skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Interview With President Obama - NYTimes.comI meant what I said; I'm going to evaluate this based on whether or not this is going to significantly contribute to carbon [sic] in our atmosphere. And there is no doubt that Canada at the source in those tar sands could potentially be doing more to mitigate carbon release.
Wisconsin state rep: ‘Outrageous’ for Obama to alter energy policy without Congress | JunkScience.comThe arrogance of the Obama administration to drastically alter our energy policy without congressional oversight is outrageous on its own, but when that policy change is based on an unproven social crisis it is even more galling. Many of us believe we may be experiencing a trend in climate change, and also believe that energy conservation and efficiency are laudable goals. However, many of us do not believe in man-made global warming or that our insignificant activity is somehow affecting the climate.
Warning Signs: Drowning in Sea Level NonsenseBetween the scientists trying to gin up more government money for their agencies and departments and the politicians trying to find a new reason to spend more money, the public is left wondering if the oceans are rising and whether that represents something worth worrying about. The answer is (a) yes, sea levels are rising in infinitesimal amounts and (b) no, we need to stop spending money based on such claims.
The 97% ‘consensus’: Part II | Climate Etc.Too many defenders of the consensus have become either ‘pause’ deniers or ‘pause’ dismissers. A while back, I recommended that they ‘own’ the pause, and work on explaining it. Belatedly, we see a little bit of this happening, but of course it does not lead them to challenge the main IPCC conclusion on 20th century attribution.
A Race Against Time | Real ScienceThe rowers are stuck in a cove west of Cape Parry, with several days of strong northwest winds blocking their exit.
The Navy is forecasting that by the middle of next week, multi-year ice will have blown into that region – right up to the coast. If they aren’t out of there by then, they may be stuck for the summer.
Coldest Summer On Record In The Arctic Fading Fast | Real ScienceThe rowers made the mistake of believing the $100 billion climate scamsters, and are now stuck in some nasty cold, windy conditions.
Clean energy clash: Solar advocates and conservationists butt heads | GristBut in recent weeks, an unanticipated environmental problem has surfaced at Desert Sunlight. More than a dozen migratory birds have been found dead, including water fowl that somehow landed at the desert construction site: an eared grebe, three brown pelicans and an endangered Yuma clapper rail. …
It’s thought that the reflective panels could look like fresh water to the migrating waterfowl, [said Jane Hendron, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service], but little hard science on the phenomenon exists.
Twitter / ThomasMilne: "This is not controversial ..."This is not controversial science. This is two century old physics and chemistry..." --
1. If climate science is two centuries old, why are we still funding it?
2. If climate science is two centuries old, why did the IPCC "win" half of a Nobel Peace Prize for it in 2007?2007:
Praise rolls in for winners of 2007 Nobel Peace PrizeHowever, there were a few voices of discontent, curiously coming from both ends of the political spectrum in Norway.
The Progress Party, the country's most conservative, questioned giving the Peace Prize to Gore "because he made a climate film that is subjective, one-sided and full of undocumented claims."
The Red Party, Norway's most left-wing, was glad the UN climate panel won, but doesn't find Gore worthy of the prize.
"He has made an important contribution to calling the world's attention to climate challenges," conceded party leader Torstein Dahle. "But he's a controversial person when it comes to practicing what he preaches, and he hasn't made any great contribution to peace in the world."
A climate change house party gets a surprise visitor — Blog — Barack ObamaIt was an informative event, but it was also just the beginning. During the congressional recess in August, we're going to bring this debate to our representatives' offices and town halls. As part of Action August, we've planned events ranging from phone banks and parades to flyering to draw attention to the issue of climate change and jump-start the conversation in our community.
Living on Earth: Citizens on the Watch for Hummingbirdswe’re discovering that the initial flowering is happening as many as two, two-and-a-half weeks ahead of when the hummingbirds arrive.
March 30, 2013: Marcia Davis: Northbound hummingbirds are better late than never » Knoxville News SentinelFreeze warnings. Winter weather advisories. Snow. Migrating ruby-throated hummingbirds have surely seen better springs than this one.
Tennessee’s cold, snowy, late March weather may be delaying the arrival of the earliest northbound ruby-throats. It’s not so much the effects of cold temperatures directly on the hummers. It’s the effects of cold temperatures on the hummers’ food supply. Small flying Insects take cover, hide, and remain inactive. Nectar-bearing flowering plants are nipped in the bud. Flowers freeze. Blossoming of future flowers is delayed. Hummers may resort to eating sap at sapsucker wells in trees.
