sinking, which almost certainly would have made the loss of life far heavier.

The incident will become the basis for extensive scenario training by the Navy to try as much as we can to avoid the next such incident [everything] from ship handling, to command and control, to technology and warning systems will be examined and improved, he said. But the cost of losing those seven sailors will never be recovered, tragically. It is a heartbreaking day for the good ship Fitzgerald and her captain.

Seven U.S. sailors went missing after a U.S. Navy destroyer collided with a Philippine-flagged merchant ship off the coast of Japan on June 17. A number of the missing sailors were found dead in the destroyer's flooded berthing compartments. (Elyse Samuels,Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)

Previous collisions also may come up as the service scrutinizes how to avoid another accident. In one recent incident, the USS Porter, another destroyer, collided in 2012 in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran with the MV Otowasan, an oil tanker. An investigation found that the Porters crew missed that the tanker was in front of them while watching out for other traffic in the tightly congested waterway. In that case, the Porters captain, attempted to cross left ahead of the tanker to avoid a head-on collision, but was not able to do so in time to avoid a blow to the starboard side.

Analysts have so far questioned the unusual path of the Crystal, which was proceeding on a course toward Tokyo but performed a sudden U-turn and returned to where it had been. Company officials said the turn actually happened about an hour after the collision, as its crew turned back to check on the Fitzgerald.

One former naval surface warfare officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said it appeared to him that the Fitzgerald was in the wrong when it was struck by the Crystal.

Im always troubled when you see a hit on the [right] side, the former Navy officer said. My gut is that [the captain] will be questioned on why he didnt turn right.

The officer said he was surprised that Benson wasnt on the bridge at the time of the collision, and was instead hurt in his quarters. The waterways where the two vessels collided are notorious for the heavy volume of shipping traffic, where lights and radars contacts can make navigation extremely difficult.

After seeing where the collision was, the officer said those with experience in damage control knew right away what had become of the missing sailors, as their berthing areas flooded and were sealed.

We knew they were trapped inside, he said. We knew it had turned into a chamber of death.

Among the work the Navy will undertake in coming days is offloading the Fitzgeralds weapons and fuel, and gathering data from the ships electronics so that the incident can be reconstructed. Presently, anyone going aboard the ship needs permission from a senior military officer.

Thomas Gibbons-Neff contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to accurately define the USS Samuel B. Roberts incident.

Related stories:

Missing U.S. sailors found dead after collision with ship off coast of Japan

7 U.S. Navy sailors missing off Japans coast

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When Navy ships collide, there is virtually always human error involved - Washington Post

Minnesota has the third highest number of human trafficking cases in the nation, according to the FBI

ST. PAUL, Minn. The Minnesota Department of Transportation has announced it will be installing posters at 41 rest areas across the state to educate the public about human trafficking.

The posters include guidelines on how to recognize signs of human trafficking and potential victims, and a toll-free hotline to report any suspicious activity.

Human trafficking often involves travel, which includes the transport of victims form a base of operations to locations of exploitation.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Twin Cities is one of the 13 U.S. cities with a particularly high rate of child prostitution, and Minnesota has the third highest number of human trafficking cases in the nation, said MnDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle. MnDOTs responsibility for maintaining the quality and safety of multiple modes of transportation, including highways, airports, rail lines, transit systems, and commercial vehicles, provides unique opportunities to see, and stop, human trafficking.

MnDOT signed a pledge in January 2017 to join Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking, to make a stand against human trafficking and work to develop resources to inform the traveling public, as well as its employees on the issues.

To learn more about the initiative visitwww.dot.state.mn.us/humantraffickingawareness/

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MnDOT to Post Human Trafficking Messages at Rest Areas - FOX 21 Online