climate december 2010

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

EVENTS

Panama: floods cause closing of Panama canal 12.24.
Australia: white Christmas, blast of winter, in mid-summer 12.21.
Colorado: worst avalanche danger in state history 12.22.
California: atmospheric river of rain 12.22.
California: devastation, floods, and mudflows 12.23.
California: rain shatters records, more on the way 12.20.
California: mountains face crushing snowfall 12.19.
US Northeast: brutal cold, record snow 12.15.
Florida: cold damages tropical fish industry 12.14.
US Midwest: giant snowstorm 12.13.Britain: century blizzard 12.16.
Britain: coldest December since records began 12.18.
Britain/France: snow, ice cripple Eurostar 12.18.
Europe: winter paralyzes European travel 12.19.
Venezuela: flood-stricken country gets help from Mexico 12.18.Colombia: record-breaking rainfall paralyzes country 12.16.

TRENDS

freak diversion of jet stream 12.22.
freak blocking pattern over Greenland 12.20.
2010's world gone wild 12.19.more cold and snowy winters to come 11.6.2010 hottest climate year on record, NASA says 12.10.
RealClimate: cold winter in world of warming 12.14.
PIK Potsdam: global warming cools down temps in winter 11.16.
AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

US: Der Spiegel: "Obama was biggest loser of 2010" 12.23.
US: hunger and homelessness stalk US cities 12.20.
US: (scr)AmTrack -- tips on how to survive failing trains
US: 40 percent of Americans still believe in creationism 12.20.
US: gov smear campaign against Michael Moore 12.23.
US: Obama decides to keep KZ Guantanamo open 12.22.
US: P. Krugman: "when zombies win" 12.19.
US: news black-out on vets chained to White House fence 12.18.
US: the religous fight against environmentalism 12.17.
US: rare earth shortages 12.15.
US: Florida stops high speed rail plan 12.15.
US: Fox bureau chief tells reporters be skeptical of climate 12.15.
US: is Karl Rove behind Julian Assange's prosecution? 12.14.US: Joe Bageant: "are you Americans so dumb?" 12.7.
US: top 25 censored news stories 9.15.
US Department of Defense worst polluter on the planet 9.15.
US: prisoners still brutalized at KZ Guantanamo Bay 9.15.

GLOBAL ENLIGHTENMENT

Agence France-Presse: cold driven by global warming 12.22.
China wins on wind power, writes its own rules now 12.15.
B McKibben: everything is negotiable, except with Nature 12.16.Emmanuel Guerin on COP-16 Cancun 12.14.
The Economist: Cancun, a surprising success 12.11.

A LOOK BACK AT 2010

... a US-centric list from Climate Central's top 10 climate events

1. Mid-Atlantic cities break all-time snowfall records
2. flooding in Nashville, Tenn.
3. record-breaking heat waves, droughts in Africa, Middle East
4. Russian heat wave
5. US summer heat waves
6. Pakistan monsoon and flooding
7. third lowest Arctic sea ice extent
8. Lake Mead record low
9. Amazon drought
10. final annual temperature ranking

I would add 11. Mongolia record winter destroys lifestock

... the monthly ticker in Climate Central's top 5 climate events
Jan: fourth warmest January on record
Feb: Snowmageddon hits American Northeast
Mar: end of coldest US winter in 25 years
Mar: end of warmest Canadian winter on record
Apr: record storms strike Miss., Alab., Ark.
Apr: warmest April on record
May: El Nino ends
May: storm Agatha devastates Guatemala
June: extreme heat waves in Africa, Middle East, East Asia
July: La Nina starts
July: Russian heat waves, giant wildfires
July: giant chunk of ice breaks off Petermann glacier Greenland
Aug: freak monsoon, giant floods in Pakistan
Sep: hottest day in LA city's history
Oct: strongest ever storm tropical hurricane hits Great Lakes
Nov: warmest or second warmest November on record

MITIGATION

USA: EPA moves to limit GHG emissions 12.24.

climate findings

A tad early, and it might be wrong, but clearly deserves a post:

"An analysis of average global temperatures through November by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies shows 2010 on pace to become the warmest year since the collection of temperature data began 130 years ago.
NASA previously ranked 2005 as its warmest year ever."

Headlines: December 2010 NASA Earth Observatory 12.10

NASA data table land-ocean temperature index more
New York Times green blog more
USC School for Journalism neon tommy blog more
Washington Post post carbon blog more

Union of Concerned Scientists: drought in Russia, floods in Pakistan and China, high temps in the US consistent with climate change projections. more

INITIAL SPIN

Juan Cole: the media as a security threat to America : the great Pakistani deluge never happened (don't tune in, it's not important) more

Bill McKibben: everything is negotiable, except with nature: you can't bargain about global warming with chemistry and physics more

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

climate november III 2010

--text blogs are at the blistered orb--

EVENTS

Northern Europe: lethally cold weather 12.1. and 12.2.
Germany: snow, ice, record cold in Berlin 12.3.
England: deep freeze 12.5. and 12.9.Scotland: deep freeze 12.6.
Pakistan: floodwaters still remain 12.9. and 12.11.
France: deep freeze 12.9. and record snow 12.9.
Minnesota: record snow collapses metrodome 12.12.

TRENDS

UK MET: crop failures, droughts within our kids' lifetimes 11.30.
UN WMO: scorching heat soon routine 11.30.
UK Tyndall Center: sharpest portrait of future to date 12.2.
UN FAO: food security wanes as world warms 12.5.
UK MET: threat to tropical forests 'greater than suspected' 12.6.

AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

EU: disaster capitalism comes to Ireland 12.1.
US: why Europeans think we're insane 12.1.US: Pelosi climate panel dies in Republican sweep of House 12.1.
US: climate-science critic wants to lead House climate panel 12.1.
US: Arizona cuts Medicaid for organ transplants 12.6.
US: Al Gore's climate group shrinking 12.6.
US: climate skeptics take House chairs on energy, science 12.6.
US: A McCoy: decline and fall of the American empire 12.5.
US/WikiLeaks: at COP-15 Copenhagen US, PRC culprits 12.7.
US: Tom Friedman: still digging 12.7.
US: study: top homebuilders fall short on green features 12.7.
US: economics education largely ignores climate change 12.7.
US: House blocks closing of Gitmo concentration camp 12.8.
US: Europeans criticize fierce US response to leaks 12.9.
US: no high-speed rail funds for states that don't want it 12.9.
US: Republicans block health aid for 9/11 workers 12.10.

DISENLIGHTENMENT HIGHLIGHT

US: Wikileaks reveals how US manipulated climate accord 12.3.

GLOBAL ENLIGHTENMENT

China completes track for world's longest high speed line 11.15.
China Shanghai-Beijing train 417kmh/260mph speed record 12.3.
China 380kmh/236mph Wuhan-Guangzhou train starts 12.4.
Venezuela's Chavez blames capitalism for deluges 12.5.
UN climate change talks in Cancun agree a deal 12.11.
UK: Cameron praises Cancun's new climate deal 12.11.
... and H Rosling's visualized data on world development youtube

MITIGATION

Cancun: scientists call for rationing in developed world 11.30.
India proposes way to monitor carbon pollution reductions 12.3.
Ocean-going ships to get energy efficiency ratings 12.5.
Russia will not renew Kyoto protocol 12.10.
CANCUN PERSPECTIVES

The Economist: facing the consequences 11.25.
The Economist: how to live with climate change 11.25.
Babbage: after climategate and Copenhagen 11.28.
A Revkin: coal trends still rule climate talks 11.29.
Bolivia assails rich, carbon market at Cancun talks 11.30.
Cancun climate change summit: week one in pictures 12.3.T. Athanasiou: the Cancun setup 11.30.
UN assures that rich won't force agreements on poor 12.5.
Der Spiegel: Wut ueber ein unmoralisches Angebot 12.7.
A Goodman: Cancun, climate change, and WikiLeaks 12.8.
M Stephen: countries least responsible are most threatened 12.8.
UK's Huhne: Cancun talks risk becoming car crash 12.9.
L Carlsen: cloistered climate talks 12.10.
Cancun--how Africa's voice has been hijacked 12.10.
Cancun climate change summit: the final day 12.10.M McCarthy: it's chaos in Cancun 12.10.
J Redman: Cancun--can we avert climate chaos? 12.10.
Spiegel: Klimapolitiker feiern Cancun-Kompromiss 12.11.
NYT: climate talks end with modest deal on emissions 12.12.
G Wynn: climate talks might need a profit motive 12.12.
Cancun--a surprising success 12.11.

climate findings

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

Originally I wanted to scan the lit and post about the "bumpy water interview" with D. Stammer (Hamburg) in Der Spiegel (germ., eng.) -- basically, for current-related and gravitational reasons sea level rise will be uneven; which means that the +2 m/+6.5 f rise we can expect IF the southern ice sheets don't slip is the average. There are (constant, not tidal) bulges & valleys on the sea surface. Florida is at a bulge. But then I saw Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, which contains the papers of last year's Four Degrees and Beyond conference at Oxford. [4 C = 7.5 F] This is important stuff.

THE UNFOLDING CHANGES

M G New et al. ed, four degrees and beyond: the potential for a global temp increase of four degrees and its implications
Phil Trans R Soc A vol. 369 (2011)

M New preface
Phil Trans R Soc A 369 (2011): 4-5

(here's an initial pic of what to expect; e.g. Africa's collapse)
M New, D Liverman, et al introduction
Phil Trans R Soc A 369 (2011): 6-19

UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL HEATING

(the +2 C window is now closed, so we might as well get on with it)
K Anderson A Bows beyond 'dangerous' climate change: emission scenarios for a new world
Phil Trans R Soc A 369 (2011): 20-44

(the orb will likely blister in fifty years' time)
R Betts et al when could global warming reach 4 C?
Phil Trans R Soc A 369 (2011): 67-84

(population dominates water stress in a +2 world;
climate dominates water stress in a + 4 world)
F Fung et al water availability in +2 C and +4 C worlds
Phil Trans R Soc A 369 (2011): 117-136

(2 meters--if we're lucky and the ice sheets hold)
R Nichols et al sea-level rise and its possible impacts
Phil Trans R Soc A 369 (2011): 161-181

(we'll be busier than one-armed coat hangers;
we gotta learn to tango with more negative feedback loops)
R Warren the role of interactions in a world implementing adaptation and mitigation solutions to climate change
Phil Trans R Soc A 369 (2011): 217-241

MEANS & ISSUES OF MITIGATION

N Bowerman et al implications for policy
Phil Trans R Soc A 369 (2011): 45-66

CIVIL EVOLUTION

(daunting challenges. severe impacts. urgent research)
P Thornton et al: agriculture in Africa in a 4+ C world
Phil Trans R Soc A 369 (2011): 117-136

(with a section on cognitive responses to uncertainty)
M Stafford Smith et al rethinking adaptation for a 4+ C world
Phil Trans R Soc A 369 (2011): 196-216

(deterministic assumptions don't match empirical evidence)
F Gemenne population displacements in a 4+ C world
Phil Trans R Soc A 369 (2011): 196-216

(global action is not going to stop climate change.
The world needs to look harder at how to live with it.)
[briefings]: facing the consequences--adapting to climate change
The Economist (Nov 27-Dec 3 1010) 85-88

(it won't be stopped but its effects can be made less bad)
[leader]: how to live with climate change
The Economist (Nov 27-Dec 3 1010) 15

NOTE THIS QUOTE

The climategate e-mails led to three inquiries in the United Kingdom. All of them were flawed in different ways. None of them, though, gave credence to the idea that "science and numbers were manipulated."

from Babbage, green view: the shadow of climategate
The Economist online (Nov 28 2010)

CLIMATE NEOLOGISM

"climate pariah"

... as in: "But the US, the world's biggest historical polluter and long isolated as a climate pariah, had something to cling to."
Coined by Damian Carrington in WikiLeaks cables reveal how US manipulated climate accord in The Guardian 12.5.

climate november II 2010

--text blogs are at the blistered orb--

EVENTS

Montana: largest snowfall in one day, 20 in/51 cm 11.21.
South Dakota: storm upon storm 11.21.Planet: GHG attain new record levels, now at 387 ppm 11.24.