Middle England for wind turbines and expensive energy? Pull the other one. – Telegraph BlogsI note that the green lobby is trying to spin the protests at Balcombe in East Sussex as Middle England in revolt against fracking. What absolute rot! Never mind that some of the protestors were seen sitting in comfy middle-class-style camping chairs and drinking tea out of actual china cups (there will always be the odd useful idiot at these events) – the fact is that this was part of a well-orchestrated campaign by the usual suspects of the green-stained hard left to close down Western industrial civilisation by whatever means they can.
Fracking is the best hope we all have of a quick economic recovery, lower energy prices and an end to the lunacy of onshore and offshore wind. Why, then, would any even half-way informed Middle Englishman or Middle Englishwoman oppose it?
Quite simply, they wouldn't.
Nobel Laureate Summer Reading – Part 3 | NoFrakkingConsensusThere’s nothing wrong with writing a sex-saturated novel. But IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri says this book is “all about spirituality.”
Rough Couple Of Weeks Ahead For Alarmists | Real ScienceNot only has Arctic ice extent gone horizontal, but record below freezing cold is forecast for much of the Arctic over the next two weeks.
“Arctic Methane Bomb” Shows Quality Control At Nature And Mainstream Media Is Fatally FlawedGeden reveals what this is really all about. It is not about sloppy quality control at Nature, but rather it’s about having thrown all quality standards overboard so that even highly imaginative fantasies about the future can find their way into the pages of Nature. It’s last desperate attempt by catastrophe obsessed ideologues to get attention over a dying narrative.
"North Pole" Webcam: 30 Days from Ice to Lake - YouTube[Revkin] There was quite a bit of hype bouncing around the Instanet on a "lake" at the North Pole. This video tries to clarify what's up. Ponds of meltwater form routinely on Arctic Ocean sea ice in the summer. The sea ice is floating on the Arctic Ocean and in constant motion. The webcam that took these images was placed on the ice a few dozen miles from the North Pole in early spring, but has since drifted hundreds of miles.
Tom Curtis Doesn’t Understand the 97% Paper » Climate ResistanceIf this survey had not influenced the arguments of Obama and Davey, and thus perhaps influenced UK policy, I might actually feel sorry for the paper’s authors and their fans. Instead, seeing for myself just how shallow their thinking is, and how transparent their politicking is, I am more terrified that it is so easy for such a collection of mediocre minds to achieve such prominence, merely by flattering politicians with such rank pseudo science.
Rising CO2 levels causing ''tooth decay'' in sea organismsLondon, Jul 27 (PTI) Rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are having a catastrophic effect on microscopic marine life, according to scientists.
Experiments by the University of St Andrews show microscopic organisms, called foraminifera (''forams''), suffer the equivalent of tooth-decay as seawater becomes more acidic.
Year 2050: is the Royal Baby destined to be a radical eco-warrior? | Nafeez Ahmed | Environment | guardian.co.ukFast forward to Year 2050, and assuming Prince George takes after his environmentalist grandfather, he'll be grappling with the reality of an increasingly uninhabitable planet for over half of the global population....By around this time [2050], at least a quarter of the world's species will be extinct due to global warming.
55 arrests at pipeline protest - The Washington PostOrganizers said the demonstration was part of a campaign called “Summer Heat,” noting that the last half of July is statistically the year’s “hottest stretch.” In a touch of irony, the protest came on one of July’s most pleasant days, one distinguished by below-normal temperatures and uncommonly low humidity.
Rains preceded record drop in U.S. corn, soy cash prices: Thomson Reuters Business NewsCHICAGO, July 26 (Reuters) - Widespread rains last weekend in the U.S. Corn Belt sparked a record drop in cash corn and soybean prices - a wave of declines that triggered a steep fall in futures at the Chicago Board of Trade this week, grains traders and analysts said.
Hot, rainy summer makes perfect match for bountiful corn crops | PoconoRecord.comLocal farmers say the combination of high heat and ample rain in June and early July meant farmers had high-quality corn from the beginning of the growing season.
Cold weather has summer lovers changing weekend plans - WFXS, MyFoxWausau - News and Weather for Wausau, WI...on Friday it was so chilly, a few public swimming pools never had the chance to open.
