Author: William P. Hall

Some call me a 'climate scientist'. I'm not. What I am is an 'Earth systems generalist'. Born in 1939, I grew up with passionate interests in both science and engineering. I learned to read from my father's university textbooks in geology and paleontology, and dreamed of building nuclear powered starships. Living on a yacht in Southern California I grew up surrounded by (and often immersed in) marine and estuarine ecosystems while my father worked in the aerospace engineering industry. After studying university physics for three years, dyslexia with numbers convinced me to change my focus to biology. I completed university as an evolutionary biologist (PhD Harvard, 1973). My principal research project involved understanding how species' genetic systems regulated the evolution and speciation of North America's largest and most widespread lizard genus. Then for several years as an academic biologist I taught a range of university subjects as diverse as systematics, biogeography, cytogenetics, comparative anatomy and marine biology. In Australia, from 1980, I was involved in various activities around the emerging and rapidly evolving microcomputing technologies culminating in 2 years involvement in the computerization of the emerging Bank of Melbourne. In 1990 I joined a startup engineering company that had just won the contract to build a new generation of 10 frigates for Australia and New Zealand. In 2007 I retired from the head office of Tenix Defence, then Australia's largest defence engineering contractor, after a 17½ year career as a documentation and knowledge management systems analyst and designer. At Tenix I reported to the R&D manager under the GM Engineering, and worked closely with support and systems engineers on the ANZAC Ship Project to solve documentation and engineering change management issues that risked the project 100s of millions of dollars in cost and years of schedule overruns. All 10 ships had been delivered on time, on budget to happy customers against the fixed-price and fixed schedule contract. Before, during, and after these two main gigs I also did a lot of other things that contribute to my general understanding of complex dynamical systems involving multiple components with non-linear and sometimes chaotically interacting components; e.g., 'Earth systems'. Earth's Climate System is the global heat engine driven by the transport and conversions of energy between the incoming solar radiation striking the planet, and the infrared radiation of heat away from the planet to the cold dark universe. As Climate Sentinel News Editor, my task is to identify and understand quirks and problems in the operation of this complex heat engine that threaten human existence, and explain to our readers how they can help to solve some of the critical issues that are threatening their own existence.

Wrapping ice and snow to slow/stop melting

William P. Hall on February 13, 2022

Amazing breakthrough technology: cover ice and snow with ‘green’ radiative cooling foil to slow/stop melting and even help freezing

by Jinlei Li et al. 11/02/2022 in Science Advances
Protecting ice from melting under sunlight via radiative cooling: Here, we demonstrate that a hierarchically designed radiative cooling film based on abundant and eco-friendly cellulose acetate molecules versatilely provides effective and passive protection to various forms/scales of ice under sunlight. This work provides inspiration for developing an effective, scalable, and sustainable route for preserving ice and other critical elements of ecosystems.

VC1 Editor’s comment: The cost-effectiveness of this technology remains to be proven in practice. However, the the science appears to be sound, cooling effects of ultra-white paint have been proven in shopping center-scale commercial application, and the acetate film is made from renewable materials and should be safely biodegradable in application.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Global warming sets Australia for worse NB4 bushfires

William P. Hall on February 12, 2022

ANU experts say continuing climate change increases bushfire threats of more than ‘worst case’ scenarios to never before (NB4) seen levels

by Michael Mazengarb 10/02/2022 in Renew Economy
Australia’s bushfire threat already beyond worst-case scenarios, thanks to climate change: Australia will continue to experience more extreme impacts of climate change, with the bushfire threat already exceeding the ‘worst case’ scenarios, experts have told the Australian National University’s 2022 Climate Update event.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Global warming sets Australia for worse NB4 bushfires

William P. Hall on February 12, 2022

ANU experts say continuing climate change increases bushfire threats of more than ‘worst case’ scenarios to never before (NB4) seen levels

by Michael Mazengarb 10/02/2022 in Renew Economy
Australia’s bushfire threat already beyond worst-case scenarios, thanks to climate change: Australia will continue to experience more extreme impacts of climate change, with the bushfire threat already exceeding the ‘worst case’ scenarios, experts have told the Australian National University’s 2022 Climate Update event.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

What’s in a name? Natural gas is mostly methane!