TRENDS

climate change means colder winters 11.16.
fear of new food crisis as prices soar 11.18.
expanding coal market in Asia, esp. in China 11.22.
India, China are bying US coal mines shale gas fields 11.18.
AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

USA: Chicago Climate Exchange calls it quits 11.17.
USA: NYT editorial "energy and the lame duck" 11.22.
USA: free market fundamentalism, fascism, and populism 11.15.
USA: Bush still at large 11.16.
USA: the two most abhorrent lies of Bush's memoir 11.22.
USA: the origins of America's intellectual vacuum 11.15.
USA: hiding from reality 11.19.
USA: military casualities in Iraqistan now 500,000+ 11.18.
USA: tea partiers, Ayn Rand, and scam artists 11.21.
USA: Obama's limo hog stands out at green NATO summit 11.19.
USA: cover-up of BP contamination of FL beaches 11.8.
USA: CBS funnels disinformation about gas reserves 11.15.
GLOBAL ENLIGHTENMENT

China admits it is world's biggest climate sinner 11.23. & 11.24.Canadian public completely at odds with gov't over climate 11.19.
Japan reconsidering no growth economies (essay by S Hill) 11.20.
MITIGATION

National Academy of Science climate stabilization targets 2010
US offshore windpower permits will be expedited 11.23.New York to get bike share 11.22.
Mexico: Cancun COP-16 and its challenges 11.28.
Cancun, climate summit host and example of threats 11.28.

ESSAYS 'N' STUFF

Wangari Maathai: Cancun must be about more than climate 11.26.
Vincent di Stefano: on the eve of Cancun 11.26.
Brendan Smith: fighting doom: the new climate politics 11.23.
Dimitry Orlov: but what is 'community'? 11.21.
Armond Cohen: a cleantech revolution in four easy steps 11.17.
Michael Moore: don't be lame duck dems: letter to congress 11.16.

Johann Hari: is it "Gaia"? Or rather "Medea"? 11.26.
... and check out:
J B Foster et al The Ecological Rift: Capitalism's War on Earth

CLIMATE NEOLOGISM

"Eco-Ayatollah"

... as in: "I rather expect the eco-ayatollahs to take a dim view of all my travels lately."
Coined by Jim Kunstler in where the black swan dwells 11.29.


... off-subject, but makes the eco-ayatollah Mad Hun happy (from BBC): Roger Penrose agrees with Kant on cyclic universe 27.11.

climate november I 2010

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

EVENTS

Amazon: drought deepens 11.12.

Florida: first case of Dengue fever arrives 11.11.

Thailand: severe flooding has left 181 people dead 11.10.
Haiti: hurricane Tomas triggers floods 11.7.

Vietnam: severe flooding has left 159 people dead 11.4.

Germany: a month's rainfall in one day 11.13.

Malaysia: clean-up begins after historic flooding 11.8.

TRENDS

last remaining pristine corals are in remote Pacific 11.12.
climate scientists plan campaigns against skeptics 11.8.

UN report warns of threat to progress from climate change 11.5.

PRC report warns climate change hurting China's crops 11.5.

AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

USA: Obama to boost natural gas development 11.12.

USA: Rep Shimkus (R-IL): God denies climate change 11.12.

USA: Rep Shimkus could lead House environ policy 11.13.

USA: GOP climate deniers vie to run Energy Committee 11.5.

USA: Rep Sensenbrenner (R-WI): let's put Climate Com on ice 11.8.

USA: most radical capitalism of all times is last hope 11.11.USA: states to draft their own climate plans since feds don't 11.8.
USA: Europe ponders US election results 11.14.

USA: a recipe for fascism 11.8.

USA: the 13 dumbest things Americans believe 11.13.

USA: America, land of the free to be stupid 11.6.

USA: America is now officially for sale 11.5.

USA: 50% of new Congressmen deny climate change 11.4.

GLOBAL ENLIGHTENMENT

Cancun COP16 climate talks -- Q & A 11.8.
For Cancun, activists consider the long view 11.12.

International Climate Court plan gains momentum 11.12.

350Earth: can art save the climate? 11.12.

China: update on the one-child policy 11.2.

MITIGATION

Malaysia: green motorcycles set to make debut 11.12.
UN climate panel calls for carbon & transport taxes 11.5.

ESSAYS 'n' STUFF

Ted Rall yes I can 11.12.

Joseph Stiglitz the rich make their own laws 11.7.

James Galbraith how conservatives abandoned free market link
blast from the past: Dan Froomkin Bush ends with a whimper

Germany's ex-gov speaker Heye declares Bush a retard 11.10.

.

climate findings

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

Lots of new work, e.g. Environ Res Letters, Geophys Res Letters, PNAS etc., is about the how-to of measurement. I didn't link to this. Nature has an interesting research cluster on city adaptation. The Tamino blog has good posts on the death spiral of the arctic ice. Geology has items on methane clathrates; one on how typhoons roiling the waters can unzip the deposits, another on how massively/abruptly the deposits, once unzipped, would let go. Coincidence? Science has items on the Eocene heatspike (+ 6 C degrees) and new docu of its correlation with CO2. Nice work, but I don't understand why this makes headlines (e.g. Sci Am), let alone why this gets published in 2010. 1950 would've make more sense, no? Do we need more proof? Or is this just disenlightenment zeigeist, whereby the obvious needs to be shown time and again?