Forecasters say Saturday could be even colder.
"We're just going to pull out the winter clothes a little earlier," said one Marshfield woman who told Newsline nine she has plans for a weekend filled with softball games with the family.
Solar Sales Moving From Sofa to Websites to Speed Orders - BloombergBirch said residential solar companies used to spend about $8,000 to acquire each customer.
Customer-acquisition costs in the industry are now about $2,000 to $3,000, said Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity.
Why Is The Weather So Weird Lately?Pal and her colleagues analyzed data from 774 weather stations across the United States with a continuous record since 1930. They found an overall drop in dry spells (the number of days without precipitation) between 1930 and 2009 in most regions of the country.
Don't underestimate rightwing desperation in media attacks on greens | Tom Burke | Environment | guardian.co.ukTim Montgomerie was certainly right about one thing: current climate policies are failing. What is bizarre is his conclusion that we should therefore do less not more about it...Unfortunately the climate is changing in response to the laws of physics not the opinions of a cabal of ideologues and editors.
THE HOCKEY SCHTICK: New paper finds the same climate model produces different results when run on different computersAs if climate models didn't already have enough problems, a paper published today in the Monthly Weather Review finds that the same climate model run on different computer hardware and operating systems produces different results, "primarily due to the treatment of rounding errors by the different software systems" and that these errors propagate over time.
Besides Tesla, no one actually wants to make electric cars | National PostAccording to author John Voelcker, “Each of these cars [Fiat's 500e and the Honda Fit EV] is a compliance car — a vehicle built and sold only in California (and a handful of other states) in just enough volume to meet its zero-emission vehicle requirements, which started in 2012.”...Despite Voelcker’s contentions to the contrary, there is no pent-up demand for electric cars. Honda may be indeed be restricting sales of its Fit EV, but saying that there’s a waiting list because Honda is only distributing 45 cars a month through its entire U.S. dealer network is hardly the indication that the market is underserved that Voelcker insinuates.
The Renewable Fuels Scam, Explained | Power LineAmerica’s renewable fuels policy is a fiasco that drives up the cost of both fuel and groceries, to no purpose. Well, there is a purpose: lots of people are making money off the renewable scam. But probably not you. This short video from Smarter Fuel Future is a good, short introduction to the topic:
Green Weenie of the Week: A Guy Named Rush | Power LineThe charts like Holt’s that show a steep curve are deliberately designed to mislead.
Column: Well intentioned but flawed, U.S. biofuel policy in need of changeWith the economy's recovery still fragile, we should avoid penalizing consumers at the pump with a well intentioned but flawed biofuels mandate.
Popular Technology.net: Dana Nuccitelli's Paycheck - Funded by ExxonMobilIs Tetra Tech aware that one of their employees is undermining the companies financial interests?
Why would ExxonMobil do business with a company that employs a loose cannon like Nuccitelli who openly smears their CEO?
Solar Max! | Real ScienceThe next image overlays NASA’s 2007 forecast on top of what actually happened.
Obama Shares His Understanding Of Climate | Real ScienceActually the stupidity in the White House is the most extreme on record.
In 2013, more than two-thirds of the US is below normal temperature.
...
Forest Fires have been the second quietest on record.
...
Tornadoes have been the quietest on record.
...
Obama has had the fewest hurricanes of any president
...
In 1934, almost the entire country was over 100 degrees.
...
Obama wants to lead an effort against a problem which doesn’t exist and which he couldn’t do anything about it if it did exist. He has no understanding of climate history or science, but believes that he is in charge of nature.
This is normally called psychotic behavior.
The IPCC AR5 Is in Real Trouble | Cato @ Liberty[Michaels/Knappenberger] The IPCC has three options:
Round-file the entire AR5 as it now stands and start again.
Release the current AR5 with a statement that indicates that all the climate change and impacts described within are likely overestimated by around 50%, or
Do nothing and mislead policymakers and the rest of the world.
We’re betting on door number 3.
Demoralize the anti-oil fringeWith political energy and leadership failing, it is refreshing to see leaders of global energy companies defend their moral right and financial opportunity to serve consumers with affordable, reliable energies. Energy education is well served-and corporate responsibility enhanced-by debunking the tired arguments of climate alarmism and rejecting government energy planning.
