T. L. A.

glorybetohim:

Greatest pic of mah life, creds to @djtheshot.

(via myreligionisart)

(Source: i-moon-shine, via steinwaldwolf)

(Source: deluxevanilluxe, via ithinkimseriousaboutthis)

(Source: tyrawm, via ithinkimseriousaboutthis)

theapothecarysrose:

CLIMATE CHANGE WILL INCREASE EXTREME PRECIPITATION LEVELS

By Bettina Boxall, The Los Angeles Times: 

Rainfall or snowfall dumped by the most intense storms could grow significantly heavier in most of the United States by the final decades of the century, according to a new climate change study.

The paper, written by a research team led by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, examines the effects of rising greenhouse gas emissions on factors that influence maximum precipitation.

The authors concluded that increasing atmospheric moisture will play the dominant role in ramping up rainfall intensity, which they projected using climate models.

As the Earth warms, sea surface temperatures rise, accelerating evaporation and increasing the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. If greenhouse gas emissions continue at high levels, atmospheric water vapor levels will jump 20% to 30% in the final decades of the century, the researchers found.

That will push up maximum precipitation by a corresponding amount, with increases in the Western U.S. falling in the high end of that range, according to the paper, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

“We have high confidence that the most extreme rainfalls will become even more intense, as it is virtually certain that the atmosphere will provide more water to fuel these events,” said lead author Kenneth Kunkel of the National Climatic Data Center.

Although the study focused on the U.S., the researchers said their conclusions applied to most areas of the globe.

They warned that the projected increases would raise the risk of damaging floods. “The long lifetimes of dams and similar structures ensures that they will experience the impacts of future climate change,” the authors wrote.

Ignoring the expected effects of climate change, they added, “is likely to lead to a false sense of security.”

(via inspirement)

mothernaturenetwork:

Old Faithful’s underground cavern discovered

Tiny tremors extracted from seismic records collected in the 1990s revealed the shape of the cavern and geyser conduit.

(via sagansense)

smdxn:

With Police in Schools, More Children in Court

As school districts across the country consider placing more police officers in schools, youth advocates and judges are raising alarm about what they have seen in the schools where officers are already stationed…

[T]he most striking impact of school police officers so far, critics say, has been a surge in arrests or misdemeanor charges for essentially nonviolent behavior — including scuffles, truancy and cursing at teachers — that sends children into the criminal courts.

“There is no evidence that placing officers in the schools improves safety,” said Denise C. Gottfredson, a criminologist at the University of Maryland who is an expert in school violence. “And it increases the number of minor behavior problems that are referred to the police, pushing kids into the criminal system.”

Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of students are arrested or given criminal citations at schools each year. A large share are sent to court for relatively minor offenses, with black and Hispanic students and those with disabilities disproportionately affected, according to recent reports from civil rights groups, including the Advancement Project, in Washington, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, in New York.

(via inspirement)

treehugger:

Two weeks ago today, Exxon Mobil’s Pegasus pipeline carrying diluted bitumen from Canada ruptured catastrophically, creating a 22-foot long gash that unleashed hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil and toxic chemical diluents into the Central Arkansas town of Mayflower. Since then, the local media has faced strong intimidation from Exxon, local residents have become sick from the toxic fumes, a severe thunderstorm threatened cleanupefforts and led officials to release contaminated water into Lake Conway and the Attorney General of Arkansas has launched an investigation, as a number of lawsuits have been filed on behalf of residents.

via Exxon pipeline rupture is 22 feet long, indicating immense pressure, possible criminal negligence

(via inspirement)

colchrishadfield:

Sometimes Mother Nature uses a protractor, like here in New Zealand’s South Island.