Climate Change News Digest
Links to the latest news on global climate change
 |
EPA chief slams attempted delays by lawmakers
March 9, 2010
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Environmental Protection Administrator Lisa Jackson fought back on Monday against Senate attempts to challenge EPA's authority to regulate emissions while lawmakers work on a climate bill, saying delaying agency action would be bad for the economy.
Debate the controversy!
March 9, 2010
The serial misinformers and misrepresenters demand equal time for their misinformation and misrepresentations. What should climate science defenders and the media do? Here's how the strategy works: Step 1: Some misinformer or anti-science group puts out misinformation on the science or misrepresents the views of some scientist or expert. Step 2: They get debunked, by that person and/or others. Step 3: They demand equal time for their misinformation or misrepresentation, either through formal debates or balanced media coverage. Step 4: If they get the equal time, their strategy has worked, and they can go on to fabricate more misinformation and misrepresent the views of other scientists.
Texas climate scientists: On global warming, the science is solid - Recent e...
March 9, 2010
Contrary to what one might read in newspapers, the science of climate change is strong. Our own work and the immense body of independent research conducted around the world leaves no doubt regarding the following key points: * The global climate is changing . * Human activities produce heat-trapping gases . * Heat-trapping gases are very likely responsible for most of the warming observed over the past half century . * The higher the levels of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, the higher the risk of potentially dangerous consequences for humans and our environment. That's from a Houston Chronicle op-ed by these leading Texas climate scientists ...
Texas-based refiners pledge to fund fight against California's global warming...
March 9, 2010
Valero and Tesoro have reportedly pledged as much as $2 million to help gather signatures for a ballot initiative to suspend the greenhouse-gas-cutting law until the jobless rate improves. For those still operating under the delusion misimpression that the main opposition to climate action is not funded by the polluters: The companies, Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp., own refineries in California that would be forced under the law to slash emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Campaign workers began collecting signatures Tuesday for the initiative, which would delay regulations to implement the nation's most comprehensive climate legislation until California's unemployment level drops to 5.5% for at least a year.
Climate & environment - Mar 8
March 9, 2010
-Arctic arch failure leads to sea-ice exodus-World's temperature record to be re-analysed-In India, a Clear Victor on The Climate Action Front-Is Arctic methane on the move?-Methane Releases from Arctic Shelf May Be Much Larger and Faster Than Anticipated-Climate scientists must be ruthlessly honest about data read more
The trouble with trusting complex science | George Monbiot
March 9, 2010
There is no simple way to battle public hostility to climate research. As the psychologists show, facts barely sway us anywayThere is one question that no one who denies manmade climate change wants to answer: what would it take to persuade you? In most cases the answer seems to be nothing. No level of evidence can shake the growing belief that climate science is a giant conspiracy codded up by boffins and governments to tax and control us. The new study by the Met Office, which paints an even grimmer picture than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will do nothing to change this view.The attack on climate scientists is now widening to an all-out war on science.
IMF proposes climate change fund
March 9, 2010
The head of the International Monetary Fund says countries should adopt a quota system to raise money needed to adapt to climate changeThe head of the International Monetary Fund has proposed a plan for the world's governments to pool together to raise money needed to adapt to climate change, a rare step for an organisation that normally does not develop environmental policies.The IMF managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said the fund is concerned by the huge amount of money needed and the effect this will have on the global economy. He added that the proposal may help efforts to reach a binding agreement on climate change this year.Strauss-Kahn proposed that countries adopt a quota system similar to the one the fund uses to raise its own money, which could bring in money faster than proposals to increase carbon taxes or other fundraising methods.
Cool model for a hot planet
March 9, 2010
In his recent book, "Strategic Bargaining and Cooperation in Greenhouse Gas Mitigations," Binghamton University's Zili Yang suggests ways governments might realistically work together to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. He also makes a case for curbing the use of fossil fuels - whether they contribute to climate change or not.
Record Wind Generation Tests Texas's Transmission System
March 9, 2010
Wind power generation in Texas is growing so quickly that it is testing the limits of the state's electrical grid. The state set a record on March 5 when wind turbines generated 6,272 megawatts of energy, or about 19 percent of the electricity on the state's main power grid. That peak far exceeded the 6.2 percent average for wind power in Texas, whose 9,410 megawatts of total wind capacity make it the nation's wind power leader. But wind power's growth poses a critical challenge for the state's booming wind industry, which includes a 180-megawatt wind farm completed last fall near Corpus Christi in South Texas.
World's Pall of Black Carbon Can Be Eased With New Stoves
March 9, 2010
Two billion people worldwide do their cooking on open fires, producing sooty pollution that shortens millions of lives and exacerbates global warming. If widely adopted, a new generation of inexpensive, durable cook stoves could go a long way toward alleviating this problem.<!--EndFragment--> BY JON R. LUOMA
Drought snuffs out Venezuela's lightning - Guardian Unlimited
March 9, 2010
Lake Maracaibo left in darkness as drought caused by El Niño disrupts weather patterns that cause constant lightning storms In pictures: Venezuela's vanishing lightning Darkness rarely lasted long in the skies over Lake Maracaibo. An hour after dusk the show would begin: a lightning bolt, then another, and another, until the whole horizon flashed white. Electrical storms, product of a unique ...