3rd Daily Record in 4 Days for Antarctic Sea Ice Extent | sunshine hoursuly 26 (Day 206) saw the 3rd Daily Record in 4 Days for Antarctic Sea Ice Extent.
THE HOCKEY SCHTICK: New book says Earth is too cold for maximum development of the biosphereA new book by Professor of Earth Sciences Toby Tyrell "finds that the Earth is actually too cold for the maximum development of the biosphere." A review of the book published today in Nature Climate Change states, "Using net primary production and biodiversity as metrics, Tyrell finds that the Earth is actually too cold for the maximum development of the biosphere" and "the climate and biogeochemical cycles of the Holocene [the past ~11,000 years] have been unusually stable."
Bill McKibben: Difference between anti-fossil fuel movement and Al Qaeda is non-violence | JunkScience.comBut both are aimed at wrecking America.
THE HOCKEY SCHTICK: Claim: 300,000 years required for climate to cool after CO2 emissions ceaseThe author of a new paper published in Nature Geoscience claims "we can imagine a scenario in which, after human CO2 emissions ceased, the planet's climate would start to recover and cool down. The bad news is that it's likely this would take around 300,000 years." This is absurd for several reasons, including, 1) the residence time and lifetime of CO2 in the atmosphere is only 5-10 years, 2) atmospheric CO2 is controlled by temperature, and 3) many other factors including solar activity and ocean oscillations are far more important determinants of planetary temperature than CO2.
Global Warming Wiping Out Seafood | News from the Field | OutsideOnline.comIf you live on the east coast, you're probably well aware that a glut of lobsters has dropped prices through the floor. [Seems odd, what with CO2 wiping out all the lobsters and all.]
Maryland and Virginia residents say harm from climate change is arrivingOnly 13% of those polled are “very worried” about climate change. 23% are “not at all worried.”
28% of residents believe that climate change is the “major cause” of changing weather in Virginia.
The Insiders: On climate, too, the GOP is out of touchThis post won’t even try to convince deniers that global warming is real, man-made, and an urgent crisis. They have already rejected a consensus of 98 percent of global scientists who say it is all that. Rather, let’s argue the politics.
Twitter / RogerAPielkeSr … "Snow In Brazil" Notice the palm trees.
Spain Reportedly Instituting Tax on Sunlight - Reason 24/7 : Reason.comProving that idiocy truly has no bounds, Spain issued a "royal decree" taxing sunlight gatherers. The state threatens fines as much as 30 million euros for those who illegally gather sunlight without paying a tax.
The tax is just enough to make sure that homeowners cannot gather and store solar energy cheaper than state-sponsored providers.
Voyage to study effects of ocean acidification off U.S. West Coast - latimes.comA team of scientists is setting out on a research expedition along the U.S. West Coast to study ocean acidification, the greenhouse gas-driven change in the chemistry of seawater that has been called climate change’s “evil twin.” [It's a rule: You MUST use the phrase "evil twin" when talking about alleged ocean acidification.]
Chemists and biologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will board the survey ship Fairweather next week, sailing from Canada to Mexico to collect samples of water, algae and plankton, officials said Thursday. The goal of the monthlong voyage is to better understand how marine ecosystems are responding to water that is becoming more acidic as a result of the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
...
Initial results from the expedition will be presented during stops in San Francisco and San Diego, officials said, with complete findings published by next year.
NOAA Ship Fairweather specs.pdf[231 feet long; 1,800 ton displacement; crew of 36; 2 1,200 HP diesel engines; fuel capacity 110,000 gallons, diesel fuel consumption 1,800-2,300 gal/day]
Frosts provoke alert in Argentine lemon sector | Fresh Fruit PortalArgentina’s All Lemon reported a strong increase in quality control measures following major frost damage in the northwestern sector of the country during the last week of July.
The quality seal organization said temperature dropped down to -2° to -11° for three to 12 hours a day.
Global Warming Is Not The World's Top Problem, Energy IsNo one solution works in every region but if we truly care about the poor and the environment, we need to tackle the real problem - energy - and not try to ration electricity, because electricity remains the surest road out of poverty for the world's poorest today, just as it was in the 1930s.
Dems’ recess game plan: Push climate message - POLITICO.com Print View“The Democrats should seize the opportunity to contrast themselves with the nihilistic House Republicans by advocating solutions to these challenges — including climate change,” said Daniel Weiss, senior fellow and director of climate strategy for the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
Organizing for Action, the successor to Obama’s campaign arm, is planning a “national action” day Aug. 13, which will focus on climate change.
