Ethics and the Greenhouse
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
An ethicist explains why he dove into climate blogging.

Ten Nations at 'Extreme Risk' Because of Water Shortages, Report Says
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
Ten countries worldwide, including five African nations, are at 'extreme risk' because of limited access to clean, fresh water, according to a new global water security index. And the effects of climate change and population growth will exacerbate the stress on these water supplies, potentially threatening stability in many regions, according to the analysis by Maplecroft , a UK- based consulting group. Among the nations most at risk are Somalia, Mauritania, Sudan, Niger, and Iraq. Other nations at extreme risk - including Pakistan, Egypt, and Uzbekistan - are already facing internal and border tensions because of limited water supplies. Click to enlarge. Maplecroft. Global water security index 'There is a risk of water stress exacerbating future risks of conflict, although there is evidence that water scarcity may also help foster cooperation instead,' said Anna Moss, a Maplecroft environmental analyst.

'Resilient growth' for renewables
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
The building of new renewable energy sources outstrips new fossil fuel power plants in EU and US during 2009, a report says.

UK Guardian slams Morano for cyber-bullying and for urging violence against climate scientists
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
I have previously written about The rise of anti- science cyber bullying and the role played by Swift Boat smearer Marc Morano - who believes climate scientists should be publicly beaten. The UK Guardian has posted an outstanding piece slamming Morano''s 'warped world vision' and the 'award' he just won: But that this award was announced within hours of Morano posting on his Climate Depot website the email addresses of a climate scientist next to a link to my story from last Monday about the said climate scientist, Stanford University''s Professor Stephen Schneider, receiving death threats and hate mail should cause you to throw down that coffee in disgust.

The challenge of China's green technology policy
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
I would like to close with an observation that I gained from watching World Cup soccer over the past few weeks. In particular, I was struck by the recurring juxtaposition of two advertising billboards in the background of the soccer pitch, one in red by an American company- Mc. Donald' s, the other in blue by a Chinese company- Yingli Solar. I thought to myself, this is the World Cup, the world''s biggest sporting stage, and China is proudly showcasing the future of its economy with a solar technology company. What is the U. S. best able to showcase? Hamburgers. I believe this image speaks volumes about the state of play not only in the global clean energy race, but also in the global competitiveness landscape.

Climate scientists: 'The urgent need to act cannot be overstated.' - "Climate change caused by humans is already affecting our lives and livelihoods - with extreme storms, unusual floods and droughts, intense heat waves, rising seas and many changes in biological systems - as climate scientists have projected."
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
Today, a large body of evidence has been collected to support the broad scientific understanding that global climate warming, as evident these last few decades, is unprecedented for the past 1000 years - and this change is due to human activities. This conclusion is based on decades of rigorous research by thousands of scientists and endorsed by all of the world''s major national science academies . Although uncertainties remain, they concern issues like the rate of melting of major ice sheets rather than the broader topic of whether the climate is changing. This is from an article in the Politico, 'The science behind climate science,' by four leading climate scientists ...

IPCC Fumbles Media Relations Strategy, Must Review Basic Principles of Public Relations
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
Andy Revkin''s revelations over the weekend about the botched media relations strategy deployed by the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, demonstrate that the IPCC has failed to learn from its recent missteps in managing public communications. If you don' t have anything to hide, don' t act as if you do. Being thrust into the media spotlight and subjected to sudden intense scrutiny can rattle any organization, and the IPCC is hardly the first institution to be accused of resorting to a "bunker mentality" and evading media inquiries. But, as Revkin points out correctly, sheltering yourself from the press is bound to backfire, creating more skepticism about your activities when you should really focus on explaining your work more clearly and operating with greater transparency.

American Petroleum Institute's Revisionist History on Climate Change Position
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
API Energy Taxes. png The American Petroleum Institute, the trade group for the oil and natural gas industry, is trying to re- write history by claiming that it has remained "neutral" about U. S. climate legislation. Nothing could be further from the truth, actually. API orchestrated the entire "Energy Citizens" astroturf campaign last year precisely to fight against climate legislation. Greenpeace USA obtained an internal memo[ PDF] from the desk of API president Jack Gerard detailing polluting interests' plans to launch the nationwide astroturf campaign attacking climate legislation as "tax increases on our industry." The API memo requested API''s member companies to recruit employees, retirees, vendors and contractors to attend the "Energy Citizen" rallies in key Congressional districts nationwide during the August recess last year, no doubt hoping to be confused with a genuine grassroots uprising, much like the tea parties.

Senate Eyes Bush Plan on CO2
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
Senate leaders desperate for a climate bill close in on the Bush plan of a decade ago.

Biomass Britain: do fields of energy crops spell an end to grazing livestock?
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
A new vision to replace our grazing land with energy crops will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but many are unwilling to embrace its suggestions for our future diet and countryside

'Uneven' sea level rises threaten Indian Ocean coastal regions
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
Global warming is adversely affecting certain countries around the Indian Ocean with higher than average sea level rises, according to analysis published in Nature Geoscience

Review of the must-read book: Merchants of Doubt
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
In Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway take us on a fascinating trip down what they call Tobacco Road. Take the journey with them, and you' ll see renowned scientists abandon science, you' ll see environmentalism equated with communism, and you' ll discover the connection between the Cold War and climate denial. read more

Rising sea drives Panama islanders to mainland
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
CARTI SUGDUB, Panama (Reuters) - Rising seas from global warming, coming after years of coral reef destruction, are forcing thousands of indigenous Panamanians to leave their ancestral homes on low- lying Caribbean islands.

Senators craft scaled-back climate bill
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate''s two biggest backers of climate change legislation have scaled back ambitions for a broad attack on greenhouse gases with a new draft bill focusing on cutting pollution from electric power utilities.

Amazon storm killed half a billion trees: study
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A powerful storm destroyed about half a billion trees in the Amazon in 2005, according to a study on Tuesday that shows how the world''s forests may be vulnerable to more violent weather caused by climate change.

Cooling caused wars and drought in China
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - As Chinese policymakers grapple with an expected increase in extreme weather due to global warming, a study has found that periods of cooling between AD 10 to 1900 also caused a wave of disasters, war and upheaval.

World's mangroves retreating at alarming rate: study
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The world''s mangroves are being destroyed up to four times faster than other forests, costing millions of dollars in losses in areas such as fisheries and storm protection, a report said Wednesday.

EU agrees on carbon permit auction rules from 2013
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
LONDON (Reuters) - European Union governments on Wednesday unanimously agreed detailed rules for auctioning carbon permits in the third phase of the bloc''s Emissions Trading Scheme from 2013, the EU executive said in a statement.

Scientists create improved CO2-absorbing crystals
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chemists in South Korea and the United States have improved the design of a type of artificial crystal, doubling the amount of carbon- dioxide they can absorb and store.

Renewable Power Investments Outstrip Fossil Fuels in Europe and U.S.
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
The U. S. and Europe added more power capacity in 2009 from renewable sources than from conventional sources such as coal and oil, and this year or next the world as a whole will add more capacity to the electricity supply from alternative energy sources than from fossil fuels, according to two new reports. The reports, issued by the United Nations Environmental Program and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, said that in 2009 renewables made up 60 percent of newly installed power capacity in Europe and more than 50 percent in the U. S. Although global investment in green energy decreased in 2009, to $162 billion, some countries, such as China, saw rapid growth ...

Big freeze changes minds on global warming
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
A THIRD of Scots have changed their views on climate change due to the winter big freeze and the "climategate" scandal, a study for The Scotsman has revealed.

Power utilities want less of your business
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
Avoid mopping your floor, laundry and washing your dishes during the day and save energy in the process " that''s what power utilities in the U. S. are telling customers this summer. Heard this before? The difference is this year, heat waves have already caused blackouts and power- grid strain across the country, and it''s only mid- July. This begs the question: Do power utilities want less of your business? Heat waves last month meant increased cooling needs " up as much as 76 percent in some regions " which adds in turn to the threat of power outages.

Information levels
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
Rasmus' recent post on the greenhouse effect raised some interesting points concerning the technical level at which posts or other public communications should be written. This was a relatively technical article as these things go, eschewing the very basic 'the greenhouse effect is like a blanket' but not really approaching the level of a technical paper on the subject (no line- by- line calculations for instance). Nonetheless, there were complaints that was too much to be absorbed by the lay public, counter- arguments that making it too simple was patronising, as well as complaints that the discussions were not technical enough (for instance in explaining stratospheric cooling).

Climate scientists respond to 'climategate' report
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
It''s time to abandon the black- and- white fiction that human- induced climate change is fact or conspiracy, they say

Law of hurricane power discovered
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
The intensity of hurricanes follows a simple mathematical law " a finding that could help us predict how they will respond to climate change

Whither the weak in the post-peak oil world?
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
It is often said that the test of any civilization is how it treats its weakest members. Those who are compromised physically, mentally or emotionally create a sort of live- action Rorschach test. Do the weak among us evoke our compassion or our scorn? If we are among the lucky ones who have our full faculties, our reaction to the weak says more about our view of the disfigured, stricken and defeated parts of our own psyche--the parts which make us feel most vulnerable and ashamed--than it does about the weak among us. Even if we feel compassion for those less fortunate, we are rarely called upon to find the limits of that compassion.

Is net energy peaking?
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
My latest column on Scitizen entitled "Is Net Energy Peaking?" has now been posted. Here is the teaser: When most people think of fossil fuel supplies, they think in terms of barrels of oil, cubic feet of natural gas and tons of coal. But in evaluating how much energy in the form of finite fossil fuels the world has left, these are no longer adequate measurements....Read more

'Moral duty' to tackle climate change
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
A gathering of international parliamentarians has been informed that 'climate change is a reality'.

New Weather Patterns Threaten U.S. Breadbasket
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
Climate change is expected to disrupt agriculture in the U. S. Midwest, with high carbon dioxide promoting crop growth but stronger storms, drought, floods and migrating yields dampening yields.