The rush to Biomass - Northern Express
March 9, 2010
The Rush to Biomass Environmentalists plead: Slow down! By Anne Stanton Al Gore wrote recently that we can t wish away climate change.
EU climate chief delivers treaty blow - Financial Times
March 9, 2010
The world will almost certainly fail to draw up a new treaty on climate change this year, the minister in charge of last year's Copenhagen summit has admitted, delivering a heavy blow to the barely flickering hopes for a swift global settlement. Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister who masterminded the summit of world leaders on global warming last year and is now the European commissioner for climate change, told the Financial Times negotiations were not progressing fast enough for a treaty to be signed soon.
Women hit by climate change head to Capitol Hill
March 9, 2010
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women hit hard by the effects of climate change -- drought, floods, sea level rise and crop failure -- gathered on Monday to plan a Capitol Hill push for U.S. legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
EU faces court challenge over biofuels reports
March 9, 2010
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Four environmental groups have sued the European Union's executive for withholding documents they say will add to a growing dossier of evidence that biofuels harm the environment and push up food prices.
How to avoid your own 'climategate' scandal
March 9, 2010
Leaked emails between climate scientists at the University of East Anglia have caused a furore. Phil Jones on how not to get caught out by freedom of information requestsThe "climategate" scandal involving the University of East Anglia has sent shockwaves through universities, but many academics still do not fully appreciate the full implications of freedom of information legislation.The problems at UEA arose when emails allegedly written by some of the world's leading climate scientists were stolen by hackers and published on websites run by climate change sceptics. The story broke just before the Copenhagen conference on climate change and appeared to call into question the validity of some of the leading scientists' claims.But as well as this, Graham Smith, deputy information commissioner, said the emails between scientists at the UEA's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) revealed that freedom of information (FoI) requests were "not dealt with as ...
Living Happily Off the Power Grid - WSAZ NewsChannel 3 West Virginia
March 9, 2010
A Roane County couple decided to take on alternative energy and invest in solar technology.
For Developing Nations, Exports Boost CO2 Emissions - NPR
March 9, 2010
China is criticized for being the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide, but a new report shows that a quarter of that is emitted while making things for Western consumers. Researchers say that climate policy must account for emissions resulting from trade.
Global warming doubts could hamper climate legislation - The Christian Scienc...
March 9, 2010
A recent poll suggests that high-profile controversies regarding climate science are weakening public confidence in the validity of global warming, And that could endanger congressional efforts to pass climate legislation.
Growing low-oxygen zones in oceans worry scientists
March 9, 2010
Yahoo! News : Lower levels of oxygen in the Earth's oceans, particularly off the United States' Pacific Northwest coast, could be another sign of fundamental changes linked to global climate change, scientists say.
Worldwide Earth Hour switch off - Scoop.co.nz
March 9, 2010
What do Te Puke's kiwi fruit and Paeroa's LP bottle have in common with the world's tallest building - the Burj Khalifa, London Eye and Table Mountain? They are all taking action against climate change in the biggest environmental event the world has seen.
California watchdog sees climate policy job losses
March 9, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California is likely to see modest job losses in the near term from its aggressive climate change policy due to higher energy costs and other factors, the state's independent Legislative Analyst's Office said.
Global investors in climate asset allocation study - Scoop.co.nz
March 9, 2010
Post-Copenhagen, global investors collaborate to consider the impact of climate change on strategic asset allocation
Maldives warns on climate change, Berlin for tough action - New Kerala
March 9, 2010
Berlin, March 9 : Germany called for tough action to combat climate change Monday following a new warning from Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed about the threat posed to his nation by global warming.
American Petroleum tells lawmakers it supports carbon fee because it’s easier...
March 9, 2010
by Brad Johnson Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The effort of Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to craft comprehensive clean energy legislation that caps global warming pollution has brought some positive words from Big Oil and their political allies. In particular, the senators are considering a proposal by ConocoPhillips, BP America, and Exxon Mobil to exclude petroleum producers and refiners from a carbon market and instead levy a carbon fee. Once you have oil people saying, We can live with this, this was our idea, then hopefully everybody else begins to look at this thing anew, Graham told reporters.
Is it a problem that more industry groups are meeting with key regulatory off...
March 9, 2010
by Michael A. Livermore Some small hope has been renewed for a climate change bill out of Congress this year. But if the legislative process fails to produce a law, Obama's regulatory levers will become more and more important"and how they evaluate new rules will come under scrutiny. So is it a problem that industry groups are meeting with key regulatory officials in the White House in much bigger numbers than environmentalists? The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is the powerful behind-the-scenes agency that review cost-benefit analyses of major environmental regulations like CAFE standards or coal ash regulation.