Ivan Frishberg, climate change campaign manager at OFA, said the group is organizing events in the states and districts of the 135 lawmakers it has labeled “climate deniers” as part of the action day. The events are aimed at “holding them accountable” for questioning climate science, he said.
“With these folks, it’s hard to get to a conversation about solutions when they deny the science,” Frishberg said.
...
The Obama administration has launched its own campaign to sell the climate plan, with the president dispatching key members of his administration — including newly confirmed EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz — to take part in “an aggressive outreach effort,” a White House official said in an email.
...
Starting next week, McCarthy will begin traveling around the country to discuss the importance of acting on climate change....Barbara Boxer told POLITICO she is organizing a “climate trip” around California during the recess.
“I’m going to some of the communities that are experiencing wildfires due to climate,” Boxer said.
Trading Halt Shows UN Carbon System in Jeopardy: Energy Markets - BloombergAn unprecedented freeze in United Nations carbon trading is fanning speculation the five-year-old market designed to combat greenhouse-gas emissions in poor countries is in danger of becoming superfluous.
Not a single UN Certified Emission Reduction, or CER, changed hands on July 22 and July 23, according to data from ICE Futures Europe, keeping the market on course for the lowest monthly aggregate volume since March 2008.
Reuters's global warming about-face : Columbia Journalism ReviewIt’s worth noting that most newsrooms around the country have reduced coverage of climate change-related issues since 2010. In 2011, Environment & Energy Publishing, which produces Greenwire, ClimateWire, and four other news services, estimated they reduced climate coverage by about 13 percent. According to an assessment published by The Daily Climate, The New York Times cut its global warming article count by 15 percent, and the Guardian slashed coverage by 21 percent that same year. (Reuters, too, dropped its climate coverage by 27 percent in 2011, before Ingrassia came aboard.)
But rumblings in the Reuters newsroom signal that the most recent dip in climate coverage is accompanied by a shift in editorial angle. I spoke on background to several journalists working at Reuters, who said that since Ingrassia was hired, they’ve felt pressure from management to “balance” to climate change stories by including the views of global-warming skeptics. “I’m really glad someone outside the company is looking into this,” said one staffer who did not wish to be identified. “I think this is the most worrying thing any of us have seen here.”
The real free market is making the fake carbon markets pointless « JoNovaIn a nutshell, this new study adds numbers and detail to a home truth that the grown ups in the room know already. Basically humans want cheap energy. The free market, powered by human creativity and mass demand, will always find ways to circumvent national policies that try to force people to use more expensive energy.
In the absence of a global ruler (Copenhagen anyone?), the only way to reduce fossil fuel use is to invent or discover a better energy source. Any other national policy is simply pushing rocks uphill, like poor old Sisyphus. Manufacturing will always move to countries where cheap energy is still available.
David Shukman: Why has Global Warming Stalled? | Tallbloke's TalkshopFrom the BBC, the concluding section of David Shukmans post following the briefing given by climate scientists in London a couple of days ago. Some long unanswered questions are going to have to be addressed soon. Like, if a negative phase of natural variation can overpower the radiative forcing of co2 for 20 years (1997-2017), why can’t it have added to it for 20 years (1977-1997)?:
As Dog Days Of Summer Grip Europe, German Windparks And Consumers Take A Massive HitLast Wednesday, for example, of the 31 gigawatts of installed wind capacity, only 1 gigawatt was being delivered – a measly 3%. This level of capacity utilization has been going on now for weeks.
If There Was No CO2, How Much Would The Tropics Cool? | Real ScienceIn the tropics CO2 is only responsible for 1.5% of the greenhouse effect, and water vapor is responsible for almost all of the other 98.5%.
But it is worse than it seems. Almost all of CO2′s contribution is in the first 30 PPM. Additional man-made CO2 has essentially no effect on the energy balance in the tropics.
Satellite temperatures show that there has been almost no warming in the tropics.