THE UNFOLDING CHANGES

(evaporation up 1982-1997; soil moisture down 1998-2008)
M Jung recent decline in the global land evapotranspiration trend
Nature 467 (2010): 951-954

(additional warming of at least 5-6 C likely)
various climate change evidence from the geological record
Geological Society (London) conference statement Nov 2010
... press: Earth will take 100,000 years to recover 2 Nov 10

(three excellent posts by Tamino on the arctic melt)
G Foster history of arctic sea ice (part 1) Open Mind Oct 16
G Foster can we talk? Open Mind Oct 28
G Foster how likely? Open Mind Nov 3

(Nagoya, no Copenhagen, got work done!)
[staff] world gets 2020 vision for conservation 2 Nov 10
Nature 468 (2010): 14
[staff] geoengineering faces ban 2 Nov 10
Nature 468 (2010): 13-14
[staff] welcome and unexpected progress
Science 330 (2010): 742-743
... various global diversity outlook 3 UNEP (May 2010)
... 2 C global warming too high for diversity Die Zeit

(how to do science in the disenlightenment)
S Lewis how to beat the media in the climate street fight
Nature 468 (2010) online doi 10.1038/468007a

UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL HEATING

(when seafloor CH4 lets go, it does so abruptly)
N Bangs et al massive methane release triggered by erosion
Geology 38 (2010): 1019-1022

(I sure hope CH4 deposits are elsewhere when this happens!)
K Rogers et al mass failures, tropical cyclone, submarine canyons
Geology 38 (2010): 1051-1054

(learning more about the PT extinction: nasty causal cascades )
T Algeo et al anomalous sediment fluxes and bio consequences
Geology 38 (2010): 1023-1026

(proof of high CO2 when it was hot--who'd have guessed?)
P Pearson increased atmospheric CO2 in mid-eocene
Science 330 (2010): 763-764

(ditto)
P Bijl mid-eocene atmo CO2 and temperature variations
Science 330 (2010): 819-821

(summary of the OMG! CO2-climate link by Sci Am)
[staff] CO2 triggered a global warming event 40 mya
Scientific American Nov 4

[staff] Brazil's climate modellers are set to go global
Nature 468 (2010): 20

MEANS & ISSUES OF MITIGATION

(water-starved communities plant fog-harvesting forests)
G Vince out of the mist
Science 330 (2010): 750-751

(financial incentives alone won't fuel urban adaptation)
R Buckley climate economics: hot in the city
critical review of M Kahn Climatopolis (Basic Books 2010)
Nature 467 (2010): 915-916

(environmental review details 'unacceptable' impacts)
[staff] mountaintop minding plans close to defeat
Nature 467 (2010): 1021

(water management research must focus on urban areas)
[editorial] save our cities
Nature 467 (2010): 883-884

(scientists must help mayors to prepare for a warming world)
C Rosenzweig et al cities lead the way in climate action
Nature 467 (2010): 909-911

(it's time for a holistic science of society & environment)
L Bettencourt/G West a unified theory of urban living
Nature 467 (2010): 912-913

(truly green buildings: how skyscrapers could trap CO2)
R Armstrong / N Spiller synthetic biology: living quarters
Nature 467 (2010): 916-918

(new ranching techniques could shave 7% off agri GHGs)
P Thornton/M Herrero reduced livestock emissions in tropics
PNAS 107 (45: 2010) doi 10.1073/pnas.o912890107

CIVIL EVOLUTION

(kids learn to interact better in public)
C Saulter why public transit is good for kids Grist 1 Nov 2010

(how to reduce farmers' vulnerability to climate impacts)
FAO launches website on climate-smart agriculture
UN FAO newsfeed 4 Nov 2010

climate october II 2010

The biweekly event updates are getting too long; so I'm going to split the updates into two separate posts, one on what's happening (see below), another on news from the scientific frontlines (coming next week).
Text posts, as usual, are at the blistered orb.
Cheers! Mad Hun out.

EVENTS

Thailand hit by worst floods in decades 10.30.
Bangkok prepares for flood as waters rise 10.25.
Chicago mega-storm close to all-time record 10.26.
US Midwest and South battered by hurricane-like storm 10.27.
US Midwest and South mega-storm continues ... 10.28.
Amazon drought deepens to worst in decades 10.26.
Hurricane Tomas 10.30.Hurricane Richard 10.27.
Arctic melt now judged to be irreversible 10.22.
Arctic's new normal: change 10.21.
Arctic continues to warm at unprecedented levels (NOAA) 10.21.
Arctic sea ice decline now impacts mid-latitudes weather 10.21.
US Northwest, Southwest winter extremes now predicted 10.21.
Seychelles-Philippines worst coral death strikes in SE Asia 10.20.

TRENDS -- NAGOYA 2010
UN meeting aims to set species-saving goals 10.17.
'key time' to solve nature crisis 10.17.
more species slide to extinction 10.26.
chilling reality of Globe's biodiversity 10.27.
global extinction crisis looms, new study says 10.26.
drought could overtake much of world by 2030 10.19.
drought may threaten much of globe within decades 10.19.the new economy: water-driven? 10.28.
emerging economies most vulnerable to climate change 10.21.

GULF SPILL AFTERMATH

BP dispersants causing sickness 10.27.
Gulf of Mexico health grade has been lowered 10.19.
don't eat Gulf of Mexico shrimp 10.20.
AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

USA: high-speed rail goes off the tracks in Wisconsin 10.29.
USA: climate change doubt is Tea Party article of faith 10.20.
USA: making ignorance chic 10.19.
USA: how radical Christians may destroy democracy 10.15.
USA: killing innocents for 'made-up crap' 10.18.
USA: Texas oil pumps cash into California climate fight 10.25.USA: the corrosion of the federal water system 10.26.