Cocaine addicts are snorting their way to a warmer world
March 9, 2010
by Ashley Braun Passetti via Flickr You may snort at the news, but it's the real snuff: Cocaine is hard on your sinuses, but it's not crazy fun for the planet either. Celebs favorite nose candy is knocking down rainforest in party favor of coca plants, thus speeding up climate change. In fact, for every few lines of cocaine snorted in a London club, four square meters of rainforest is destroyed. That's hard to take. Why don t users drop the bad habit and drink cocaine or hit up some killer cheese instead? Related Links ...
EUROPE: Green Finance Wise, or Otherwise
March 9, 2010
BRUSSELS, Mar 8 (IPS) - A plan to give the European Union's lending arm a beefed-up mandate for financing the fight against climate change has drawn a sceptical response from campaigners on green and economic justice issues.
More on sun-climate relations
March 9, 2010
Four new papers discuss the relatiosnhip between solar activity and climate: one by Judith Lean (2010) in WIREs Climate Change, a GRL paper by Calogovic et. al. (2010), Kulmala et al. (2010), and an on-line preprint by Feulner and Rahmstorf (2010). They all look at different aspects of how changes in solar activity may influence our climate. The paper by Judith Lean (2010) has the character of a review article, summarizing past studies on the relationship between solar forcing and climate. The main message from her article is that the solar forcing probably plays a modest role for the global warming over the last 100 years (10% or less).
We're All Sunk
March 9, 2010
It's almost too easy to vilify corporations. What, with all the evil stuff they do. Take the coal industry for example, who blow up our mountains, poison our air and water, contribute massively to global climate change, and spend untold millions of dollars on disinformation campaigns, lobbying Congress, buying Senators, and lying to block efforts to tackle the climate crisis. I mean, they are practically begging for our hatred, right? Right. read more
Using behavioral science to make smarter energy policy
March 9, 2010
On Friday, journalist John Fleck made a great point, comparing coverage of two new pieces in Science. One is about the latest potential climate disaster: methane venting from the seafloor in the Arctic. The second is about a promising new climate solution: using behavioral science to influence energy use. Not surprisingly, the disaster got tons of coverage. The solution got none. This is entirely typical. As Fleck says, "The problem space gets more attention than the solution space." read more
INTERVIEW-Wild relatives of crops seen aiding climate fight - AlertNet
March 9, 2010
Source: Reuters * Collect relatives of crops able to resist heat, drought * $50 million project could bolster food security-Fowler By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO, March 9 (Reuters) - Farm ...
Drought sends farmers rushing to rescue rice - Vietnam Net
March 9, 2010
VietNamNet Bridge - Unusually hot, dry weather has put thousands of hectares of rice in the country's central and Mekong Delta regions at risk of a poor harvest. Residents and local leaders are now undertaking drastic measures to ensure the winter-spring crop does not go to waste.
India backs Copenhagen climate deal: minister - AFP via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News
March 9, 2010
India has decided to formally back a climate change accord struck in Copenhagen last year that includes non-binding limits on global warming, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Tuesday.
Post Carbon - Washington Post
March 9, 2010
Post CarbonWashington PostThe researchers found "adults under the age of 35 are significantly less likely than their elders to say that they had thought about global warming before ...
New York City's 'green defense' against sea levels rising - The Christian Sci...
March 9, 2010
If water levels rise due to climate change, New York City is particularly at risk.
How You Were Taken In : Media Balance
March 9, 2010
Poor (middle-aged) old George Monbiot ! He really feels like he's been wasting his time trying to get through to people to communicate about Climate Change :- [link]archives/2010/03/08/the-unpersuadables/ [link]commentisfree/cif-green/2010/mar/08/belief-in-climate-change-science Let me begin by asking a question : is it right and fair and balanced to pitch Dr Benny Peiser against Professor Phil Jones on the subject of the Science of Global Warming ? I ask this, because this is effectively what happened during the hearings of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on 1st March 2010, when Dr Benny Peiser and Lord Nigel Lawson were first in the seats, and then Professor Phil Jones and Professor Edward Acton sat in the seats later on :- ...
How You Were Taken In : The Manufacture of Doubt
March 9, 2010
[link]deltoid/2010/03/naomi_oreskes_on_merchants_of.php Please do watch Naomi Oreske's magristral (not magisterial , since she's female) presentation on her new publication Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming in the YouTube above. The presentation is somewhat marred by poor audiovisual capture, but it's fascinating, all the same, and good to hear her logical argumentation; and be reminded of what has been happening for the last 50 years in the public debates on Science.
Forests, Climate Change and the Challenge of REDD - World Resources Institute
March 9, 2010
To combat global warming, forests must be part of the solution. How can we make good forest stewardship a reality?
Met Office ends season forecasts
March 8, 2010
The Met Office stops publishing seasonal forecasts after it came in for criticism for failing to predict extreme weather.