Articles: Mann vs. Steyn: Heresy Shall Be CrushedFor all the progressive outcry in defense of Mann, his defenders (including, apparently, Judge Combs Greene) seem to have no problem with the smear of all who question the climate change pseudo-orthodoxy as "flat-earthers," "anti-science," "extremists," and "lackeys of big oil." What about the thousands of legitimate, accredited scientists who believe anthropogenic global warming is untenable, including even some (well-buried) dissenters within the UN's IPCC itself? If a court can decide that Mann's research "and conclusions" have been sufficiently vindicated as to be judged provably "sound" -- that is, sound enough to be regarded as legally unassailable -- then what does this imply about the research and results of all those who believe they are proving Mann's conclusions false? The implication is clear enough: anthropogenic global warming is one area of truth-seeking that is no longer merely "settled science" (whatever that means), but is now settled law. It is now, apparently, legally dangerous to question this theory, unless one prefaces one's questions with the proviso that the research supporting the theory was conducted with the purest scientific heart, and that its conclusions are sound. Meanwhile, again, the same proviso need not be proffered when ripping up the research, opinions, and character of the "flat-earthers."
- Bishop Hill blog - The Lords do battleAfter the House of Lords debate on the Energy Bill, Lord Deben wrote to a group of peers attacking the statements made by Matt Ridley in the debate. The letter and the ensuing correspondence was as follows
Twitter / etzpcmInterested in why people got sceptical about climate change? Read this post and the many stories in comments below.
Twitter / Foxgoose: . @PaulHBeckwith @LeonieGreene .... activist BS - using close up of a small melt pond - here's today's real pic -
Asian Americans lean green | GristFifty-five percent of African Americans and 53.8 percent of Asian Americans said they are concerned about global warming. By comparison, 56.7 percent of Caucasians and 60.3 percent of Hispanics acknowledge global warming is caused by human activity, and only 49.3 percent of Caucasians and 34.2 percent of Hispanics expressed concern about it.
Chicago’s Angry Summer | Real ScienceThey may have to create a new shade of blue.
Making Science Public » What’s behind the battle of received wisdoms?[Latimer Alder] Among the howls of outrage I think I hear a hint of desperation. A realisation of a change in the weather and that things will never be the same again for the warmists.
Since teh beginning of the global warming/climate change/climate chaos/weird weather scare, they have been used to getting a pretty free ride from the mainstream media and politicians.
No alarmist has really been publicly grilled. The IPCC has acted as a climatologist’s trade union, asked to evaluate its own members work, it has, not surprisingly given them good marks. Until recently all debate could be shut down by spurious accusations of Big Oil linked denial and /or heavy moderation of the blogosphere.
An AGW ‘narrative’ came into existence and rapidly gained influential supporters. And a ‘climate change’ industry was born and grew…and grew and grew again.
But one key player in the picture wasn’t cooperating. The central character – Mother Gaia herself. While the industry tried to convince everyone of imminent doom, she was a refusenik. And eventually her intransigence became too obvious to hide. [Via Justin Templer]
Readers debate cause, dangers of global warming; poll results overwhelming | al.comHUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Readers who participated in an al.com poll overwhelming voted that global warming does not pose a danger to future generations.
As of 4 p.m. today, more than 1,200 votes had been cast and 71 percent voted that global warming does not pose a danger to future generations while 29 percent voted that it does. Votes are still be accepted.
According to PollDaddy.com, which hosted the al.com poll, votes were cast in 44 states and 34 countries around the world.
What to Expect in the Warsaw Climate Change TalksCurrent amounts pledged by rich countries are considered much lower than what is required. The UNFCCC has estimated that by 2030, poor countries will need between $28 billion and $59 billion a year to adapt. The World Bank thinks between $20 billion and $100 billion should help.
The Adaptation Fund says that over the past two years, it has given out more than $180 million to increase climate resilience in 28 countries around the world.
Record cold last night in southeast Michigan; will it continue into the weekend? | MLive.comRecord low temperatures were set in many spots of southeast Lower Michigan this morning. Many spots dropped down into the 40s, with the coldest at 43 degrees in Auburn, near Bay City.
Dems plan climate push during August recess | JunkScience.comDEMS PLAN RECESS CLIMATE PUSH: The White House, congressional Democrats and their allies are plotting an August recess offensive to promote President Barack Obama’s climate change plan and head off Republican opposition. The full-court press shows that liberals have learned the lessons from past August congressional recesses, when Republicans, aided by the tea party, out-organized Democrats and managed to demonize cap-and-trade and blame them for high gas prices.
The Blackboard » Tol: On bad papers.[Tol] I am glad that Hulme too recognizes that some research is so bad that it is beyond a constructive response; and that if such research is published, destructive comments should be in public.