GLOBAL ENLIGHTENMENT

Japan: carbon mapping done at Nagoya 2010 10.18. and here
Germany: drastic cuts to downsize military 10.26.
MITIGATION

Venezuela set to built nuclear power plant 10.15.
Great Britain introduces (implicit) carbon tax 10.22.
Japan: calls for moratorium on climate geoengineering 10.26.
Navajo nation: to shift from coal to wind and sun 10.26.
California plans largest solar project in the world 10.26.
Germany extends nuclear plant licences 10.28.

ESSAYS

M Barlow only fundamental change can save us 10.17.
S F Hayward American energy policy at a standstill 10.13.
R Nader ten questions for Tea Partiers 10.22.
T McNally why Germany has it so good--
--and why America is going down the drain 10.14.

climate october I 2010

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

GIST

Scanning the science lit for this update turned my stomach.
All the research suggests we've been way too optimistic so far.
The stupid Americans We have unleashed a monster.

CLIMATE EVENTS

Pakistan hungry children face uncertain future after flood 10.14.
South Korea heavy rain makes kimchee harvest fail 10.12.
Papua flash floods kill many; Indonesia denies fault 10.12.Atlantic hurricane Paula 10.12.
Bolivia threatened by aridity and erosion 10.7.
New Zealand hit by worst spring storm in living memory 10.5.
CLIMATE TRENDS

global oil demand forecast stronger than expected 10.13.
time to find a second Earth, WWF says 10.12.
soaring prices threaten new global food crisis 10.8.
CLIMATE POLICY

US Pentagon to go green because it has to 10.13.
China: as talks wind down, time running out for action 10.12.
US how gov missed chance to deal with climate change 10.11.
World: Global Work Party 10/10/10 day of climate action 10.10.
UN: climate deal is closer, despite US & China 10.9.China calls US 'a pig in the mirror' on climate change 10.9.
China: civil society finds a voice in climate talks 10.8.
China & US blamed as climate talks stall 10.8.
US Senate is to blame for US climate bill's demise 10.6.
US military orders less dependence on fossil fuels 10.5.
US how Obama lost climate change 10.5.
UN: Cancun failure would make further talks irrelevant 10.4.
China: climate talks open in Tianjin 10.4.
UN climate chief Figueres urges to find common ground 10.4.
CLIMATE MITIGATION

Germany's energy research plan 10.15.
China wins praise for quickly growing green reputation 10.15.
South Korea unveils huge clean energy investment plan 10.13.
US allows higher ethanol content in gasoline 10.13.
Europe to surpass Kyoto emissions target 10.13.
Europe on track for goals but emissions from imports rise 10.13.
China's wind power capacity to grow five-fold by 2020 10.13.
World: green tech -- the most beautiful projects 10.12.
Taiwan plans large solar plant in Pingdong county 10.11.
US White House to go solar (1 house down, 100 mio to go) 10.5.
US rail service expansion imperiled at state level 10.4.

CLIMATE SCIENCE

... Aging, urbanization will increase GHG emissions 10.13.
... Population shifts substantially influence emissions 10.12.
(without reducing procreation civilization will be screwed)
B O'Neill global demographic trends and future carbon emissions
Proceedings of the Nat'l Ac of Science 107 (2010): 17521-17525

(putting the US military to more rational use)
N Gronewold Pakistani relief efforts exercise for more disasters
Scientific American climatewire 15 Oct 2010

(thermocline is moving up due to climate change)
... Coral reveal climate change's impact on ocean 10.12. & here
B Williams, forthcoming (pre-publication press release above)
Geophysical Research Letters, in press

... Sun's role in warming the planet may be overestimated 10.6.
... Solar spectral stumper (RealClimate) 10.7.
J Haigh solar spectral variations and radiative forcing
Nature 467 (2010): 696-699

(first worldwide synthesis model--80 % of world pop at risk)
C Vorosmarty global threats to water security and river diversity
Nature 467 (2010): 551-561 (30 Sep 2010)

(current models are underestimating climate change effects)
N Gillett accounting for carbon cycle feedbacks
Envir Res Lett 5 (2010) 034011

(limits of prediction suggest we may be in for a nasty surprise)
P Ditlevsen tipping points: early warning and wishful thinking
Geophysical Res Lett 37 (2010) L19703

(acidification may lead to different evolutionary pathways)
Y Wu seawater acidification affects marine diatom
Biogeosciences 7 (2010): 2915-1923

(WTF? -- climate change may collapse volcano cones)
K Ravilious a warming world could leave cities flattened
New Scientist Oct 2010: 2782

(nice account of how & why CO2 is so central to climate forcing)
(... PS: even 350 ppm may be too high; 300 ppm suggested here)
A Lacis atmospheric CO2: principal control knob governing temp
Science 330 (2010): 356-359

... and last but not least:
UN IPCC discusses methodology reform in S Korea 10.11.

NOTES ON THE AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

Feds ask Americans to prep for effects of climate change 10.14.
Decade-long effort to pass climate law is dead 10.14.
Gulf drilling moratorium is over 10.13.
Democrats distance themselves from climate plan 10.12.
How did an entire party decide to reject climate science? 10.10.
Ayn Rand conservativism at work 10.4.
US climatologists continue to be harassed 10.4.
high-risk energy boom sweeps across North America 9.30.

"eine Gesellschaft zerfaellt" J Sachs 10.14.
"standing up against the oil lobby" A Gore 10.12.
"lessons of the Obama debacle" W Bello 10.12.
"fear and favor" P Krugman 10.3.
"how the future will judge our moral failings" K Appiah 10.3.