Pacific Islands Criticise Stalled Climate Financing
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
Despite the creation of a High- Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing (AGF), a group of hard- hit Pacific islands is expressing doubt that aid will be delivered in a timely manner.

Less meltdown, more manners
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
Polemical and partisan characterises the climate debate online - but at last night''s Guardian debate there was courteousness and a distinct warmth in the air. Something remarkable happened last night in the polarised world of "warmists" versus "sceptics": a candid but not rancorous public debate. I' m sure you' ll correct me if I' m wrong but, to my knowledge, never before have all sides of this frequently poisonous debate shared a stage. The outcome was illuminating. With no little effort, I had persuaded a star panel to convene to discuss the fall out from the "Climategate" affair which followed the exposure of 1,000 private emails between climate scientists at the University of East Anglia''s Climatic Research Unit and their international colleagues.

Google climate map offers a glimpse of a 4C world | Adam Vaughan
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
Interactive tool layering climate data over Google Earth maps shows the impact of an average global temperature rise of 4CThink it''s hot this summer? Wait until you see Google''s simulation of a world with an average global temperature rise of 4C. Using a map that was first launched by the former Labour administration in October 2009, the coalition government has taken temperature data from the Met Office Hadley Centre and other climate research centres and imposed it on to a Google Earth layer. It''s a timely arrival, with warnings this month that current international carbon pledges will lead to a rise of nearly 4C and the Muir Russell report censuring some climate scientists for not being more open with their data (but exonerating them of manipulating the scientific evidence).Unlike a similar tool using IPCC data that was launched by Google in the run- up to the Copenhagen ...

Drought threatens to close stretch of Britain's longest canal
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
British Waterways may enforce shutdown on Leeds and Liverpool canal as water levels in reservoirs plummet. Almost half the Leeds and Liverpool canal, the longest in Britain, will close because of the drought in the north of England unless rain tomorrow heralds St Swithin''s downpours. Narrowboat companies have started moving fleets from the 60-mile approaches to the Pennine summit of the canal after British Waterways announced the shutdown, which will affect the stretch between Gargrave, in the Yorkshire Dales, and Wigan from 2 August. The unusual move follows a precipitous drop in the seven moortop reservoirs that feed the 127-mile canal on either side of the watershed. British Waterways said levels were just under 30% of capacity instead of the usual July figure of 80%.Continuing drought would see stocks dwindle to 10% by the end of the month, and the closure " if implemented " will be ...

Lloyd's adds its voice to dire 'peak oil' warnings
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
Business underestimating catastrophic consequences of declining oil, says Lloyd''s of London/ ISS report. One of the City''s most respected institutions has warned of "catastrophic consequences" for businesses that fail to prepare for a world of increasing oil scarcity and a lower carbon economy. The Lloyd''s insurance market and the highly regarded Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS, known as Chatham House) says Britain needs to be ready for "peak oil" and disrupted energy supplies at a time of soaring fuel demand in China and India, constraints on production caused by the BP oil spill and political moves to cut CO2 to halt global warming."Companies which are able to take advantage of this new energy reality will increase both their resilience and competitiveness.

When will our cultural institutions disassociate from big oil?
Sun Jul 25 09:03:51 2010 EST
contribution by Mel Evans One month ago, a group calling themselves Liberate Tate released black helium balloons carrying 'oil- slicked' model fish and birds to the upper airspace of Tate Modern''s Turbine Hall during the gallery''s BP sponsored birthday party. Two weeks ago, an offshoot of the same group spilled 'oil' at the entrance and on the gallery floor of Tate Britain as art scenesters arrived for the semi- prestigious BP Summer Party. And this week yet another group has extended the story by visiting the British Museum, which also takes BP money, during visiting hours and elegantly spilling 'oil' from hand- crafted BP eggs in front of (but not touching) a key exhibit.





Negotiating a Climate Treaty--Common but How Differentiated?
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Understanding the common but differentiated principle is the start of how the world has delegated responsibilities to the players around the globe in order to tackle the energy challenge of the 21st century. Approaching this principle is an important beginning in order to start working on the policy, business, research and development, and the environmental potential solutions. Stephen Eule and Julian Wong bring us their own angles on why and how this basic principle should be renewed and implemented to keep pace with a fast- changing and carbon- intense world. Read more here.

Climate unit 'did not hide data'
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Climate scientists emerge from third inquiry with their reputations for honesty intact but with a lack of openness criticised.

Energy and Global Warming News for July 8: Heat waves could be commonplace in the US by 2039; Methane releases in Arctic Seas could wreack havoc
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
By 2039, most of the US could experience at least four seasons equally as intense as the hottest season ever recorded from 1951-1999, according to Stanford University climate scientists. In most of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, the number of extremely hot seasons could be as high as seven. Heat waves could be commonplace in the US by 2039, Stanford study finds Exceptionally long heat waves and other hot events could become commonplace in the United States in the next 30 years, according to a new study by Stanford University climate scientists. 'Using a large suite of climate model experiments, we see a clear emergence of much more intense, hot conditions in the U. S.

In a bizarre self-inflicted wound, The New Republic hires right-wing misinformer to debunk its articles - Jim Manzi's flawed critique of Al Gore's piece
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Why would you trust a magazine that doesn' t trust itself? In a baffling display of 'balance as bias' - or perhaps 'balance as baloney' - The New Republic has hired right- wing misinformer Jim Manzi to spread confusion about their articles. Maybe magazines don' t bother employing fact checkers anymore, but when I coauthored the cover story for the Atlantic Monthly in 1996, 'Mid. East Oil Forever?' Drifting Toward Disaster, the magazine not only edited the piece, they made me provide a credible published source for every claim. Even today, I know magazines like Wired fact- check every article.

We're having a heat wave. New daily high temperature records beat new cold records by nearly 5 to 1 in June - How hot is it? So hot that June "breaks the record for the warmest average temperature observed for any calendar month in Miami"
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
'We' re getting a dramatic taste of the kind of weather we are on course to bequeath to our grandchildren,' says Tom Peterson, Chief Scientist for NOAA''s National Climatic Data Center. An 'excessive heat warning' has been issued this week for parts of the East Coast, home of the status quo media, so please send me examples of coverage - good or bad. Also, drink plenty of fluids and stay cool! I got a call last week from a Florida reporter. Did I know that it was so hot that Miami set the all- time monthly temperature record in June?

Climate scientist: 'Positive carbon-climate feedback is still very likely' - and even without 'a runaway feedback,' warming will be 'substantial and critical' - Plus a review of recent research on amplifying feedbacks
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
As the United States, like much of the rest of the world, bakes in record, killer heat, climate scientists continue to refine our understanding of the dire future of global warming in the years to come. The United Nations has named the 831 scientists who will author the fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, to be published in 2013 with new model runs and observations of the ongoing destruction of our habitable environment. They do this work despite the endless assault from the fossil- fueled right wing, weathering death threats and media and politicians who ignore, downplay, distort, or lie about the science.

NSIDC: In June, Arctic sea ice saw lowest extent and fastest rate of decline in the satellite record
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
This year will almost certainly set the record for lowest Arctic ice volume ever recorded (see 'When things were rotten'). But whether it will set the less important - but more visible - record for sea ice extent is less certain. You can see how close 2010 is to 2007 now. On the one hand, the National Snow and Ice Data Center just issued their July report, which notes, 'June saw the return of the Arctic dipole anomaly, an atmospheric pressure pattern that contributed to the record sea ice loss in 2007.' On the other hand, they point out ...

Majority of judges hearing drilling moratorium appeal attended oil-funded junkets
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Last month, Judge Martin Feldman, a federal trial judge in Louisiana, handed down a poorly- reasoned opinion lifting the Obama Administration''s temportary moratorium on new oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Feldman owned stock in Exxon and other drilling companies. Today in New Orleans, a three- judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will consider whether to stay Feldman''s decision. According to a new report by the Alliance for Justice, however, it is unlikely that these Fifth Circuit judges will approach the case without the perception of bias. TP has the story in this cross- post.

Peak Oil, Time, And Population
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
By Peter Goodchild We begin with two basic facts. The first is that the worlds present annual consumption of oil is nearly 30 billion barrels. The second is that the worlds present population is nearly 7 billion. From there we can add some reasonable estimates of both oil decline and population decline

Oceans Demise Near Irreversible
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
By Les Blumenthal A sobering new report warns that oceans face a fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major currents that could alter global weather

Hot Weather in a Warming Climate
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
A look at how more hot extremes might, or might not, spur climate and energy action.

Was the East Anglia Incident a Crime?
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Nearly eight months after thousands of e- mail messages and files of climate scientists were scattered around the Web, authorities have still not labeled the release a crime.

The rising sea
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
As catastrophes go, sea level rise is probably fairly low on everybody''s list. The most dire effects will be felt over many decades or centuries, whereas the jobless are wondering what''s going to happen to them next month or next year. Still, expanding oceans provide a longer term perspective on where humanity stands with respect to Planet Earth. read more

Oil Fouling the Niger Delta Dwarfs the Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
The swiftly unfolding environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico has riveted the world''s attention in recent weeks, but as the blog Aid. Data points out, the amount of oil spilled in the Niger Delta over five decades far exceeds the disaster in the Gulf, with even more devastating environmental consequences. Citing statistics from the United Nations Development Program, Aid. Data says estimates of oil spilled in the Niger Delta since 1960 range from 5.75 million to 10 million barrels, roughly triple the amount of oil that has Click to enlarge. UNDPOIL SPILLED: Nigeria spill (1960-present) and the 2010 BP spill gushed into the Gulf of Mexico from the blown- out Deepwater Horizon rig.

Interview: A Scientist Foretells the End For Hudson Bay's Struggling Polar Bears
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
No polar bears have been more closely studied than Canada''s western Hudson Bay population. Biologists have compiled an impressive store of data on everything from the weight of females at denning, the decreasing body mass of bears of all sexes, the increasing length of time the bears spend annually on the shores of Hudson Bay, and the decline of sea ice in the bay itself. Now, polar bear biologist Andrew E. Derocher and colleagues from the University of Alberta have marshaled that data to forecast how long it will be before western Hudson Bay''s polar bears disappear. The answer is sobering ...