Southern Hudson Bay subpopulation status, farthest south of all polar bears | polarbearscienceDespite living under virtually identical conditions as the Western Hudson Bay subpopulation, touted by polar bear biologists and activists alike as the most severely affected by global warming, Southern Hudson Bay bears appear to be doing just fine.
Wikipedia “warming” becomes “climate change” | ScottishScepticthe result has been that the article (much like the idea of Wikipedia neutrality) has died on a its feet. It is there in name, but the number of active editors have plummeted, those who do contribute clearly have no knowledge of the climate.
Greenland's Melting Ice Sheets: Climate Change's Disastrous Effects | Rolling Stone...The chopper touched down on an unremarkable stretch of rocky tundra about the size of a Walmart parking lot, and Box jumped out, followed by a videographer. “Welcome to New Climate Land,” he announced and then launched into a giddy, erudite stand-up monologue for the camera that would have made his high school science teacher proud. “For thousands of years,” he explained, this spot had been covered by a tall building’s worth of ice and snow. But now, in the past few months, the final traces of that ancient ice had disappeared. “We are likely to be the first human beings to ever stand on this piece of ground,” Box said excitedly.
...He also believes that the climate community is underestimating how much sea levels could rise in the coming decades. When I ask him if he thinks the high-end projections of six feet are too low, he doesn’t hesitate: “Shit, yeah.”
“Jason has one very important quality as a scientist,” says Thomas Painter, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “He is willing to say crazy stuff and push the boundaries of conventional wisdom.”
...many scientists are predicting an ice-free Arctic by the end of the decade. Not so long ago, the Northwest Passage, the storied northern route from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, required an icebreaker ship to navigate it. This summer, people are attempting the passage in a sea kayak.
Ice is melting for a simple reason: “The Arctic is warming faster than any place on Earth,” says Konrad Steffen...[Box] was expelled from prep school near the end of his senior year when evidence of marijuana was found in a urine test...“Jason was one of those guys who could drink hard and party at night and then get up early in the morning and go to an intense science class,” Leslie recalls. At Boulder, he bounced from computer science (“too nerdy”) to astronomy (“amazing but not down-to-earth”) to geology (“too slow”).
...
“I like ice because it’s nature’s thermometer,” Box tells me over musk-ox pizza at a restaurant in Kangerlussuaq, the base camp for many scientific expeditions onto the Greenland ice sheets...“We are creating a different climate than the Earth has ever seen before.”
...“For most scientists, publishing a paper is a masturbatory act,” Box tells me. “A few people read it, you feel good, and then it’s over. It has no influence on policymakers; it does nothing to increase public understanding of what is happening to the climate system.”
...
While he worked, Box and I talked about how he keeps his balance, knowing the many flavors of catastrophe the world faces as it rapidly warms. “I am a scientist – I try not to get emotional about it,” he said, although he admitted that one of the reasons he took the job in Denmark is because he believes it’s a safer place for his daughter, who is 21 months old, to ride out the storms of the future. “On the other hand, I don’t want to look back and say I didn’t do everything I could to help people understand the risks we all face.”
As it turns out, this summer, Greenland’s glaciers are heating up at a pace that’s substantially below last year’s record melt – a fact that Box says “just adds complexity” to what is going on in the Arctic....Later that night, after Box had a few sips of Greenlandic whiskey, he talked about his dream of forming a Climate Delta Force, funded by philanthropists, which could be dispatched to study climate catastrophes in real time. “Give me two and a half million dollars,” he told me, “and I could change the world.”
Politics and progress: Will the White House stall its own climate change plans? - The Hill's Congress Blog...in the Obama administration, the trains no longer run on time. Of the 136 draft rules under review at OIRA, 72 have been held up for longer than the 90-day limit.
...the new Administrator has secret weapon you might not know about: a bachelor’s degree in social anthropology. The study of human organizations, she once told me, had proved essential at all levels of her career. It taught her to intuit the interests of other people and locate the center of an institution’s decision-making power. In fighting for the climate, Administrator McCarthy will need to draw heavily on those skills again.