CLIMATE BOOK REVIEW

M Mastrandrea Preparing for Climate Change (MIT Press 2010)

CLIMATE QUOTES

About the US Republican Party:

Indeed, it is difficult to identify another major political party in any democracy as thoroughly dismissive of climate science as is the GOP here. Eileen Claussen, president of the PEW Center on Global Climate Change, says that although other parties may contain pockets of climate skepticism, there is "no partly-wide view like this anywhere in the world that I am aware of."

Steve Benen, Alternet, 10.10.


.

climate september II 2010

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

GIST

Returning to the blog after the summer recess left me with the distinct impression that climate change has shifted to second gear. As of this month, the Mad Hun thinks climate change has entered runaway mode.

CLIMATE EVENTS

UK less rain & wind reduces renewable energy production 9.30.
Arctic ice now lowest volume since rise of civilization 9.20.
Arctic tundra caribou herds in steep decline 9.23.
Ecuadorian glaciers in full retreat; farmers go green 9.23.
Central America deluged by tropical storm Matthew 9.25.
Southern California reports highest temps ever 9.27.
Southern California's heat followed by spectacular storms 9.30.Mexico flood, landslide leaves hundreds dead 9.29.Jamaica deluged by tropical storm Nicole 9.29.
Germany flood breakes dikes 9.30.

TRENDS

2010 global temps on track to set new record 9.20.
Realclimate: warmer and warmer 9.13.

GULF OIL

(current estimate is 4.4 mil barrels of oil were spilled)
T Crone magnitude of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil leak
Science doi 10.1126/science.1195840 9.23.

BP says Gulf oil spill costs hit 11.2. bln dollars 10.1.
fifty percent of spilled oil remains in Gulf 9.28.
deepwater horizon well finally killed 9.24.
gulf oil spill: bacteria ate the gas, not the oil 9.16.
deep plumes could cause dead zones in Gulf AGU
Gulf oil spill research, news, and policy Science

CLIMATE SCIENCE

(generic indicators for systems collapse become visible: close to t-points systems become very slow in recovering from pertubations)
M Scheffer complex systems: foreseeing tipping points
Nature 467 (2010) 411-412

(what psychology can teach us about responding to CC) 23.9.
B Newell the psychology of global warming: improving the fit
Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 91 (2010): 1003-1014

report highlights two-way link b/w ozone layer & climate change 9.16.... WMO/UNEP scientific assessement of ozone depletion UN 9.16.2010

glaciers may have soggier bottoms than thought 9.29.

CLIMATE POLICY

China hosts first-ever climate talks 10.2.
China/Greece to set up center to cut maritime carbon emissions 10.2.
EU-Asian summit calls for binding climate deal 10.1.US Missouri windfarm is too controversial for Republicans 10.1.
Mideast Bin Laden may be using climate to bolster image 10.1.
US Republican governor candidates all deny global warming too 9.27.
Rwanda implements adaptation plan; relocating communities 9.17.US Republican Senate candidates all deny global warming 9.16.
Insurance co's call for more action to adapt developing world 9.6.
CLIMATE MITIGATION

A Robock benefits, risks, and costs of stratospheric geoengineering
Geophysical Research Letters 36 doi 10.1029/2009GL039209

C Ferguson a US nuclear future?
Nature 467 (2010) 391-393

The Economist special forests and how to save them
The Economist 23 Sep 2010

G A Ban-Weiss geoengineering as an optimization problem
Environmental Research Letters 5 (2010) 34009

P Rasch technical fixes and climate change
Environmental Research Letters 5 (2010) 031001

NOTES ON THE AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

J Valenti who stole (US) feminism? 9.29.
DailyKos on climate, it's the Republican vs. reality 9.26.
D Green the dismantling of civilized society 9.25.
P Krugman downhill with the GOP 9.23.
E Spitzer the GOP's new strategy 9.23.
T Engelhard American decline--the future's not ours 9.21.
D Orlov the future is rated "B" 9.13.

NOTES ON GLOBAL ENLIGHTENMENT

Canada gives most $$$ ever to poor countries to deal with climate 10.1.
Denmark: wind will fuel fossil-free nation by 2050 9.29.
Germany: how to evolve to a 2000 Watt republic 9.23.
... present daily per capita energy use in USA is 12 k watt
... at present, daily per capita energy use in Germany is 6 k watt
... by 2050, global daily per capita use should be no more 2 k watt
... Swiss Institute for the 2000 watt society german / french
... Fachstelle 2000 watt gesellschaft steps toward sustainability

CLIMATE ESSAYS

S Brand my plan B for climate change (interview) 10.2.
J Kerry climate undermines progress on development 9.21.
G Monbiot the short happy life of climate change enlightenment 9.20.
R Parry America's decoupling from reality 9.17.


CLIMATE QUOTES

"the federal government is way behind on efforts to develop effective strategies to adapt to a changing climate."
report: US needs national strategy for adapting to warmer climes
Science 9.29.
The National Climate Adaptation Summit report is here.

"The planet on which our civilization evolved no longer exists. The stability that produced it has vanished; epic changes have begun."
Bill McKibben Eaarth 2010

climate september I 2010

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

CLIMATE EVENTS

Alaska: walrus herds flee inland from melting ice floes 9.17., also here
New York: tornadoes rip through NYC 9.17. and 9.18.
Mexico: hurricane Karl makes landfall 9.17.
Montana: September snow surprise 9.17.
Pakistan: dreadful problems in the wake of flood 9.16.Atlantic: hurricane Julia 9.16.
Atlantic: hurricane Karl 9.16.
Arctic: summer sea ice minimum reached, worse than last year 9.15.Atlantic: hurricane Igor 9.14.
Atlantic: tropical storm Karl 9.14.Colorado: most destructive fire in state history 9.9.
Texas: tornadoes and floods 9.9.Guatemala: torrential rains and lethal mudslides 9.6.
Atlantic: tropical storm/hurricane Hermine 9.6.Southern California: low temperature records 9.1.