'Case stronger' on climate change
March 8, 2010
The UK Met Office says evidence that human activity is causing climate change is stronger now than in a 2007 assessment.
Evidence Provided In UK Parliamentary Inquiry Into Climate Scientists Was Pre...
March 8, 2010
The Guardian just broke the news that a consultant to Shell and other oil and gas interests was the source of evidence provided by the Institute of Physics in the current UK parliamentary review of the controversy in England over climate scientists emails stolen from servers at the University of East Anglia.The Guardian reports: Evidence from a respected scientific body to a parliamentary inquiry examining the behaviour of climate-change scientists, was drawn from an energy industry consultant who argues that global warming is a religion hellip;The Guardian has established that the institute prepared its evidence, which was highly critical of the CRU scientists, after inviting views from Peter Gill, an IOP official who is head of a company in Surrey called Crestport Services.According to Gill, Crestport offers "consultancy and management support services hellip ...
ODAC Newsletter - Mar 5
March 8, 2010
As Iraqi's prepare to go to the polls on Sunday the country has been subjected to a month of increased violence including a string of blasts in Baghdad on Thursday targeting early voters which killed at least 14 people. The election, which will decide the next chapter of Iraq's future, is being keenly watched by the oil industry... read more
Deep thought - Mar 5
March 8, 2010
-Empires on the Edge of Chaos-Majoring in Idiocy-Climate-Resilient Industrial Development Paths-Can we design cities for happiness?-What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism read more
Arctic sea ice: the data behind the climate change fightback visualised
March 8, 2010
Scientists are fighting back over climate change. Get the data behind the latest battle - and see how we visualised it Get the dataClimate change scientists have started a fightback against sceptics who argue that the observed changes in the Earth's climate can largely be explained by natural variability. This comes after the email hacking furore.A major Met Office review of more than 100 scientific studies tracking the observed changes in the Earth's climate system finds that it is an "increasingly remote possibility" that human activity is not the main cause of climate change.We visualised this information for the Guardian today - click on the image above to see how we did it.
CLIMATE: The Thirsty Caribbean
March 8, 2010
PORT OF SPAIN, Mar 4 (Tierramérica) - Caribbean countries are considering options like desalination plants and cloud seeding to confront a drought that threatens the regional economy and which experts warned about years ago.
Is the Earth Flat?
March 8, 2010
A TV debate about whether climate change is happening
Japan rift risks watering down climate bill
March 8, 2010
TOKYO (Reuters) - A rift within Japan's government over legislation to fight climate change has raised the risk of it watering down plans for an emissions trading system that is at the core of its drive for greener policies.
EU tempers hopes of binding climate deal this year
March 8, 2010
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union executive is tempering its hopes of securing a legally binding climate deal in talks this year culminating in Cancun, Mexico, focusing instead on a 2011 summit in South Africa, a source said.
Russian and Swedish researchers report on significant methane emissions in th...
March 8, 2010
The powerful greenhouse gas methane is being released into the atmosphere from an area of the East Siberian Sea equivalent to more than four times the area of Sweden.
Team Finds Way to Clean Up Coal, Harvest Hydrogen
March 8, 2010
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy has awarded researchers at UT Dallas $1 million over three years to create a new class of membranes that produce hydrogen from coal while scrubbing out greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
Seeing the hidden services of nature
March 8, 2010
Following an intense study of agricultural ecosystems near Montreal, a new tool that enables the simultaneous analysis and management of a wide range of ecological services has been developed by Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne of McGill University's Department of Geography, Elena Bennett of the McGill School of Environment, and Garry Peterson of the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University. Environmental management typically focuses on nature's resources like food, wildlife and timber, but can miss hidden ecosystem services such as water purification, climate moderation and the regulation of nutrient cycling.
Study: Climate change one factor in malaria spread
March 8, 2010
(PhysOrg.com) -- Climate change is one reason malaria is on the rise in some parts of the world, new research finds, but other factors such as migration and land-use changes are likely also at play. The research, published in The Quarterly Review of Biology, aims to sort out contradictions that have emerged as scientists try to understand why malaria has been spreading into highland areas of East Africa, Indonesia, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Cloudy outlook for carbon markets - Finance Asia
March 8, 2010
Carbon market participants are downbeat on future expansion thanks to global politicians' failure to make any binding decisions in Copenhagen in December. Maybe it's time to rethink the United Nations' role in climate change management.
Carbon scheme critic profits up - Sydney Morning Herald
March 8, 2010
Truenergy, an outspoken critic of the emissions trading scheme, enjoyed a hefty rise in earnings last year after record output from one of the country's most carbon-intensive power stations.