High Above the Earth, Satellites Track Melting Ice
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
The surest sign of a warming Earth is the steady melting of its ice zones, from disappearing sea ice in the Arctic to shrinking glaciers worldwide. Now, scientists are using increasingly sophisticated satellite technology to measure the extent, thickness, and height of ice, assembling an essential picture of a planet in transition. BY MICHAEL D. LEMONICK

The Muir-Russell report
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
by Gavin and Mike The long- awaited and surprisingly thorough Muir- Russell report (readable online version) was released this morning. We' ve had a brief read through of the report, but a thorough analysis of this and the supplemental information on the web site will have to wait for a day or so. The main issue is that they conclude that the rigour and honesty of the CRU scientists is not in doubt. For anyone who knows Phil Jones and his colleagues this comes as no surprise, and we are very pleased to have this proclaimed so vigorously. Secondly, they conclude that none of the emails cast doubt on the integrity and conclusions of the IPCC, again, something we have been saying since the beginning.

Climategate inquiry: no deceit, too little cooperation
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
The official UK inquiry into the climategate affair confirms the "rigour and honesty of the scientists involved" but tells them to be more open

Prehistoric humans may have pushed climate change
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Humans were fiddling with climate thousands of years even before we started farming " if we had a hand in the extinction of woolly mammoths

Climate change could drive crocs out of the water
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Warming waters could mean crocodiles will struggle to find food and protection

A Bookful of Bookerisms
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
The climate change deniers are digging themselves an ever deeper hole over 'Amazongate'

EU gives power stations until 2020 to meet emissions rules
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Fossil- fuel power stations will have until June 2020 to comply with the next phase of EU pollution rules, under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) passed by the European Parliament yesterday.

Climategate scientists' honesty not in doubt, says review
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
The "rigour and honesty" of the scientists at the centre of a row over climate research, sparked when hundreds of emails were stolen from a world- renowned research centre, is not in doubt, an independent review said today.

Leading article: Climate change science is vindicated
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Public scrutiny of science and the scientific method can never be a bad thing, especially when the research involves something as important as climate change. But there must come a time when the results are accepted by all reasonable people. This time has surely come in the case of the "Climategate" emails stolen from the University of East Anglia and posted on the internet last autumn with the evident purpose of discrediting scientists at the centre of the effort to understand climate change.

The North Pacific, a global backup generator for past climate change
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Toward the end of the last ice age, a major reorganization took place in the current system of the North Pacific with far- reaching implications for climate, according to a new study published in the July 9, 2010, issue of Science by an international team of scientists from Japan, Hawaii, and Belgium.

Heat waves could be commonplace in the US by 2039, Stanford study finds
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Exceptionally long heat waves and other hot events could become commonplace in the United States in the next 30 years, according to a new study by Stanford University climate scientists.

Gasland
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Holy hydrocarbons ! Seems like BP America''s favourite unconventional fossil fuel is out of control. [link]2010/06/22/josh- fox- gasland- filmmake_ n_621341.html [link]2010/06/23/gasland- filmmaker- josh- fox- ignites- conversation- on- the- daily- show/ [link] files/2010/06/gasland- documentary- film- trailer- natural- gas- fracking. php [link] index. php? title= Gasland

Financial Ties : Green Taxes
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
The Financial Times advises :- [link] cms/ s/0/5dca38e0-8ac1-11df-8e17-00144feab49a. html 'Environmentalists have had a disappointing year. The Copenhagen talks fizzled and the economic crisis has overshadowed all other considerations. But the need for countries to repair towering fiscal deficits is an opening for the movement. As treasuries look for ways to raise more revenues, climate change activists should make the case for green taxes.' So, environmental campaigners should be campaigning for green taxes to plug holes in public deficits caused by crashing banks ? I think not. Tax revenue that is collected on the basis of environmental pollution should always be hypothecated, committed to remediation and removal of environmental pollution.

MOZAMBIQUE: Women at Forefront of Resisting Climate Change
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
The Mozambican government has adopted various policies to address the effects of climate change, with special attention to women as studies show that they are more adversely affected by this phenomenon.

Germany targets switch to 100% renewables for its electricity by 2050
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Germany already leads the world on renewable energy and could become first G20 country to kick the fossil- fuel habit Germany could derive all of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2050 and become the world''s first major industrial nation to kick the fossil- fuel habit, the country''s Federal Environment Agency said today. The country already gets 16% of its electricity from wind, solar and other renewable sources " three times' higher than the level it had achieved 15 years ago."A complete conversion to renewable energy by 2050 is possible from a technical and ecological point of view," said Jochen Flasbarth, president of the Federal Environment Agency."It''s a very realistic target based on technology that already exists " it''s not a pie- in- the- sky prediction," he said. Thanks to its Renewable Energy Act, Germany is the world leader in photovoltaics ...

The climate science scapegoats
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Today''s report into the hacked climate science emails follows two previous investigations that cleared the scientists involved of fraud and corruption, but with charges of secrecy upheld. The publication of Sir Muir Russell''s report on Wednesday is the third and final independent review into the hacked University of East Anglia emails sent by climate scientists. On 31 March, the House of Commons science and technology select committee strongly criticised UEA for not addressing a "culture of withholding information" among its climate scientists and for not being more open with raw data and computer codes. However, MPs chose not to criticise Professor Phil Jones, the climate scientist at the centre of the affair."He probably wishes that the emails were never invented," said Phil Willis MP, the committee chair, who had earlier questioned Jones in person during a committee hearing.

10:10 Climate change campaign - the story so far
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
From Premiership teams to rock festivals, from governments and ministers to you - the 10:10 campaign has united a diverse band of carbon- cutters determined to slash emissions by 10% this year. Now, 3,000 businesses and 80,000 individuals have signed up " and there''s still half a year left to go

No more BPs: we must turn our deserts into solar power | Ulrich Beck
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
The Deepwater Horizon disaster should make us look to the sun, and start a revolution in how we meet our energy needs. Why hasn' t the Deepwater Horizon spill, one of the worst ecological disasters in US history, led to a storming of the Bastille of Big Oil? Why aren' t the most urgent problems of our time " environmental crises and climate change " being confronted with the same energy, idealism and optimism as past tragedies of poverty, tyranny and war? The current state of the oil industry is reminiscent of the ancien regime on the eve of the revolution. The Gulf of Mexico disaster has many faces.

Global emissions targets will lead to 4C temperature rise, say studies
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Studies predict major extinctions and collapse of Greenland ice sheet with temperatures rising well above UN targets. The world is heading for an average temperature rise of nearly 4C (7F), according to analysis of national pledges from around the globe. Such a rise would bring a high risk of major extinctions, threats to food supplies and the near- total collapse of the huge Greenland ice sheet. More than 100 heads of state agreed in Copenhagen last December to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C-2C (2.7-3.6F) above the long- term average before the industrial revolution, which kickstarted a massive global increase in the greenhouse gases blamed for warming the planet and triggering climate change. But six months on, a major international effort to monitor the emissions reductions targets of more than 60 countries, including all the major economies, the Climate Interactive Scoreboard, ...

Climate change crop garden wins Hampton Court prize - BBC News
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Climate change crop garden wins Hampton Court prize. BBC News... such as apples and herbs, are featured as well as plants including peaches and nectarines to highlight the potential changes global warming will bring. Climate change 'bringing new crops' to South East. BBC Newsall 3

Heat wave air conditioners of doom - Salon
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Salon. Heat wave air conditioners of doom. Salon. AP An independent investigation of the Climate. Gate hacked e- mails that rocked the global warming debate in 2009 has found that the "rigor ...and more

Heat Wave! Is This Global Warming? - TIME - blog
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
Salon. Heat Wave! Is This Global Warming? TIME (blog) First of all, the usual caveat, which should be obvious but needs to be repeated: no single weather event can be said to be "caused" by climate change. ...Heat wave smothers climate skeptic jokes. Salon. Heat wave smothers climate skeptic jokes. Salonall 7

The climate bill endgame
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
by David Goldstein. Cross- posted from the NRDC Switchboard blog. The most important component of an effective climate bill- one that helps the economy recover and assures that greenhouse gas emissions will decline rapidly over the decades to come- is setting a cap on emissions. Opponents of a cap misunderstand how and why the cap will work, and their stated reasons for opposition reflect this misunderstanding. Typical of these self- described conservative arguments is made by Steve Everley at American Solutions. Everley tries to paint efforts to price carbon through a cap broadly as socialism, and narrowly as a tax.

How an energy bill could fuel more global warming
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
by David Doniger. Cross- posted from NRDC Switchboard. As President Obama and senators consider their options on energy and climate legislation, it''s important to be clear about what will move the country forward and what will move it backward. Will our leaders put us on the road towards the carbon pollution cuts desperately needed to take back control of our economic, environmental, and national security, or will they drive in the wrong direction and make matters even worse? As my colleague Dan Lashof shows here, the Senate can at least get us started towards the economy- wide carbon pollution reductions we need, by adopting a cap on utilities and other stationary sources along with robust policies to save oil and curb emissions from the transportation system.

Fannie and Freddie won't let this teacher green her home
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
by Jonathan Hiskes. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have shut down most of the nation''s programs using Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), an innovative tool that helps Americans finance green improvements to their homes. Here''s a homeowner' s perspective on the story: Kayla Thomason spent last winter wondering if the furnace would hold out in her two- bedroom ranch home in Longmont, Colo. The middle- school teacher had plenty of need for it: Her home, built in 1963, has no wall insulation, little attic insulation, and original metal- frame single- pane windows. In the winter, heat seeps out through recessed kitchen lights, ceiling- fan connections, the garage door, the crawl space, and especially uninsulated heating ducts, she learned.