TRENDS

US women more likely to accept climate science than men 9.15.
GULF OIL
... Alabama says BP denies its claim over oil spill 9.17.
... whistleblowers sue to find out why admin lowballed BP spill 9.16.
... five months after blowout, Macondo well being sealed 9.15.
... fish are dying at Louisiana coast 9.15.
... 'vanished' oil is piling up in the deep 9.14.
... oil industry lowballs bird deaths 9.7. (about Alberta oil shale)
... missing oil found on Gulf sea floor (UGA gulf oil blog) 9.5.
... Louisiana beaches and health problems 9.3.... another oil rig platform explodes in the Gulf 9.2.

CLIMATE SCIENCE

(keeping CO2 below 450 ppm needs 30 TW of clean energy)
M Hoffert farewell to fossil fuels?
Science 329 (2010): 1292-1294

(extraordinary efforts needed to keep emissions from rising)
S Davis future CO2 emissions and climate change
Science 329 (2010): 1330-1333

(failure to act brings world closer to disaster)
J Sachs the deepening crisis
Scientific American 303 (2010) issue 3 (September): 32

(climate change could reduce China's harvests by a fifth)
S Piao impacts of climate change on water and agriculture in China
Nature 467 (2010): 43-51
... see also big risks to China at daily grist 9.1.

(the first decade of extreme weather)
S Rahmsdorf das Jahrzehnt der Wetterextreme at klimalounge 9.1.

(arctic sea ice extent minimum lower than in 2009)
JAXA data of sea ice extent for September 15, 2010
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
... see also Tamino's death spiral at open mind 9.14.
... see also D Notz eisiger Rueckgang at klimalounge 7.2.

(new measures confirms Greenland/Antarctica ice loss trend)
D Bromwich sea-level rise: ice-sheet uncertainty
Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 596-597

(new data show old Greenland/Antarctica ice loss estimates too high)
X Wu estimation of glacial isostatic adjustment
Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 642-646
... see also slash estimate of icecap loss at yahoo 9.8.
... see also thinning of Greenland ice at treehugger (video)

(new data show overall arctic ice loss estimates too low)
D Asendorpf Eis in Arktis schmilzt schneller als befuerchtet
Die Zeit 9.14.

(interview w R Gerdes, Alfred-Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven)
D Asendorpf Morsches Eis am Nordpol
Die Zeit 9.15.

(humans up, nature down ... for now)
D Biello if the world is going to hell, why are humans doing so well?
Scientific American 9.1.
... see also C Raudsepp-Hearne the environmentalist's paradox
BioScience 60 (2010): 576-589

(why the corporate media love 'climatologist' Bjorn Lomborg)
H Friel the Lomborg deception
common dreams 9.1.

CLIMATE POLICY

US climate bill doomed this year 9.11.
China sustains blunt 'you first' message on CO2 9.2.US fails to implement deep drilling ban 9.1.IPCC's Pachauri continues to be hounded by corporate press 9.1.
IPCC's Pachauri cleared of financial misdealings 8.26.

CLIMATE MITIGATION

China and US plan clean energy research collaboration 9.16.
China pushes for clean energy 9.15.
Europe in the midst of wind energy boom 9.9.
Iran speed freight rail planned as overland link to China 9.7.
Greenpeace's occupation of Arctic rig 9.1.

CLIMATE PHILOSOPHY

Martin Schönfeld, "Metaphysics of Sustainability: Kant's Categorical Imperative," in Jack Lee, ed., Sustainability and the Quality of Life (Stanford/Palo Alto: Ria University Press, 2010), 1-18

AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT / CLIMATE DENIAL

now ALL (!) Republican Senate candidates deny global warming 9.16.
poverty soaring, income gap increasing 9.16.
new-look GOP makes Bush look liberal 9.15.
C. Horner, "Recycling the Big Green Lie," at Breitbart 9.13.
Barack Obama says no to solar panels on White House 9.10. and 9.16.takeover of GOP by Serious Money moves into second stage 9.9.
US plans 150,000 miles roads ... and 4,000 miles rails 9.6.
more Americans are climate denialists in 2010 than in 2008 9.1.

CLIMATE ESSAYS

R Steinzor a year of regulatory disasters 9.16.
B McKibben notes on the White House enthusiasm gap 9.16.
D Brooks the gospel of wealth 9.7.
A Huffington America's infrastructure in need of extreme makeover 9.6.
J Confino how buddhism could be a way out of the mess we're in 9.2.
S Brown oil addiction and identity 8. 30.

CLIMATE NEOLOGISM

epistemic closure (J Sanchez)
the bottleneck century (K Cobb)

BEST CALL FOR ACTION

S Banerjee letter to young Americans 9.10.

CLIMATE QUOTES

"Without collective awakening the catastrophe will come."
Thich Nhat Hanh The Guardian 9.2.

"While the dynamic interaction between humans and climate is not new, the scale of the interaction has reached unprecedented proportions."
Earth Institute, Columbia University, front page of web site

"While American Republicans were turning climate change into a wedge issue, the Chinese Communists were turning it into a work issue."
Thomas Friedman, "Aren't We Clever?," NYT 9.18.


.