US Defense dept warns of danger from climate change
March 8, 2010
In January this year the US Department of Defense, that bastion of socialists, published its Quadrennial Defense Review Report. The report not only implicitly accepts climate change but also points to the dangers it poses to national security. It's worth reading how it expects climate change to impact the armed forces: Crafting a Strategic Approach to Climate and Energy (pg84) Climate change and energy are two key issues that will play a significant role in shaping the future security environment. Although they produce distinct types of challenges, climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked. The actions that the Department takes now can prepare us to respond effectively to these challenges in the near term and in the future.
Britain's hydro-electric projects under threat from lack of funds - Daily Tel...
March 8, 2010
Europe's biggest renewable energy producer has withdrawn from the race to build Britain's first wave and tidal plants, as industry warned that marine power needs an extra £200m from taxpayers to be viable.
Fears over delay to feed-in tariff - Guardian Unlimited
March 8, 2010
Energy minister to be questioned about plans at London summit The government will come under fire tomorrow from a renewable energy sector increasingly concerned about potential delays in the implementation of a "feed-in tariff" meant to kickstart a domestic green power revolution. David Kidney, an energy minister, will be questioned at a summit in London organised by Renewables UK, formerly the ...
Flood drowns Taipei in cinematic wake-up call
March 8, 2010
American sci-fi blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow warned global audiences about climate change as it showed New York smothered by ice as temperatures plunged worldwide. But the 2004 movie evidently made little impact on growth-crazy Asia, which has gone ahead spewing pollutants without imagining risks that they might disrupt the climate. This year a group of filmmakers in newly modernised, consumption-happy Taiwan is going to the densely populated western Pacific island's public with an hour-long alarmist movie showing the world's second-tallest building Taipei 101 as an island in a flood that has drowned the capital after a reservoir collapses in a freak super-strength typhoon.
Leading article: Climate change is not a matter of faith
March 8, 2010
If opinion polls are right, fewer people "believe" in climate change now than a few months ago, prior to the leak of emails from the University of East Anglia and the emergence of embarrassing errors in one of the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The science of global warming, it seems, has taken a severe hit in terms of the public's credulity.
Met Office analysis reveals 'clear fingerprints' of man-made climate change -...
March 8, 2010
This is LondonMet Office analysis reveals 'clear fingerprints' of man-made climate changeThe GuardianScientists used a technique called 'optimal detection', which showed clear fingerprints of human-induced global warming. Photograph: MODIS/Terra/NASA It is ...INVESTIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE/GLOBAL WARMINGGather.comNew evidence for man-made global warmingTelegraph.co.ukGlobal warming 'caused by humans'The Press AssociationFinancial Times -Daily Mail -eTalkingheadall 116
Ian McEwan rewrote book's ending after Copenhagen climate talks failed
March 8, 2010
Author's forthcoming novel, Solar, is about a scientist working on a technology to address global warmingThe novelist Ian McEwan changed the finished manuscript of his new book about a scientist working on a technology to address global warming to reflect the failure of the Copenhagen climate talks, he said today.McEwan told the Guardian he watched the outcome of the Copenhagen summit in December "very closely and with some despair" and then went back to his novel, Solar, to rewrite a section a few pages from the end.The end of the book is set in summer 2009, and McEwan introduced a scene in which Michael Beard, the chief protaganist and a Nobel-prize winning physicist, recieves an email that invites him to address a meeting of foreign ministers at the coming summit.
Bob Ward: Sceptics guilty of double standards
March 8, 2010
Global warming thinktank has made exactly the kind minor factual error that would have been seized on by scepticsSome climate change sceptics have been guilty of applying double standards in their condemnation of alleged misdeeds by researchers at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.On 25 February, I wrote to Dr Benny Peiser, the director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation which is chaired by Lord Lawson, to warn him that a graph of "21st century global mean temperature" displayed prominently on his group's website contains an error.Instead of showing that 2009 was the warmest year since 2005, the foundation's graph portrays it as slightly cooler than 2006 and 2007.While it is a relatively small error, it is the kind of discrepancy that many sceptics would be seizing upon if it had been found on the website of the Climatic Research Unit.Yet Peiser ...
In Bangladesh, things are hotting up - The Age
March 8, 2010
A focus on climate change is crucial. We owe that much to the world's poor.
Valero, Tesoro Pledge to Fight California Global Warming Law - Convenience St...
March 8, 2010
March 04, 2010 - LOS ANGELES -- Texas-based refinery giants, Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp. , reportedly pledged as much as $2 million to help gather signatures for a ballot initiative to suspend California's landmark greenhouse-gas-cutting law until the jobless rate improves, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing Sacramento sources.
The Heat Over Bubbling Arctic Methane
March 8, 2010
Amid heated headlines over Arctic methane bubbles, scant evidence for scary outcomes.
EU considers general carbon tax - BBC News
March 8, 2010
The European Commission plans an EU-wide tax on carbon as part of the EU's green energy agenda - but the UK opposes such a move.
Warming data said stronger than IPCC claim - UPI
March 8, 2010
LONDON, March 5 (UPI) -- Evidence of manmade global warming is stronger than the besieged U.N. climate panel claimed, with rainfall changes altering the Earth, British scientists said.