George Monbiot : Bunkum Masquerading As Insight ?
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
I was in telephone conversation with somebody in the Climate Change policy arena in the last two weeks (names will remain unnamed for obvious reasons), and they complained to me about George Monbiot''s position on Climategate. I could sense incandescent rage, even at the other end of the phone line, as the person expressed extreme displeasure with George Monbiot, and asserted that he was a 'nasty little man'. I don' t agree with that summary. For a start, George Monbiot is probably taller than the average Briton, so the epithet is literally inaccurate. I don' t even agree that George Monbiot is 'little' in terms of influential, public figures, either.

Climate scientists praise report on hacked email scandal
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Leading climate scientists on Thursday welcomed a British report that cleared researchers of exaggerating the effects of global warming and said they hoped it would restore faith in the fight against climate change.

Hot weather prompts Met Office heatwave health alert
Fri Jul 09 10:59:28 2010 EST
The first weather health alert of the summer has been issued as temperatures are set to soar in parts of the UK.





Large blue butterfly moves to Cotswolds
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Assisted by climate change, the ecologists who saved the butterfly from extinction are reintroducing it to its former haunts. It is the butterfly that was brought back from the dead and one of the most successful examples of insect conservation in the world. Now, assisted by climate change, the large blue butterfly is to be moved northwards in a bid to double its UK population. The ecologists responsible for reviving the large blue will next month release hundreds of caterpillars at two secret locations in the Cotswolds in an attempt to reintroduce them to the region for the first time in more than half a century. After the butterfly''s extinction in Britain in 1979, Jeremy Thomas, professor of ecology at Oxford University, and his colleague David Simcox successfully masterminded its return by collecting eggs from Sweden and reintroducing this rare and incredibly fussy insect in Devon and the Polden Hills, Somerset. ...

Invest in rail, not roads | Richard Hebditch
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Arguing that rail investment is pointless because more people use cars ignores the reality of congestion and climate change. So the RAC Foundation''s Stephen Glaister argues that roads are missing out on the lavish attention spent on rail. The argument that the road network suffers in comparison with rail simply does not stand up. Rail, as part of a better integrated and supported public transport network, has to be the future priority for investment if we are to stop adding to congestion and climate change. The RAC Foundation''s arguments against rail seem to come down a circular argument that not enough people use rail, therefore it shouldn' t receive significant investment to expand its capacity, which will mean that not enough people will use it, which justifies not investing in it This just won' t do as the basis for deciding where scarce public investment should go. So why should we invest ...

Paris looks for power from turbines beneath the Seine
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
River currents could be harnessed at four bridges across the capital. The river Seine, the historical "sacred river" running through Paris, inspired Monet, Matisse and even the British painter Turner, who sat on its banks to capture the scenery. Now the landscape is to undergo a subtle change, with a plan to install eight turbines underneath the city''s celebrated bridges to raise energy from river currents. Paris city hall is to launch an appeal this week for power companies to come up with suitable projects to install the turbines, or hydroliennes."After a study by our urban ecology service and the French waterways, four potential sites have already been identified," Denis Baupin, the deputy mayor, told Le Parisien newspaper.

Shell: deep-water oil drilling will go on
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Voser says rising demand forces search for new sites Storm threatens clean- up operation of BP''s Gulf spill. Royal Dutch Shell''s boss, Peter Voser, insisted that today it was not possible to satisfy the world''s growing energy demands without drilling for oil in deep- water reserves, despite the ongoing environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. At a conference in South Africa, Voser defended the oil industry''s push into deeper oil reserves and said Shell would continue to play its part, even as a tropical storm threatened to disrupt BP''s efforts to clean up oil off the coast of Louisiana."Given the rise in the population and the rise in the developing world of energy needs, we will have to develop those resources in deep waters, so my expectation is that we will go forward with it, but it will need some changes," Voser told the Fortune Global ...

American Public turns against offshore drilling
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Ruy Teixeira, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, shows us how the oil spill has been shifting public opinion on offshore drilling, little by little, in this repost. The gulf oil spill disaster is starting to take a serious toll on public support for offshore drilling. Consider these data from a new Pew Research Center poll. Back in February of this year, 63 percent of the public supported more offshore drilling as a policy response to address our energy needs, compared to 31 percent who were opposed. Today a majority of the public-52 percent- opposes offshore drilling, and support has fallen to 44 percent.

When things were rotten: Arctic sees record sea ice shrinkage, headed toward record low volume - On a streetcar named denial, Watts and Goddard assert: "Arctic Basin ice generally looks healthier than 20 years ago."
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Must- see video here for ice junkies, background here: 'Arctic Ocean is full of rotten ice.' 'Anomalies for each day are calculated relative to the average over the 1979 -2009 period for that day to remove the annual cycle.' [And yes, "anomaly" is a poor word choice for a long- term trend driven by human emissions.] Back in mid- May, I argued the Arctic is poised to see record low sea ice volume this year. Since then, volume has plummeted some 3000 km3 (relative to its recent historical average) to '19,000 km3, the lowest May volume over the 1979"2010 period, 42% below the 1979 maximum and 32% below the 1979"2009 May average,' according to the Polar Science Center, which has the best Arctic ice volume model around.

Climate Union : Sharing Principles
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Image Credit : Gilbert & George, 'Nettle Dance', White Cube I' m in the Climate Union. Are You ? Soon we could all be, if the expansionist plans of a group of social campaigners come to fruition. Taking in the unions, faith communities and the usual rag- tag bunch of issues activists, the Climate Union aims to establish itself as a political force for Low Carbon. First of all, however, it has to tackle the uneasy and prickly problem of the exact name of the movement, and the principles under which it will operate. The flag has been flown ...

U.S. promises $136 million in climate aid to Indonesia
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
JAKARTA (Reuters) - The United States will spend $136 million over three years on environment and climate change programs in Indonesia, according to a statement issued by the White House on Monday.

Laughs for doomers
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Boris Yelnikoff is a self- described "Nobel- level thinker" who feels beseiged by "microbes," one of his many terms for people who don' t see "the big picture." And, what''s the big picture? He tells us in the first five minutes of Woody Allen''s latest movie, "Whatever Works," when he says, "On the whole, I' m sorry to say, we' re a failed species."Yelnikoff, played by Larry David, is an aging former Columbia University physics professor who has divorced his wife, moved to a dingy (but affordable) New York apartment, and taken up teaching chess to children to support himself.

Warming Climate Means Trouble For Southwest Plantlife
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
This month, fires have charred tens of thousands of acres in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona. After more than a decade of drought, these large seasonal fires are increasingly a part of life in the Southwest, and fire can be revitalizing in many conifer forests.

'We Got that Deleted': Canada's Oil Sands Lobby Twisting Washington's Arm - in News
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
US politicians bend to foreign- backed pressure to soften climate bill.

Lebanese youth highlight impending climate change threat
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
BEIRUT: More than 200 young people gathered Saturday at Ramlet al- Baida beach to raise awareness about the threat that climate change poses to the globe, as they promote practical steps for Lebanese to change their environmental lifestyle. The activists, who largely consisted of members from Mercy Corps and the League of Independent Activists

Tina Gerhardt: The Canary in the Coal Mine: Stopping Climate Change - Ted Nace: Climate Hope
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The Canary in the Coal Mine: Stopping Climate Change By Tina Gerhardt Climate Hope: On the Front Lines of the Fight against Coal By Ted...

'Carbon storage' faces leak dilemma - study
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Dreams of braking global warming by storing carbon emissions from power plants could be undermined by the risk of leakage, according to a study published on Sunday.

Hot nights to bite Basmati
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
New Delhi, June 28 : Warmer nights may spoil the aroma of basmati and cause the rice to become sticky when cooked, scientists have warned after a study of how climate change may affect the quality of rice.

Harper rejects advice to budge on oil patch tax breaks
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Prime Minister Stephen Harper rejected advice from his officials to eliminate tax incentives for the oil patch on a weekend that saw the world''s most powerful leaders disdain fresh attempts to combat climate change in favour of fighting deepening deficits.

AUSTRALIA: New PM Called On to Tackle Climate Change
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Source: IPS Australias newly appointed prime minister, Julia Gillard, has hardly warmed her seat, yet she has already been urged to take action on climate change.

Scientists 'expect climate tipping point' by 2200
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The global climate is more than likely to slip into an unpredictable state with unknown consequences for human societies if carbon dioxide emissions continue on their present course, a survey of leading climate scientists has found.

What would happen if we admitted to the high risk of deepwater drilling?
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
by Frank Ackerman. Was the Obama administration 'arbitrary and capricious' in imposing a six- month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling? U. S. District Judge Martin Feldman thought so. His June 22 order reversed the moratorium, citing the 'immeasurable harm' to 'the local economy, the Gulf region, and the critical present- day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country.' By immeasurable harm to the Gulf region, he meant the loss of oil industry jobs, not the loss of oil- free water and beaches. How could anyone be opposed to a time- out to figure out what went wrong in the Gulf of Mexico?

G8 leaders stand still on climate; will G20 backtrack?
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
by David Turnbull. It was a tale of two cities Saturday in Toronto for this climate activist. One of hope and the other of boredom. Saturday morning, I joined Greenpeace, Oxfam, the Canadian Labor Congress, and about 5,000 activists at a peaceful rally calling on G8 and G20 leaders to take stronger leadership on a variety of progressive issues. Signs amidst the crowd were pushing issues ranging from climate and poverty alleviation to Tibetan freedom and bank reform. It was an impressive mix of progressive activists all coming together to speak with one voice for global change. Despite the rain and nearly oppressive police presence, the spirit at the rally was ebullient and hopeful, and I walked away feeling excited as one often does from these rallies.

The End of Oil, and Government
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The unsustainable U. S. economy and coast- to- coast consumer society that uses more oil than any other nation will keep up its energy gluttony until supplies give out. Because oil is the most critical part of our energy mix, and it supplies critical materials and chemicals besides fuels, a sudden, crippling oil shortage can paralyze most of the work, commerce and law enforcement going on in this country.