---
Verchick holds the Gauthier ~ St. Martin Eminent Scholar Chair in Environmental Law at Loyola University, New Orleans, and is faculty director of Loyola's Center for Environmental Law and Land Use. He was deputy associate administrator for Policy at the EPA during the first Obama Administration and is a Member Scholar of the Center for Progressive Reform. [Via Junk Science]
Twitter / justintempler.@sleepylemur You're under the mistaken impression that harnessing solar & wind doesn't involve pollution, toxins, salts, metals, rare earth
Twitter / BigJoeBastardi: The "CLIMATE CHANGE' warmingistas ...The "CLIMATE CHANGE' warmingistas simply took something that IS ALWAYS CHANGING and then made it co2 caused, which is what is bogus
Twitter / RogerPielkeJr: Aside from being called a climate ...Aside from being called a climate denier (for referencing the IPCC;-) no one has responded to the testimony critique challenge from @Revkin
Global warming wars : Prime time : SunNews Video Gallery[7-minute video] Lorrie Goldstein explains to Jerry Agar the pause in the global warming trend and the accompanying climate hysteria.
Twitter / clim8resistance: Alarmists shrill tones are ...Alarmists shrill tones are our best PR. I think that's really why oil millionaires hire Bob Ward. @RogTallbloke @stevebloom55 @nevaudit
Twitter / sjhopkinson: I'd thought the rumour, that ...I'd thought the rumour, that Big Oil funds the undermining of climate science, was tosh. Turns out to be true, and it's @dana1981. Who knew?
DECC Distances itself from Davey » Climate ResistanceWhat’s hard to understand is how a minister with such a brief, and such budgets for expertise, could have produced such a poor argument that his own department couldn’t get behind.
Are You Thirsty for Better Climate Change Communication? | Mother Jones[English major Chris Mooney] People are getting tired of the same old story about global warming. They often tune out warnings of impending catastrophe; but it's not like they trust the deniers, either. The trouble is, the standard global warming narrative is stale and alienating—and perhaps worst of all, stuck in the technical weeds.
...
All talks will be specially developed in collaboration with thirst DC's presentation trainers. The speakers will bring fresh, unconventional storytelling about global warming. Currently confirmed speakers are:
Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones magazine/Climate Desk: "How to Talk to Your Republican Dad About Global Warming"
Jamie Vernon, American Association for the Advancement of Science, science & technology policy fellow: "How to Get Rich Off of Global Warming"
...
Melanie Tannenbaum, Scientific American blogger & University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign PhD student in social psychology: "This Is Your Brain on Climate Change"
Kate Sheppard '06, Staff reporter at Mother Jones magazine - Sustainability at Ithaca - Ithaca CollegeKate Sheppard ’06 majored in Journalism and Politics.
EIA's Most Important Insights About Our Energy Future | Climate CentralWhile renewable energy sources and nuclear power will be the fastest growing energy sources through 2040, the report calculates that fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, will still comprise 80 percent of world energy use.
Energy Information Administration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment. EIA programs cover data on coal, petroleum, natural gas, electric, renewable and nuclear energy. EIA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Leaving Our Descendants A Whopping Rise in Sea Levels by Fen Montaigne: Yale Environment 360[Lead author of the sea level chapter in the upcoming fifth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Anders] Levermann: What I would say in short is that we simply put expiration dates on certain cultures, on certain societies around the globe.
...
I personally believe that we cannot adapt to a warming of 4 or 5 degrees [C] because the increase in extreme events and also sea level rise, combined with extreme storm surges, will simply increase the pressure on our complex societies, which might bring them to the verge of collapse.
Are environmentalists drowning out indigenous views on Arctic development? | Alaska DispatchIt is astounding that six individuals -- only two of whom are from Arctic states -- could shift the debate on an area inhabited by four million people, who are often voiceless in media reports. Scanning through stories by the BBC and NBC News, reporters did not seek any comment from Arctic residents, indigenous or otherwise, on their feelings about the Greenpeace protest. If they did, the debate on the future of the Arctic would be more balanced and inclusive. Polar bears need icebergs and beluga whales need oceans free of sonar waves, to be sure. But people also need affordable food and warm homes – topics less news-friendly, but just as critical, to the future of the Arctic. As appealing as it might be for those of us, including myself, who don’t live in the Arctic to want to set up fences and simply declare a swath of land and sea protected for eternity. Yet when discussing the Arctic, we should strive to consider not only its environment, but also its people, who are more than an afterthought.
Twitter / BigJoeBastardi: What a difference a week makes, ...What a difference a week makes, eh? Most of east top 10% COOLEST this morning
Posts