Climate august 2010

-- text posts are at the blistered orb --

CLIMATE EVENTS
England experiences exceptionally dry summer 8.31.
Pacific hot spells shifting as predicted 8.29.
Caribbean hurricane Earl is approaching 8.28.
Louisiana hurricane Katrina five year memorial service 8.28.
... The Big Uneasy--Harry Shearer's new film
Bolivia antarctic cold snap empties Bolivian rivers of fish 8.27.
Russia fires cost 300 billion $ in forest loss 8.27.Pakistan flood catastrophe aftermath 8.27.
China mudslides obliterate city district (photo) 8.20.World rising temps reduce plant ability to absorb carbon 8.20.
Arctic sea ice melting 2010: day 229 8.19.
Southeast Asia unprecedented coral bleaching underway 7.29.
Japan summer heat wave blamed for 66 deaths 7.27.
Ireland summer droughts to become the norm 7.1.Ireland hottest summer in 130 years 6.25.
Florida MRSA can be caught at the beach 2.13.

GAIA TRENDS

we've gone into the ecological red on August 21 8.23.
diseases you can catch in the warming oceans 8.22.
food crisis: the foundation is crumbling 8.19.
agricultural economist warns of new food crisis 8.19.
giant ocean garbage patches: currently not growing 8.20.
global warming is driving lizards to extinction 5.13.
GULF OIL

... engineers to remove temporary cap over well 8.27.
... after outcry, oil data inches into the open 8.20.
... BP struggles to swap out blowout preventer 8.19.
...giant plume of droplets 'missed' by official account 8.19.
... Gulf oil plume is not breaking down fast 8.19.
... we have yet to come face to face with biggest cost of spill 8.17.
... how badly have we screwed up the Gulf ecosystem? 8.5.
CLIMATE SCIENCE

(bad news--another positive feedback loop found:
the hotter it gets, the less CO2 gets fixed by plants)
M Zhao reduction in terrestrial net primary production 2000-2009
Science 329 (2010): 940-943

(warmer ocean temps plus shifting currents equal dead zones)
V Gewin oceanography: dead in the water
Nature 466 (2010): 812-814

(sea water pH to drop close to the pH of distilled water by 2100)
D Bernie influence of mitigation policy on ocean acidification
Geophysical Research Letters 37 (2010) L15704
...see also geoscience: ocean acid control Nature 466 (2010) 905

(gulf oil will spread into northwest atlantic within six months)
M Maltrud long-term fate of oil from Deepwater Horizon incident
Environmental Research Letters 5 (2010) 035301

(New Orleans's 'recovery' is a harbinger of how climate change
will drive a thicker wedge between the haves and the have-nots)
J Mutter disasters widen the rich-poor gap
Nature 466 (2010): 1042

(for the first time we can quantify future climate refugees)
D Biello climate change may mean more Mexican immigration
Scientific American July (2010)
...see also
S Feng climate change, crop yields, and Mexico-US migration
Proceedings of the Nat'l Academy of Sciences 107 (2010) 14257-62

(annual data sets with summaries, just published)
NOAA state of the climate in 2009
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 91 (2010)
... the data portal is here... the upshot (ch 2, p. 29):
... ... 2009 transition from La Nina to El Nino dominated anomalies
... ... 2009 ranked in the top 10 warmest years globally
... ... 2009 about 0.1 C warmer than 2008
... ... 2009 is 19th consecutive year that glaciers have lost mass

(reefs are reeling from extensive bleaching in Indian Ocean/SE Asia)
D Normile hard summer for corals kindles fears for survival of reefs
Science 329 (2010): 1001

(late Eocene research suggests Antarctic ice shield may not hold)
S Peters large-scale glaciation and deglaciation of Antarctica
Geology 38 (2010): 723-726

climate skeptic B Lomborg now warns of climate change 8.31.
toxic pollutants linked to tar sands mining 8.30.
RealClimate science update 8.20.

CLIMATE POLICY

UN IPCC chair Pachauri urged to step down 8.31.
UN review finds flaws in Climate Panel structure 8.30.
US climate bill dies in Senate 8.30.Mongolian cabinet meets in desert, to call attention to climate 8.29.
Germany wants to extend nuclear power 10-15 years 8.29.
US wants China and India to drill for "clean" shale gas 8.27.
China builds base to drill for deep-sea methane clathrates 8.27.
Australia's politicians have failed its people on climate change 8.25.
CLIMATE MITIGATION

Greenpeace 'shuts down' Arctic oil rig 8.31.
US nuclear industry takes new path for new plants 8.31.
New York City biking boom (and backlash) 8.30.
UN cap-and-trade is beginning to raise concerns 8.29.
US levees, dams, rails are deteriorating 8.28.
deep-freezing coral cells, for re-breeding after climate change 8.19.

CLIMATE PHILOSOPHY

New Scientist interviews S Zizek on Living in End Times 8.31.
R Irwin, ed. Climate and Philosophy (London: Continuum, 2010)

CLIMATE DENIERS / AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

US fed housing finance agency opposes home-greening program 8.27.
Texas opposes federal global warming 'power grab' 8.25.
US: building a nation of know-nothings 8.25.

CLIMATE ESSAYS
D Biello 'gray literature': how much IPCC reform is needed? 8.30.
N Oreskes/E Conway climate deniers--merchants of doubt 8.25.
T Homer-Dixon disaster at the top of the world 8.22.
R Edroso right-wingers and Ayn Rand 8.20.
K. Harrington energy machismo vs. solar panels 8.20.
E Kain why to invest in high-speed rail in the US 8.20.
B Moench criminal neglect of future generations 8.19.
T Goeghegan why you'd be healthier and wealthier in Germany 8.17.
B McKibben hot as hell & not going to take it anymore 8.5.
A Smith / A Flores disaster politics 7.15.

CLIMATE TEXT REVIEWS

Julian Cribb The Coming Famine
Mori Art Museum Rethinking the Japanese Perception of Nature

BEST GLOBAL WARMING QUOTE

Global average surface temperatures during the last three decades have been progressively warmer than all earlier decades, making 2000-2009 (the 2000s) the warmest decade in the instrumental record.
NOAA state of the climate 2009 ch 2 p 29

BEST CIVIL EVOLUTION NEWS

report says public transportation makes you skinny 8.20.


.