Climate bill gets GOP cold shoulder - Politico
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Climate bill gets GOP cold shoulder. Politico. But he has since shifted to the right, going so far as to question the science linking humans to global warming. Like Mc. Cain, Brown, Gregg and Murkowski, ...Democrats Poised for Comprehensive Climate and Energy Approach. Firedoglake (blog) all 23

Byrd's death brings new problems for climate advocates - The Hill - blog
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Telegraph. co. uk. Byrd''s death brings new problems for climate advocates. The Hill (blog)'Senator Byrd led efforts among coal state senators to devise global warming legislation that would smooth the transition for workers in their states,' said ...Byrd''s death could delay financial reform vote. Los Angeles Timesall 4,387

UK 'needs new climate policies'
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The emissions- lowering recession is masking failures on carbon- cutting, and new policies are needed, say advisors.

Harbour seals 'pupping earlier'
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Harbour seals give birth to pups 25 days earlier than 35 years ago as a result of changes to marine ecosystems, a study shows.

Earth Watch
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Petrolheads aim to steer world round greener corner

How hot is it? So hot that 8 countries in Africa and Asia set all-time high temperature records - And the Tea Party postponed their Las Vegas convention
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Before getting to the irony of the anti- science Tea Partiers canceling their big convention because the weather is too hot, let''s look at some of the staggering extreme weather events around the globe. In China, 'The Southern Daily said over 600 millimetres (24 inches) of rain fell in Guangdong''s Huilai county over a six- hour period on Friday, a 500-year record.' That''s two feet of rain in 6 hours! As Dr. Kevin Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, told me earlier this month: There is a systematic influence on all of these weather events now- a-days because of the fact that there is this extra water vapor lurking around in the atmosphere than there used to be say 30 years ago.

What if the public had perfect climate information?
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Revkin asks me via Dot Earth, 'What if The Public had Perfect Climate Information?' Ahh, the hypothetical question that launches us into an alternative history. Reminds me of that Saturday Night Live routine, 'What if Spartacus had a Piper Cub?' I' d love your answer. Here''s mine. If the entire public had perfect information on all matters related to climate - the science and the solutions - we would certainly be on a path to below 450 ppm (see, for instance, Scientists find 'net present value of climate change impacts' of $1240 TRILLION on current emissions path, making mitigation to under 450 ppm a must).

BBC's Panorama falls into 'balance as baloney' trap in half hour climate show, 'What's up with the weather?'
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
[I' d be very interested in the comments of other Brits upon watching the video. UK readers who want to make a complaint to the BBC will find contact info below.] The BBC''s climate journalism has declined in recent months (see BBC asks CRU''s Phil Jones the climate version of 'When did you stop beating your wife'). It just hit a new low in the half hour show, 'What''s up with the Weather?' All you need to know about how distorted and sensationalistic the BBC''s worldview has become is to read how BBC''s News editors describe the show ...

Can the world run on renewables, nuclear energy and geo-sequestration? The negative case
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Editor's note: This article is a summary of a new paper published in Energy Policy, available at sciencedirect. com [link]. For a detailed discussion of renewable energy's limits see Renewable energy - Cannot sustain an energy - intensive society [link]. The author told Culture Change, "Central in the delusion system moving us to the brink is the unquestioned faith that renewables can preserve affluence and the growth society; it is extremely difficult to get anyone to think about this."

A Focus on Canada: Challenging Times Ahead
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The recent G8/G20 in Canada and the relatively small amount of time spent discussing climate change has again brought some to question the intent of the Canadian Government with regards the issue. The reality is that successive Canadian Governments have struggled to formulate a policy mix which will suit the country, but at the same time Canada has been a great champion of overtly climate change technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS). As such, it is worth spending some time giving thought to the dilemma that is the Canadian economy and greenhouse gas emissions, particularly as the government continues to seek a policy mix that will deliver a meaningful reduction in emissions over the coming decade " at least as a first step.

Canadian oil lobby trying to kill US clean energy policy
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
mike- whately. jpg Who knew the tentacles of the Canadian oil lobby could reach all the way down to Washington, DC? And who knew they were so powerful? I am sure many Americans will find it rather disturbing that a foreign entity (no matter how friendly they may be - full disclosure: I am Canadian) is holding so much sway over the clean energy future of their country. In a lengthy and well- researched new expose on the Canada oil sands industry''s lobbying activities in Washington, DC, reporter Geoff Dembicki untangles a complicated web that includes former Republican insiders, dirty energy front groups and powerful politicians on both sides of the border that are doing their best to kill US clean energy legislation.

Fracked tap water in Texas is 99% PR spin
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
leadwater. jpg When you have lived in the same place for 20 years and all of sudden your hair turns orange after you wash it, you might be more than a little concerned. But, of course, don' t blame the natural gas company that is pumping thousands of gallons of toxic sludge into the ground just up the street. That can' t possibly have anything to do with your hair turning orange or the chemically smelling sediment floating around in your water glass. After all, the natural gas industry, in a process called hydraulic fracturing (also called "fracking"), says that 99-percent of the sludge they use is just water and sand.

Sorting Out Climate 'Camps'
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
A flawed effort to sort views on global warming into "10 camps."

Global CO2 Trends Show Scope of Climate Challenge
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Energy trends in developing countries are causing per- capita emissions there to relentlessly rise even as the rich world gets cleaner.

The IPCC underestimated Amazon threat
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Challenging climate sceptics is good sport but we' re in danger of forgetting the deadly serious matter at hand. Well this becomes more entertaining by the moment. Those who staked so much on the "Amazongate" story, only to see it turn round and bite them, are now digging a hole so deep that they will soon be able to witness a possible climate change scenario at first hand, as they emerge, shovels in hand, in the middle of the Great Victoria Desert. Here''s the story so far. In January the rightwing blogger Richard North claimed that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had "grossly exaggerated the effects of global warming on the Amazon rain forest".

Us and the environment: what the Social Trend Survey says
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Recycling and organic farming on the rise but so is white good energy use and overfishing. The popularity of dishwashers, televisions and the internet has seen the amount of electricity consumed by such items jump by 155% in four decades, according to the ONS report. Emblematic of this shift has been the rise of the home computer. Two- thirds of people buy goods on the internet now " the highest in Europe. Ten years ago less than one in 10 people had access to the internet at home. As significant is the environmental movement. In the 1970s Britain produced two- thirds of its electricity from coal, but smokestacks have been replaced by natural gas chimneys. However, the UK generates around 100 million tonnes of waste a year, most of which ends up in landfill.

Global warning: targets for tackling temperatures aren't working
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Studies predict major extinctions and collapse of Greenland ice sheet with temperatures rising well above UN targets. The world is heading for an average temperature rise of nearly 4C (7F), according to analysis of national pledges from around the globe at the midpoint between two major international conferences aiming to tackle the problem. Such a rise would bring a high risk of major extinctions, threats to food supplies and the near- total collapse of the huge Greenland ice sheet. More than 100 heads of state agreed in Copenhagen last December to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C-2C (2.7-3.6F) above the long- term average before the industrial revolution, which kickstarted a massive global increase in the greenhouse gases blamed for warming the planet and triggering climate change. But six months on, a major international effort to monitor the emissions reductions targets of ...

Green tech investment surges
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Global investments in clean energy companies rose 43% in Q2 on last year, says new Cleantech Group and Deloitte report. Green tech is back in the green. Global venture capital investment in green technology companies reached $4.04 billion in the first half of 2010, exceeding -- slightly -- the record set in the boom year of 2008, according to a preliminary report released Thursday by the Cleantech Group and Deloitte. Venture investment in the second quarter rose to $2.02 billion, up 43 percent from the year- ago quarter. Investments in the first half of the year spiked 65 percent from the same period in 2009.

Network Rail study to assess impact of climate change
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Thousands of miles of railway track to be examined for ability to withstand storms, flooding and heatwaves. Potential safety threats to thousands of miles of railway from extreme storms, floods and heatwaves as the impact of climate change worsens are being investigated by railway engineers and meteorologists. A study by Network Rail will look at exposed coastal tracks, embankments and thousands of bridges to see whether they can withstand the increase in extreme weather events that climatologists have predicted over coming decades. The UK- wide investigation will cost £750,000 but railway executives believe that implementing its expected recommendations could save the industry £1bn over the next 30 years by improving safety and preventing emergencies. The climate change adaptation programme, commissioned by the rail industry safety board (RSSB) follows the intense storm that flooded the south coast line bordering the sea at Dawlish in Devon in 2004, and ...

UK government blocking green car take-up, say electric vehicle makers
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Vince Cable fails to confirm green car subsidy status as climate advisers say electric vehicles are key to hitting carbon targets. Electric carmakers warned the government that it was jeopardising the switch to green cars that experts believe is vital to meet the UK's climate change targets. The warning came after the business secretary, Vince Cable, failed to confirm the fate of the former Labour government's pledge to subsidise new electric cars by up to £5,000. On the same day, the government's climate change advisers said such vehicles were one of four key areas of focus for the UK to hit legally binding carbon budgets. In a letter to be sent to Cable and the transport secretary, Philip Hammond, Citroen, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot and Renault write that "without the incentives, the UK will become a significantly less attractive market".

Global carbon emissions steady for first time since 1992
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Drop in rich countries' emissions caused by recession in 2009 was nullified by steep increases from China and India. Greenhouse gas emissions from rich countries fell a record 7% in 2009 because of the recession, but the cut was entirely nullified by steep increases from fast- growing China and India, according to one of Europe''s leading scientific research groups. Overall, this meant annual global climate emissions remained steady for the first time since 1992, says the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency which drew on energy- use data from the US government, the EU, BP energy data, the cement industry, and elsewhere. But the Dutch government- funded agency, which in 2007 was the first to correctly identify that China had overtaken the US as the world''s greatest greenhouse gas polluter, warned that the figures did not mean that rich countries had cleaned up their act."A large part of production capacity has been ...