William P. Hall on February 12, 2022

Marketing gurus know that ‘natural’ is healthy, clean, and good for you. Actually methane is bad and nasty — especially for global warming.

by Rebecca Leber, 10/02/2024 in Vox
The end of natural gas has to start with its name: The oil and gas industry didn’t invent the name. But it invented the myth of a clean fuel.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

What’s in a name? Natural gas is mostly methane!

William P. Hall on February 12, 2022

Marketing gurus know that ‘natural’ is healthy, clean, and good for you. Actually methane is bad and nasty — especially for global warming.

by Rebecca Leber, 10/02/2024 in Vox
The end of natural gas has to start with its name: The oil and gas industry didn’t invent the name. But it invented the myth of a clean fuel.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Water vapor amplifies effects of other greenhouse gases

William P. Hall on February 12, 2022

Ask NASA explains greenhouse gases’ roles & properties. Because water vapor condenses into water, it amplifies warming effects of other gases

by Alan Buis 08/02/2022 in Ask NASA Climate
Steamy Relationships: How Atmospheric Water Vapor Supercharges Earth’s Greenhouse Effect: Some people mistakenly believe water vapor is the main driver of Earth’s current warming. But increased water vapor doesn’t cause human-produced global warming. Instead, it’s a consequence of it. Increased water vapor in the atmosphere supercharges the warming caused by other greenhouse gases.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Water vapor amplifies effects of other greenhouse gases

William P. Hall on February 12, 2022

Ask NASA explains greenhouse gases’ roles & properties. Because water vapor condenses into water, it amplifies warming effects of other gases

by Alan Buis 08/02/2022 in Ask NASA Climate
Steamy Relationships: How Atmospheric Water Vapor Supercharges Earth’s Greenhouse Effect: Some people mistakenly believe water vapor is the main driver of Earth’s current warming. But increased water vapor doesn’t cause human-produced global warming. Instead, it’s a consequence of it. Increased water vapor in the atmosphere supercharges the warming caused by other greenhouse gases.

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Jump onto early tipping signs to maximize remediation chances

William P. Hall on February 12, 2022

Tipping points should be identified early and acted on fast to tackle the climate crisis. Social change needs to be dramatically accelerated.

by Damian Carrington, 11/02/2022 in The Guardian
Identify A-ha moments to trigger fast climate action, say UK scientists: Using ‘tipping points’ can unlock the changes needed on energy, food and plastics, analysis shows

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

Jump onto early tipping signs to maximize remediation chances

William P. Hall on February 12, 2022

Tipping points should be identified early and acted on fast to tackle the climate crisis. Social change needs to be dramatically accelerated.

by Damian Carrington, 11/02/2022 in The Guardian
Identify A-ha moments to trigger fast climate action, say UK scientists: Using ‘tipping points’ can unlock the changes needed on energy, food and plastics, analysis shows

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.

A take on American evidence for global warming

William P. Hall on February 12, 2022

We live in an interesting time where established trends and NB4 events pointing to global collapse seem almost ordinary.

by Thomas Neuberger, 10/02/2022
In the Climate World, Everything New Is Old Again: We live in an interesting time, tucked between the start of a world-historical collapse and stories about it so old they sound not special at all.

…. Isn’t There a Game On?
It’s an interesting time we live in — tucked between the start of a world-historical global collapse and stories about it that are so old they sound, well, almost ordinary, almost not special at all.
The next phase of this interesting time, of course, will get everyone’s attention, since it involves a scale of suffering that even the comfortable can’t escape. But that’s for later, of course — after it really will be too late for anyone to escape at all.
For now, though, simply note the contradiction. If it weren’t so tragic, it would be the stuff of farce. But please don’t dwell on this too long — you might miss the game.
Read the complete article….

Views expressed in this post are those of its author(s), not necessarily all Vote Climate One members.