Changing Behaviors To Save Energy - NPR
March 8, 2010
Energy Star labels and miles-per-gallon vehicle ratings aren't enticing enough consumers toward energy-saving options, according to economist Hunt Allcott. Allcott explains how new research in behavioral economics might help lead consumers to more energy-efficient choices.
Just What Exactly Are Lieberman, Kerry and Graham Cooking Up for a New Climat...
March 8, 2010
The senators have been meeting for months behind closed doors about a new climate bill and word is coming out that the bill will scrap the cap-and-trade piece.
When it comes to winning the clean energy race, is the US already out of the...
March 8, 2010
In a new report, Out of the Running? America Progress's Kate Gordon , Julian L. Wong, and JT McLain explain how Germany, Spain, and China are seizing the clean energy opportunity and why the United States risks getting left behind. The below video and memo summarize their findings, but you can download the full report here (pdf). A clean-energy call to arms As the United States debates comprehensive clean-energy legislation, it is confronted with a simple choice: come to the table and feast on the enormous economic opportunity that comes with reducing global warming pollution or be an item on the menu as our economic competitors forge ahead to build prosperity.
Green Energy : Stuck in the Sidings
March 8, 2010
If you can imagine the engine for new, renewable and sustainable Energy systems as a train which should by now be thundering down the tracks, get this : it left the depot only to get stuck in the sidings. Enough of the locomotive metaphors, already. On to the analysis. Here's an excerpt from Catherine Mitchell's fine book The Political Economy of Sustainable Energy (2008, 2010) :- Breaking Free of the Band of Iron : Over the last few years, in response to climate change, the UK Government has produced a range of policies to stimulate the development of sustainable energy technologies.
Cannibalizing Environmentalism: Tzeporah Berman under attack
March 8, 2010
berman campbell.jpg There's nothing mainstream media loves more than the spectacle of environmentalists ripping one another limb from limb. Witness, for example, the CBC Vancouver Early Edition interview this morning (starting at 1:23:21) in which a little-known activist (Macdonald Stainsby) was invited to slag Tzeporah Berman, co-founder of Forest Ethics, founder of PowerUp Canada and, soon, the chief climate campaigner for Greenpeace International. Stainsby was all fired up, questioning Berman's environmental bona fides and calling her "a Trojan horse" whose true purpose was to "hand all power over to corporations." As proof, Stainsby said that "Ms.
Why not structure climate bills to win popular support?
March 8, 2010
by Gar Lipow Mainstream environmentalists tackling the climate crisis prioritizepricing greenhouse gas emissions overalternative policies to cool our fevered planet. The ACESclimate bill that passed the House would weaken renewable rules, addmassive offsets, and kill much existing EPA authority to fight climatechange.The simple Cantwell-Collins cap-and-dividend bill focuses onan auctioned permit system that returns revenues to the public, with apractically undefined CERT fund the only supplement to this pricemechanism. As most supporters will freely admit, neithermainstream bill aims at emission reductions anywhere near as large asscience tells us we need. The theory is that if we can pass somethingpolitically practical, then we can fix problems later.
Christopher Booker's International Campaign
March 8, 2010
Not content with apparently intentionally polluting the minds of British thinkers with Climate Change scepticism that appears to be of the most vituperous kind, Christopher Booker now turns his money-raking skills to Canada, with a syndicated column in the Vancouver Sun, that reads like outright propaganda to me. To help evaluate its content, please keep in mind that his article is not written by a scientist, nor does it express the position of the current science :- [link]global+warming+alarmists/2649497/story.html The global warming alarmists : Glacial melting, rainforest and crop failures, extreme weather, rising seas ...
Alaska: A New 'Polar-Bear Defense'? - Newsweek
March 8, 2010
When Congress all but dropped the idea of broad, national emissions limits, the fight against global warming appeared to be lost"at least for 2010. But there may be reason for environmentalists to hope. Later this year a federal judge will decide if the protection of polar bears can justify a cap on greenhouse gases"clearing the way for lawsuits nationwide against the country's worst polluters.
Warming Data Said Stronger Than IPCC Claim - OfficialWire
March 8, 2010
Evidence of manmade global warming is stronger than the besieged U.N. climate panel claimed, with rainfall changes altering the Earth, British scientists said.
Divisive he stands - The Age
March 8, 2010
James Hansen, elder statesman of the climate change debate, doesn't call the opposition sceptics. He prefers another name: contrarians.
A mistaken message from IoP?
March 8, 2010
The Institute of Physics (IoP) recently made a splash in the media through a statement about the implications of the e-mails stolen in the CRU hack. A couple of articles in the Guardian report how this statement was submitted to an inquiry into the CRU hack and provide some background. The statement calls for increased transparency, and expresses concerns about the public confidence in science if the transparency is absent. The IoP statement, however, fails to note that the issue of transparency is far more general applicable than just to mainstream climate science. It should also involve the critics of climate change, as noted by New Scientist.