Satellite eye on Earth: June 2010
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Space station sunsets, desert lakes in Mongolia and cloud formations over the Canaries were among the images captured by European Space Agency and Nasa satellites during June

Blimps could replace aircraft in freight transport, say scientists
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Helium- powered ships could be carrying freight " and even passengers " in as little as a decade''s time. Fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers and other foreign luxuries could be part of a global revolution by carrying cargo around the world in airships instead of planes, one of the UK''s leading scientists has predicted. The government''s former chief scientific adviser, Professor Sir David King, now director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at the University of Oxford, told a conference that massive helium balloons " or blimps " would replace aircraft as a key part of the global trade network as a way of cutting global warming emissions. Despite languishing in sci- fi B- movies for most of the last 70 years, King said several major air and defence companies, including Boeing and Lockheed Martin, were working on designs, and the US defence department had recently made a large grant ...

Could the plan for a Green Investment Bank kick-start a low-carbon UK? | Bryony Worthington
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Government will cut nine existing green business quangos to fund the Green Investment Bank. Swapping nine existing quangos and funds for a shiny new Green Investment Bank would fit snugly into the government''s desire to cut back on public spending and boost low- carbon investment flows, and now the chancellor, George Osborne, has some cover for doing so. The independent Wigley report (pdf) published yesterday recommends exactly that and was commissioned by the Tories themselves while in opposition to add weight to what otherwise was a great- sounding but nebulous manifesto commitment. A review of existing quangos is well overdue. All governments like to announce new things and the number of bodies established under Labour to try to speed up the transition to a low- carbon economy was quite staggering.

Barack Obama fails to rally support for energy bill
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Standoff suggests Senate would give up on climate change law that would result in far more limited proposals Barack Obama''s hopes of leveraging public anger at the Gulf oil spill into political support for his clean energy agenda fell flat today after he failed to rally a group of Democratic and Republican senators around broad energy and climate change law. The standoff suggests the Senate would formally give up on climate change law, and recast energy reform as a Gulf oil spill response, that would roll in far more limited proposals such as a green investment bank, or a measure to limit greenhouse gas emissions that would apply only to electricity companies. Such a move would come as a personal rebuff to Obama who has put energy and climate change at the top of his agenda, and who called on the 23 senators at the White House meeting to establish ...

Government commission urges rapid setting up of Green Investment Bank
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Cost of the low- carbon infrastructure is estimated at £550bn Venture capital sector prepared to invest in ecological projects. Scores of government- backed organisations face being swallowed by a new UK Green Investment Bank, under radical proposals announced today. Billions of pounds that are being spent by disparate quangoes and officials funds should instead be ploughed into an eco- bank, a group of leading financial and environmental experts recommended. The Green Investment Bank Commission argued that cutting the number of state- funded green bodies would "radically improve" the task of cutting the nation''s carbon output " an area where Britain continues to lag behind official targets. The Commission was led by former Merrill Lynch chairman Bob Wigley.

UK will miss carbon emissions targets 'unless government takes urgent action'
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Committee on Climate Change says policies required within next year to reform electricity market and home efficiency. The new coalition government must introduce a string of climate policies over the next twelve months or risk Britain missing its legally binding targets to cut carbon emissions, ministers were warned yesterday. David Kennedy, the chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change, said action was needed in four key areas. He said policies should be brought forward to reform the electricity market, and to make homes more energy efficient. Ministers need to protect efforts to encourage the development of electric cars and introduce measures to bring down the carbon footprint of UK farmers, he added."We' ve had a light- touch approach in the UK, we' ve talked a good game but what we' ve seen is emissions haven' t fallen," Kennedy said.

Bus cuts drive Americans back to cars | Sasha Abramsky
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The BP oil spill may make people reconsider their dependency on cars " but budget cuts are limiting public transport options. Just at the moment when the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill has generated two months of non- stop headlines about the dangers of oil dependency and the federal government in America finally has something of a platform to call for Americans to wean themselves off oil dependency, cities, counties and states across the US are decimating their public transit systems and forcing people, willy- nilly, to return to their cars. In most countries, one might expect fiscal collapse to lead to more people taking public transport.

Why 'Green' Building Standards May Actually Threaten Sustainable Forestry
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
A pending new rule change from a key environmental standards organization has set off a heated controversy between competing eco- certifiers of wood.

How Goldman Sachs gambled on starving the world's poor - and won
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
By now, you probably think your opinion of Goldman Sachs and its swarm of Wall Street allies has rock- bottomed at raw loathing. You' re wrong. There''s more. It turns out the most destructive of all their recent acts has barely been discussed at all. Here''s the rest. This is the story of how some of the richest people in the world - Goldman, Deutsche Bank, the traders at Merrill Lynch, and more - have caused the starvation of some of the poorest people in the world, just so they could make a fatter profit. It starts with an apparent mystery. At the end of 2006, food prices across the world started to rise, suddenly and stratospherically.

It's getting warmer - and something needs to be done - Staffordshire Newsletter - blog
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
It''s getting warmer - and something needs to be done. Staffordshire Newsletter (blog) Where are the crisis measures to change our lifestyles and stop burning fossil fuels in order to prevent heatwaves and wildfires becoming more frequent and ...

'Climategate' jibes fly over El Niño impact on warming
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
It turns out El Niño may not have had such a large effect on recent climate change as a controversial paper published last year suggested

Climate control: Is CO2 really in charge?
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Ice sheets melt away as CO2 rises: that''s how it''s supposed to work. So why does the opposite sometimes seem to have happened?

The uncertainty prayer
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Seen at a meeting yesterday: Grant us The ability to reduce the uncertainties we can; The willingness to work with the uncertainties we cannot; And the scientific knowledge to know the difference. (Drawn from a white paper on the use of climate models for water managers). Discuss.

Penn State reports
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The last part of the Penn State inquiry has now reported unanimously that Mike Mann did not engage in any activity that violated scientific norms. Quoting from the report conclusions, Conclusion of the Investigatory Committee as to whether research misconduct occurred: The Investigatory Committee, after careful review of all available evidence, determined that there is no substance to the allegation against Dr. Michael E. Mann, Professor, Department of Meteorology, The Pennsylvania State University. More specifically, the Investigatory Committee determined that Dr. Michael E. Mann did not engage in, nor did he participate in, directly or indirectly, any actions that seriously deviated from accepted practices within the academic community for proposing, conducting, or reporting research, or other scholarly activities.

US scientist in race to learn from Indonesia's dying glacier
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The only glacier in the western Pacific could disappear in less than five years, taking with it vital clues about the earth''s changing climate, a US scientist said Friday.

Scrubbing CO2 from atmosphere could be a long-term commitment
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
With carbon dioxide in the atmosphere approaching alarming levels, even halting emissions altogether may not be enough to avert catastrophic climate change. Could scrubbing carbon dioxide from the air be a viable solution? A new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution suggests that while removing excess carbon dioxide would cool the planet, complexities of the carbon cycle would limit the effectiveness of a one- time effort. To keep carbon dioxide at low levels would require a long- term commitment spanning decades or even centuries.

Warmer is better: Invasive cane toads set to thrive under global warming
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
As global warming threatens many animal species with extinction, the cane toad is set to flourish with increasing temperature. This is a major cause for concern as the cane toad, once introduced to Australia as agricultural pest- control of the cane beetle, is an already highly invasive species and considered a pest in Australia. The researchers present their new findings at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Prague on Friday, July 2, 2010.

Polluting countries talk climate control in Rome
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
(AP) -- Climate change talks among some of the world''s most polluting nations are continuing for a second day in Rome.

Indonesia's last glacier will melt within years
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
(AP) -- Lonnie Thompson spent years preparing for his expedition to the remote, mist- shrouded mountains of eastern Indonesia, hoping to chronicle the affect of global warming on the last remaining glacier in the Pacific. He''s worried he got there too late.

Warmer ecosystems could absorb less atmospheric carbon dioxide
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
(Phys. Org. com) -- Research by scientists at Queen Mary, University of London has found that a predicted rise in global temperature of 4°C by 2100 could lead to a 13% reduction in ecosystems' ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

Arctic climate may be more sensitive to warming than thought, says new study
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
A new study shows the Arctic climate system may be more sensitive to greenhouse warming than previously thought, and that current levels of Earth''s atmospheric carbon dioxide may be high enough to bring about significant, irreversible shifts in Arctic ecosystems.

Obama commits nearly $2 billion to solar companies
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, under pressure to spur job growth, said on Saturday two solar energy companies will get nearly $2 billion in U. S. loan guarantees to create as many as 5,000 green jobs.

Kyoto may push factories to pollute more: U.N. report
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
LONDON (Reuters) - A Kyoto Protocol scheme may be encouraging projects to emit more greenhouse gases because of incentives to earn carbon offsets from subsequently destroying these, a U. N. report said.

Utility-first climate bill warms up in Congress
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Environmentalists and power companies are lobbying U. S. senators to put forward climate and energy legislation that would initially cap greenhouse emissions only from electric utilities, saying it''s the last best chance for passing a bill this year.

Russia floats barge for waterborne nuclear plant
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday took a big step toward the controversial creation of the world''s first floating nuclear power station, putting a barge that will house the plant into the water.

EU climate policy said costly with tiny benefits
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
ATHENS (Reuters) - European Union plans to fight climate change until 2020 will cost hundreds of billions of dollars but give scant benefits, a study commissioned by a self- styled "Skeptical Environmentalist" said on Thursday.

Australian Greens propose A$23/ton carbon tax
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia''s influential Greens party has written to new Prime Minister Julia Gillard calling for a A$23 a ton carbon tax after upcoming elections, allowing her time to gain support for a carbon trading scheme.

Britain needs $15 billion "green bank": report
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain needs a green bank to meet its 2020 goals to slash carbon emissions and curb use of fossil fuels, a report commissioned by the Conservative Party said on Tuesday.