Arctic Methane on the Move?
March 8, 2010
Methane is like the radical wing of the carbon cycle, in today's atmosphere a stronger greenhouse gas per molecule than CO2, and an atmospheric concentration that can change more quickly than CO2 can. There has been a lot of press coverage of a new paper in Science this week called Extensive methane venting to the atmosphere from sediments of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf , which comes on the heels of a handful of interrelated methane papers in the last year or so. Is now the time to get frightened? No. CO2 is plenty to be frightened of, while methane is frosting on the cake.
Drought conditions in Hawaii worsen on Big Island - KPUA AM 670 Hilo
March 8, 2010
HONOLULU (AP): The National Weather Service says areas of the Big Island have reached the most intense drought classification. It marks the first time since the inception of the drought monitor in 1999 that an area in Hawaii has received the D4 designation.
SHRINKING GLACIERS THREATEN TAJIKISTAN's ECONOMIC DREAMS - EurasiaNet
March 8, 2010
Like many other farmers in the remote village of Barchid, lying in the shadow of Tajikistan's Pamir Mountains, Makbulsho Yakinshoev knows little about issues like greenhouse-gas emissions or global warming.
Climate Deniers, Global Warming, and Darwin's Theory of Evolution - OnEarth M...
March 8, 2010
Climate Deniers, Global Warming, and Darwin's Theory of EvolutionOnEarth MagazineIt appears that these two strains of deniers -- those questioning climate change and evolution -- have joined forces to supplant scientific knowledge with ...and more
Climate Change Science: Due Diligence For Future Generations?
March 8, 2010
By Bill HendersonWhat would constitute a due diligence process for quantifying climate change dangers, local and global, immediate and for the future? Is our present way of doing climate change science the best way of quantifying the climate change dangers?
The Real Climategate
March 8, 2010
Why did America's leading environmental groups jet to Copenhagen and lobby for policies that will lead to the faster death of the rainforests--and runaway global warming? Why are their lobbyists on Capitol Hill dismissing the only real solutions to climate change as "unworkable" and "unrealistic," as though they were just another sooty tentacle of Big Coal? At first glance, these questions will seem bizarre. Groups like Conservation International are among the most trusted "brands" in America, pledged to protect and defend nature. Yet as we confront the biggest ecological crisis in human history, many of the green organizations meant to be leading the fight are busy shoveling up hard cash from the world's worst polluters--and burying science-based environmentalism in return.
Humans driving extinction faster than species can evolve, say experts
March 8, 2010
Conservationists say rate of new species slower than diversity loss caused by the destruction of habitats and climate changeFor the first time since the dinosaurs disappeared, humans are driving animals and plants to extinction faster than new species can evolve, one of the world's experts on biodiversity has warned.Conservation experts have already signalled that the world is in the grip of the "sixth great extinction" of species, driven by the destruction of natural habitats, hunting, the spread of alien predators and disease, and climate change.However until recently it has been hoped that the rate at which new species were evolving could keep pace with the loss of diversity of life.Speaking in advance of two reports next week on the state of wildlife in Britain and Europe, Simon Stuart, chair of the Species Survival Commission for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature " the body which ...
Wanted: an eco prophet | Peter Preston
March 8, 2010
People are drifting into a lethal slumber on climate change. More of the same won't wake them upIt's an exceptionally inconvenient truth. Only one American in three believes that human beings are responsible for climate change: a polling result 10% down on where opinion rested the year before. Worse, the number of Americans who believe that climate change is a hoax or a scientific conspiracy " not doubting, just damned blank certain " has doubled since 2008. Add in those who assert that the changes, if any, are of "no significant concern", and you've got 30% of the US denying, scoffing and just walking on by.Are the issues clearer, the people more committed, here in Britain?
Rise in UK carbon emissions disputed by report
March 8, 2010
Soil deposits of CO2 'not fuelling global warming yet " but will in future'A major study for the UK government has cast doubt over claims that rising temperatures are causing soil to pump greater amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, further fuelling global warming.In 2005 it was reported in the science journal Nature that over the past 25 years 100m tonnes of carbon dioxide had been released by the soil of England and Wales. The figure cancelled out all emissions cuts in the UK since 1990.However, a national survey of the soils of Great Britain, funded by the department for environment food and rural affairs, claims to have found no net loss of carbon over approximately the same period.Scientists have now proposed that a special study group, with an independent statistical expert, should examine why the reports differ and which result is more likely to be ...
MALAWI: Climate Change Is Changing Farming Methods
March 8, 2010
LILONGWE, Mar 5 (IPS) - As they slept soundly on the night of Feb. 28, a family of four was killed when their house collapsed over their heads in Malawi's southern district of Chikhwawa.