Green power an easy win for Australia: scientists
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Australia''s new leader should ramp up renewable energy use and enshrine tougher energy efficiency standards to fight global warming, leading climate scientists said on Tuesday, describing them as easy policy wins.

U.S. law key ahead of climate talks: EU
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - The United States would send a positive signal by passing domestic legislation to fight global warming ahead of U. N. climate talks in November, the EU''s climate chief said on Monday.

Biofuel Production from Algae Years from Commercialization, U.S. Says
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Biofuels produced from algae hold 'significant promise' as an alternative to polluting petroleum- based fuels, but the technology will require years of development before it is ready to be deployed at a large- scale, commercial level, according to a U. S. Department of Energy report. The 'National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap' identifies the state of the technology and the challenges facing researchers, engineers, and policymakers in the advancement of algal biofuels. 'Many years of both basic and applied science and engineering will likely be needed to achieve affordable, scalable, and sustainable CCMPThe microalgae Botryococcus algal- based fuels,' the report says.

U.S. Senate Climate Bill To Focus on CO2 Cap on Utilities
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
After a meeting between President Obama and a bipartisan group of U. S. senators, leading Senate proponents of climate and energy legislation say the only climate bill with a chance of passage this year would be a measure placing a cap on the carbon dioxide emissions of electric power utilities. At least two Republican senators - Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both of Maine - involved in Tuesday''s meeting with Obama said they would support placing a cap and price on the CO2 emissions of utilities, provided that most or all of the proceeds were rebated to taxpayers. A key sponsor of climate and energy legislation in the Senate, John Kerry (D- Mass), suggested he might be willing to drop his move to place a cap and a price on CO2 emissions throughout the economy in favor of a more limited bill capping the emissions of electric ...

Green schools noticed internationally
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Two of Sudbury''s so- called green schools are getting national and international attention. The Rainbow District School Board announced Walden Public School will be showcased next year at an international conference on sustainability.[...]

Blow, baby, blow
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Plans to build a $50 million wind farm in Currituck will begin by measuring wind speeds, and if the readings are positive, North Carolina may be on the way to having its first wind farm, says a businessman who is taking steps to start the process.

Regulation is holding back green power, says Drax
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Europe''s biggest coal- fired power station is calling for changes to the Government''s renewable energy regulations to enable Drax to convert one of its six coal generators to run on biomass.

Emission cuts threatened by economic recovery
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Britain is not on course to meet its climate change targets for reducing carbon emissions, the Government is bluntly warned today.

'£80 cost' of hidden taxes to combat climate change
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Households are typically being charged more than £80 a year in hidden taxes to help combat the impact of climate change, research suggested today.

Gulf Oil Gusher: Methane, Climate & Dead Zones - Huffington Post - blog
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Christian Science Monitor. Gulf Oil Gusher: Methane, Climate & Dead Zones. Huffington Post (blog) This makes vast releases of methane very powerful "positive feedback" loops that accelerate global warming. Dead zones are large regions of water that are ...Gulf Oil Spill Methane Release and Mass Extinction Events, How Bad Could It Get? The Market Oracleall 18

Benchmarking Air Emissions of the 100 Largest Electric Power Producers in the United States
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
This report ranks the nation''s 100 largest power producers on four pollutants: carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and mercury, all of which are linked to environmental and public health issues.

Blowing away consensus
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Australia''s biggest wind farm lowered our greenhouse gas emissions last year, but still, people don' t like it.

Moynihan, as Nixon aide, warned of global warming
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
YORBA LINDA, Calif. " Documents released Friday by the Nixon Presidential Library show members of President Richard Nixon''s inner circle discussing the possibilities of global warming more than 30 years ago. Adviser Daniel Patrick Moynihan, notable as a Democrat in the administration, urged the administration to initiate a worldwide system of monitoring carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, decades before the issue of global warming came to the public''s attention. There is widespread agreement that carbon dioxide content will rise 25 percent by 2000, Moynihan wrote in a September 1969 memo. "This could increase the average temperature near the earth''s surface by 7 degrees Fahrenheit," he wrote.

Review backs climate panel report
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
A Dutch inquiry into the UN climate science panel backs its main findings, but calls for more transparency.

Harrabin's notes
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The unanswered questions from 'climategate'

BP oil spill costs pass $3bn mark
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has cost BP a total of $3.12bn to date, the company says, up $500m from last week.

U.S. taxpayers paid BP to lease Deepwater Horizon rig - which was incorporated in a foreign country for the purpose of avoiding the U.S. corporate tax - BP's tax deduction was "more than $225,000 a day"
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Transocean, the company that owns the failed Deepwater Horizon rig that caused the Gulf oil spill, used well- known tax havens in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland to lower its U. S. corporate tax rate by almost 15 points. And, as TP reports, due to a break in the U. S. tax code, BP was also allowed to write off the rent it paid to Transocean on its own tax bill, saving it hundreds of thousands of dollars per day: The owner, Transocean, moved its corporate headquarters from Houston to the Cayman Islands in 1999 and then to Switzerland in 2008, maneuvers that also helped it avoid taxes.

The Declaration of Interdependence
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature''s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

John Kerry: Why I won't back down on climate change - "Climate instability and our oil addiction present immediate, direct threats to America's national security."
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
A carbon- pricing plan will decrease our dependence on foreign oil, create American jobs, lower energy bills, and protect our environment. This will be the measure of a real bill, and I' m prepared to fight to get this done, following the strategy Winston Churchill laid out at the outbreak of World War II: 'Never give in, never give in - never, never, never, never.' That''s the rousing final paragraph of a column by the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Foreign Policy, titled, 'Whatever it takes.' Here''s more: Climate instability and our oil addiction present immediate, direct threats to America''s national security.

Obama announces $2 billion investment in solar PV manufacturing and 'the first large-scale solar plant in the U.S. to actually store the energy it generates for later use " even at night.' - "What's more, over 70 percent of the components and products used in construction will be manufactured in the USA"
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
In his weekly radio, the President announced he was putting $2 billion into two solar energy projects, including Concentrated solar thermal with storage (aka solar baseload). CSP remains 'The technology that will save humanity.' And we are seeing more and more plants in various phases of construction (see 'Total of 8500 MW of CSP planned for 2014 in U. S. alone'). The easiest way to deal with the intermittency of the sun is cheap storage - and thermal storage is much cheaper and has a much higher round- trip efficiency than electric storage.

Nuclear power is more unpopular than we're led to believe
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
contribution by Leo New polling sheds some light both on where the public stand in terms of different power options, and on the impact of arguments that make nuclear seem more attractive. The polls are useful for understanding public attitudes towards nuclear power in two ways: they indicate how people regard nuclear at the moment, and they also help show the impact of arguments for nuclear power. At a basic level, nuclear power is currently pretty much the least popular form of power generation in the UK. 1. When asked favourability towards different sources, it comes in at the bottom of the pile " around the same place as both coal and gas.

A crisis of capitalism " in simple animation
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The left should be in the ascendancy following a crisis of capitalism, but it is not. The right is leading for a number of reasons but just one of the problems for the left is that the narratives and explanations it offers tend to be more complicated than those offered by the right. When David Cameron describes the UK''s debt as an overdraft it doesn' t matter that he''s wrong, it is easy to understand. When a Government''s finances are compared to a households it is intelligible to all whereas thinking about the public sector deficit as a mirror image of a private sector surplus seems counter- intuitive.

It's not just BP's oil in the Gulf that threatens world's oceans
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
A sobering new report warns that the oceans face a "fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation" not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major currents that could alter global weather. The report, in Science magazine, brings together dozens of studies that collectively paint a dismal picture of deteriorating ocean health.

The complexity gurus and our margins of safety
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Human societies have long relied on specialists to help in complex matters involving the natural and human- built worlds. Ptolemaic astronomers used what would seem to us moderns as a needlessly complex Earth- centered system to explain the heavens and predict celestial events. And yet, they were amazingly accurate. Complex societies of the past have employed specialists in war, statecraft, engineering, agriculture, shipbuilding, and a variety of other tasks that would be difficult to accomplish without in- depth knowledge. And, yet these specialists typically lived not within societies that were managed along completely rational principles. Instead, the role of religion was far more prominent that it is today and tightly interwoven with the workings of the state.

China to host climate talks before Mexico meeting: report
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will host an extra round of international negotiations in October aimed at fostering agreement over a new climate treaty, the United Nations' top environment official said in remarks published on Monday.

The heat age
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The past 12 months have been the hottest since measurements began, in keeping with trends that have, for the past 35 years, shown global warming unfolding as predicted by science.

Scrubbing CO2 from air could be a long-term commitment
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have said that while scrubbing carbon dioxide from the air could reduce green house effect, the carbon cycle would limit the effectiveness of a

Halting carbon dioxide emissions cannot avert climate change
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
With carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air approaching alarming levels, even halting emissions altogether may not be enough to avert catastrophic climate change. Could scrubbing carbon dioxide from the air be a viable solution?

Death of mesquites raises suspicions
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
DRC/ Barron Ludlum Dead trees line Interstate 35W near Pilot Knob in Denton, on land owned by Fort Worth- based development company Hillwood. The landowner said mesquite trees are being killed off to make way for cattle. Usually, not even a scorching, bone- dry Texas summer can kill a mesquite. The native tree is known for its skill at surviving drought and 100-degree heat. So when groves of them ...

Special Report: Europe finds politics and biofuels don't mix
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The messages are tense angry cajoling.

China Fears Warming Effects of Consumer Wants
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Experts worry that as Chinas 1.3 billion people clamor for more cars and creature comforts, international efforts to limit global warming could be doomed.

Study: Humans altered climate 10,000 years ago
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Forget auto emissions and power plants. Humans may have contributed to climate change more than 10,000 years ago, according to a new study. Climate change - Environment - 8th millennium BC - Activism - Organizations

Nitrogen Pollution Alters Global Change Scenarios From The Ground Up
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Scientists find excess nitrogen favors plants that respond poorly to rising CO2As atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rise, so does the pressure on the plant kingdom. The hope among policymakers, scientists and concerned citizens is that plants will absorb some of the extra CO2 and mitigate the impacts of climate change. For a few decades now, researchers have hypothesized about one major ...

Indonesia's Last Glacier May Provide Climate Clues
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The Papuan glacier region, which lies along the fringe of the world''s warmest ocean, have been called an unexplored "missing link" in climate change patterns. It is this area that generates El Nino disturbances and influences climate from India''s monsoons to the Amazon''s droughts.

Coccolithophore Growth And Calcification Rates A Possible Role For Iron
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Lack of sufficient iron may be a significant factor in controlling massive blooms of Emiliania huxleyi, a globally important species of marine algae or phytoplankton, according to research led by researchers at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton. Emiliania huxleyi is a species of coccolithophore found in oceans all around the world, from the tropics to the Arctic Ocean ...

CSIRO in bed with big coal
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Questions are being raised about the closeness of BHP Billiton and the CSIRO under its chief executive, Megan Clark. A former technology vice- president at BHP, Clark was appointed in 2008 and is regarded as a straight shooter.

Scientists 'must talk to sceptical public'
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
SCIENTISTS NEED to emerge from their ivory towers and communicate the risks of climate change more clearly to an increasingly sceptical public, a conference in Dublin was told yesterday.

Stalemate in Toronto
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
By: John Browne Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital, Inc. Last week, global attention was focused on Toronto as the G-20 gathered to confront the growing financial and economic worries darkening the global economic horizon.

After no measureable rain in June, July may offer relief
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
COLUMBIA - June temperatures were the warmest on average since 1953, according to a University of Missouri climatologist. "You have to go back 57 years to find a warmer June," said Pat Guinan with...

Switching Off Your Lights Has a Bigger Impact Than You Might Think, Says New Study
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Switching off lights could have a much bigger impact on reducing emissions than previously thought.

Water-supply worry
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
FEARS about future water- supply problems in the North- West have been voiced by an Oldham Euro- MP. It follows news that Oldhamers could face a hosepipe ban after water- authority chiefs applied for a drought permit following the driest start to a year since 1929.

Report: Oceans' deteriorating health nearing 'irreversible'
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
WASHINGTON A sobering new report warns that the oceans face a "fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation" not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major currents that could alter global weather.

Energy Needs of China's Consumers Swamping Efficiency Gains
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
China''s fast- growing consumer class is swamping the government''s efforts to cut energy waste.

US climate scientists receive hate mail barrage in wake of UEA scandal
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Vitriolic campaign targets American scientists following leak of climate unit emails. Climate scientists in the US say police inaction has left them defenceless by in the face of a torrent of death threats and hate mail, leaving them fearing for their lives and one to contemplate arming himself with a handgun. The scientists say the threats have increased since the furore over leaked emails from the University of East Anglia began last November, and a sample of the hate mail sent in recent months and seen by the Guardian reveals the scale and vitriolic tone of the abuse. The scientists revealed they have been told to "go gargle razor blades" and have been described as "Nazi climate murderers".

Video: 'Changing consumers into activists is a tough task'
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Video: Author Heather Rogers argues that the market logic of capitalism is undermining the green movement

'Climategate' was 'a game-changer' in science reporting, say climatologists
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
After the hacked emails scandal scientists became 'more upfront, open and explicit about their uncertainties' QA: Fred Pearce on the hacked climate science emails Guardian debate: Was 'climategate' the greatest scandal to hit climate science or a mere storm in a teacup? Join a panel of experts for a live debate in London on 14 July. Science has been changed forever by the so- called "climategate" saga, leading researchers have said ahead of publication of an inquiry into the affair " and mostly it has been changed for the better. This Wednesday sees the publication of the Muir Russell report into the conduct of scientists from the University of East Anglia''s Climatic Research Unit (CRU), whose emails caused a furore in November after they were hacked into and published online. Critics say the emails reveal evasion of freedom of information law, secret deals done during the writing of reports ...

Can I fill up the tank and be green?
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Petrol companies: choosing the best of an oily bunch. Now that we' ve all seen the pelicans smothered in crude oil courtesy of BP''s deepwater drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico " a visceral depiction of the reality of humankind''s addiction to hydrocarbons " the forecourt becomes a moral maze. "Ethical petrol" is an oxymoron of some magnitude. From the small- scale " Esso''s pet tiger Tessa apparently died in a bare concrete enclosure in a shopping mall " to the large- scale, including Exxon. Mobil''s funding of climate- change denial and Total''s links to the Burmese regime, there''s plenty of fuel for criticism.

What We Have Here Is A Failure To Regulate
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Video Credit : Gasland the Movie The ever- vigilant and fair Rowena Mason at the Daily Telegraph dives deep into the Shale Gas (Gas Shale) story with a piece featuring a trailer for the new Gasland film :- [link] finance/ rowenamason/100006602/shale- gas- pollution- fears- leave- americans- with- another- energy- headache/ 'Shale gas pollution fears leave Americans with another energy headache : By Rowena Mason Energy Last updated: June 23rd, 2010 : Still politically scorched from BP''s giant Gulf of Mexico spill, it couldn' t be a worse time for America''s oil giants to find themselves roasting in another environmental firestorm.

Don't Believe The Heat ?
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Don' t believe that the globe is warming up ? Not even after scanning the available sources ? Well, that''s probably down to the failure of your public and private Media, who are, for the most part, seemingly institutionally incapable of telling the full unexpurgated facts :- [link]?p=5505 '19 June 2010 : Contrary to the impression you might have gained from the media, the global climate is NOT cooling. In fact, the last twelve months, June 2009 " May 2010, has been the hottest June- May period on record, in both the 31-year satellite record of lower atmosphere global temperature and the 131-year surface global temperature record.

Fiat Lux, Fiat Solar
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Video Credit : Journeyman Pictures Big green energy news of the month : President Barack Obama of the United States of America has announced direct investment into solar :- [link]2010/07/04/obama- solar- pv- csp/ [link] business/2010/jul/04/obama- hands- solar- firms-2bn Let there be light in the soul, and solar energy in the land. This looks like a tipping point. Let''s flip some more trip switches in our personal networks and get the oil- producing bloc in the Middle East to see the value of going wind and solar (instead of expensive, risky Nuclear) :- [link]591358-qatar- awaits- new- solar- wind- tech- before- investment [link]/www. gizmag. com/ shams-1-concentrated- solar- power- plant/15389/ ...

Russian Heatwave: Hundreds Drown Cooling Off - Sky News
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Sky News. Russian Heatwave: Hundreds Drown Cooling Off. Sky News. As temperatures soared to record-breaking highs, hitting 37C in central regions, sweltering Russians have been throwing themselves into rivers and lakes to cope with the heat.

Heat wave hits China - Straits Times
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
BEIJING - HOT weather, with temperature expected to hit 40 degrees Celsius, continues to scorch many parts of China. At least 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities are sweltering in summer heat, said the National Meteorological Center (NMC) which issued a level yellow heat alert on Monday.

City set to sizzle during heatwave summer - Lancashire Evening Post
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
City set to sizzle during heatwave summer. Lancashire Evening Post. Temperatures are set to soar this summer - with Preston named as one of the hottest places in the UK in July and August. The North West is set to have an ...

Spain Heatwave to Hit 41°C - About - News & Issues - blog
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Spain Heatwave to Hit 41°CAbout - News Issues (blog) The heatwave hitting Europe at the moment is likely to reach 41°C - that''s a massive 106°F! Andalusia, Extremadura and inland areas will be worst hit, ...

World's biggest cake melting in Paris heatwave - Daily Times
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
A towering cake vying to be the world's biggest lasted one day outdoors in Paris, brought down not by ravenous sweets lovers but a sweltering heatwave in the French capital, organisers said. It seems the so-called 'Tour sans Faim' (Tower without Hunger), standing 7.82 metres tall, had to be taken down because it was starting to look more like the leaning Tower of Pisa. A temperature of more than 30 degrees Celsius made the big pastry tower rather soft and unstable.

BRITAIN HEATWAVE SET TO CONTINUE - Daily Star
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
BRITAIN'S heatwave is set to continue with scorching temp-eratures forecast for the rest of July and August.

Holiday Heatwave Sends New Yorkers To The Beach - WCBS-TV New York
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
Holiday Heatwave Sends New Yorkers To The Beach. WCBS- TV New York. It''s been four years since New Yorkers have seen this many days in a row of near 100 degree weather.

A Salon debate on cap-and-trade and energy politics: day three
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
by David Roberts. Last week, I took part in a debate at Salon. com on the merits of pricing carbon (and related matters). My debate opponent was Steve Everley, manager of policy research at American Solutions and a contributing author to To Save America: Stopping Obama''s Secular- Socialist Machine, by Newt Gingrich. Salon has graciously agreed to let us republish the debate here. There will be four installments. You can read Monday''s exchange here; Tuesday''s here. Day three consisted of several rapid- fire back- and- forths, which I kicked off. David Roberts: I found your answer on climate change somewhat unsatisfying.

Who's who in the UEA hacked emails controversy over climate change? - The Guardian
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
The Guardian. Who''s who in the UEA hacked emails controversy over climate change? The Guardian... on climate change, describing them as scientifically dubious and economically ruinous. Founded the Global Warming Policy Foundation in late 2009. ...The climate scandal that never was. New Scientist (blog) all 16

A simple recipe for GHE
Mon Jul 05 18:21:51 2010 EST
According to some recent reports (e. g. Planet. Ark; The Guardian), the public concern about global warming may be declining. It''s not clear whether this is actually true: a poll conducted by researchers at Stanford suggests otherwise. In any case, the science behind climate change has not changed (also see America''s Climate Choices), but there certainly remains a problem in communicating the science to the public. This makes me think that perhaps a new simple mental picture of the situation is needed. We can look at climate models, and they tell us what we can expect, but it is also useful to have an idea of why increased greenhouse gas concentrations result in higher surface temperatures.