Environment Agency maps hydropower hotspots
March 8, 2010
Report identifies thousands of potential small-scale hydropower sites in English and Welsh rivers that could power 850,000 homesThousands of small-scale hydroelectric schemes could power 850,000 homes and produce 1.5% of the UK's electricity needs, according to an Environment Agency study (EA) published today (pdf).The agency mapped the energy hotspots of English and Welsh rivers and identified almost 26,000 locations where turbines could be installed to generate electricity from the water.Not all those sites could be developed, as some could damage the environment or are in places with practical constraints, such as difficulty accessing the local electricity grid.Around half the sites are in environmentally sensitive areas and would need fish-friendly measures such as screens to stop fish getting killed by turbines.But the EA said that with many of the potential locations in areas where humans have interfered ...
Is Arctic methane on the move?
March 8, 2010
In today's atmosphere, methane is a stronger greenhouse gas per molecule than CO2. Is now the time to get frightened?From RealClimate, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkMethane is like the radical wing of the carbon cycle, in today's atmosphere a stronger greenhouse gas per molecule than CO2, and an atmospheric concentration that can change more quickly than CO2 can. There has been a lot of press coverage of a new paper in Science this week called "Extensive methane venting to the atmosphere from sediments of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf", which comes on the heels of a handful of interrelated methane papers in the last year or so.
Solar panels the hot new item as pay-as-you-save launches
March 8, 2010
Get a loan of up to £15,000 to green your house " but the scheme could falter if the government loses the electionIf you want to install solar panels on your roof and take advantage of lucrative new feed-in tariffs but have been put off by a lack of funds, you could soon get a loan to cover the whole cost.This week the government unveiled plans to offer homeowners 20-year loans of up to £15,000 to allow families to invest in green technologies, safe in the knowledge that their loan would be taken over by the purchaser if they move before it's paid off.This follows an announcement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) that it will start paying feed-in tariffs to households installing green technologies, most notably solar water heaters, typically costing £4,000, and electricity ...
EU warns climate loopholes could lead to CO2 rise
March 8, 2010
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Loopholes in the United Nations climate treaties could actually amount to an increase in global climate-warming emissions over the next decade, and must be closed, a draft European Union report shows. European Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard will announce her strategy on Tuesday for advancing international climate talks after the conclusion of a weak deal in Copenhagen in December.
Arctic leaking methane: but since when?
March 8, 2010
Scientists studying remote Arctic seas north of Siberia have found high levels of the powerful greenhouse gas methane, in some places bubbling up from the seabed. But is it new (extremely alarming as a possible sign of climate change), impossible to know how long it's been going on (still worrying), or might it have been happening for a long time (less alarming)? Even the scientists involved seem unsure. In the worst case, the leaks are recent and caused by global warming " a thaw of the seabed permafrost linked to rising sea temperatures that could go on to release vast buried stores of the heat-trapping gas that would further stoke global warming.
After errors, global warming gets a cold shoulder - Boston Globe
March 8, 2010
Times of MaltaAfter errors, global warming gets a cold shoulderBoston GlobeIn 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations scientific body considered the leading authority on global warming, concluded the ...Climate Change as an Act of Faith?Discovery NewsClimate change and sciencePatriot-NewsClimate change scientists hit backRadio AustraliaThe Guardian -Chicago Tribune -Los Angeles Timesall 141
Climate change skepticism a litmus test for GOP - Chicago Tribune
March 8, 2010
But scandals, doubts have had little impact on the Senate " It wasn't long ago that Marco Rubio and Tim Pawlenty, two of the brightest fresh faces in the Republican Party, supported legislation to limit the greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming. But in recent weeks both have suddenly begun to express doubts about whether burning coal, powering cars with gasoline and other ...
Rep. Tom Perriello tells spineless Senate to get its head out of its rear ...
March 5, 2010
Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) is sick of the insider baseball crap dominating the Senate debate over global warming and energy reform. In an interview with Grist, the first-term congressman stated in no uncertain terms that the country is at risk from global warming and our economy is at risk of losing the clean energy race. Like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Perriello has not one lick of sympathy for those in the Senate who deny these threats: That's more insider baseball crap.
Dry spell threatens worth billions of crops - Sun Star
March 5, 2010
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO--- About P21 billion worth of rice crops are threatened of being damaged by the continuing onslaught of El Niño phenomenon, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Sunday. read more
MPs quiz 'climategate' scientist
March 5, 2010
The climate scientist at the centre of the row over stolen e-mails faces his first public questioning.
The rise of anti-science cyber bullying - Morano says climate scientists "des...
March 5, 2010
Researchers must purge e-mail in-boxes daily of threatening correspondence, simply part of the job of being a climate scientist That's the subhed for a new Scientific American piece on cyber bullying. It comes fast on the heels of Bullying, lies and the rise of right-wing climate denial, the first part of the terrific series by Clive Hamilton, reprinted below (followed by an excerpt of the SciAm piece): Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at Australia's Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethic, is the author of the forthcoming book Requiem for a Species. Two years ago the Labor Party won a decisive election victory in part by riding a public mood demanding action on climate change after years of stonewalling.
