climate april 2011

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

EVENTS

Europe prays for rain in century drought 22.4.
Texas governor R Perry (R) prays for rain 21.4. 
Chicago lowest temps since 1940s 20.4.
US largest tornado outbreak in history 19.4.
China violent storms kill 18 in Guangdong 18.4.
US violent storms kill 44 in the South 17.4.
North Carolina worst hit by extreme storms 17.4., 20.4.
Chicago record-setting snowstorm 17.4.
Mexico massive wildfires in Coahuila 16.4. (pic)
Somalia drought hits villagers and refugees 15.4.
Ark., Okla., Ala. extreme storms 15.4., 17.4.
US Southwest drought grows more severe 14.4.
Cuba suffering from severe drought 14.4.
Colombia flood, mudslide engulfs bus 14.4.
N-Dakota, Minnesota floods 12.4. and 11.4.
Texas drought 'extreme,' 'exceptional' 11.4., 14.4.
Wisconsin record-breaking tornadoes 11.4.
Iowa town ravaged by tornado 10.4.
Germany car accidents due to sand (!) storm 9.4., 8.4.
Oklahoma sees driest four months since 1921 6.4., 6.4.
North Korea lost 50-80 percent of winter crops 3.25.
Syria drought, factor in unrest, worsens 1.4.

TRENDS

the growing food crisis 4.23. 
the growing oil crisis 4.23.
food prices: World Bank warns millions face poverty 14.4.
markets: American faith in capitalism falls sharply 6.4. 
fish stocks: global fish consumption hits record high 1.2.

ATTRIBUTION

Southern Hemisphere more rain b/c of Ozone hole 21.4.
impact of Polar Ozone depletion on subtropical precipitation
Science 21 April 2011: 1202131 (Kang &al.)

AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

fact-check on GOP claims about climate change, EPA 22.4.
NYT editorial: how not to plan for a future 20.4.
income of 400 US oligarchs quadruples in 12 years  18.4.
the new Republican landscape 17.4.
OECD study: US high on prisons, low on pensions 17.4. 
... OECD: Society at a Glance 2011 Social Indicators (click) 
Nature editorial: into ignorance 16.4.
US food quality I: 47% of supermarket meat infected 15.4.
Rep. Crowley (D-NY) 'speechless' about GOP policies 14.4.
US teens, taught by media, look favorably on torture13.4.
high-speed rail budget cut by $1.5 bill; $1 bill left 11.4.
why the US is destroying its education system 11.4.
House of Rep approves Anti-EPA bill despite Senate 8.4.
GOP quarrel over ethanol 7.4.
House of Rep full committee hearing--climate change  31.3.
US food quality II: the "pink slime" meat filler 5.1.

GLOBAL EVOLUTION

UK prosecutor tells convicted protesters to appeal 18.4.
US GHG drop to 15 year low 18.4.
US powershift 2011 17.4.
US climate change case headed to Supreme Court 17.4.
... NYT editorial: the court and global warming 18.4.
California sets nation's highest renewable power goals 12.4.
US powershift 2011 12.4. (official site)
China tells US to quit as human rights judge 10.4.
Latin America shakes off US imperialist yoke 9.4.
Germany: die Aschenbroedel-Wirtschaft 8.4.

MITIGATION

eight railroad innovations 20.4.
Texas Notrees largest wind energy storage system 15.4.
challenges for REDD as forest conservation plan 14.4.
California Ivanpah XL-large solar plant financing now OK 14.4.
shale gas as dirty as oil, coal for warming 12.4.
US GOP EPA ban rejected by Senate Dems 6.4.
UK Royal Society debate geoengineering 4.4.

CLIMATE ESSAYS

A Lowrey the great global freakout of 2011 23.4.
F Drieschner der himmel ueber dem AKW 22.4.
N Chomsky is the world too big to fail? 21.4.
M Morford please step away from fear 20.4.
B McKibben 2011 powershift speech 18.4. 
G Houser: the climate youth will lead (not Al Gore) 17.4.
M Winship: harry potter and the network of neutrality 16.4.
B McKibben: what if your Prez's just not that into you? 15.4.
A Revkin: climate, communication, and the 'Nerd Loop' 14.4.
M Klare: the planet strikes back 14.4.
T Flannery interview with BBC 13.4.
A Gupta: beyond the mantra of a middle class 12.4.
J Sachs the people's budget 8.4.

CLIMATE NEOLOGISM

season creep
from: Wash Post plant's earlier bloom times 8.4.

stuck on stupid
from: Van Jones at powershift 2011 16.4.

WIKILEAKS

secret memos expose war for oil link 19.4.

ANNOUNCEMENT

sixty-eight months left.

climate findings

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

QUOTES

"climate change is a phenomenon that is relevant, in principle, to all research disciplines. (...) And for the first time ... the journal is explicitly set up to include the social sciences within its remit ... to help us to penetrate territory that lies beyond our traditional zones of engagement."

journal launch: welcome Nature Climate Change
editorial 31 March 2011
Nature 471 (2011): 548

"Lenton and Watson's Earth--shaped by life, an escapee of close calls and again on a perilous course in the wake of biological innovation--is a similarly novel depiction.  The Copernican revolution had no direct effect on people's everyday lives, but it ushered in a new era of self-consciousness.  Perceiving Earth as a complex system of co-evolution similarly alters our outlook"

review of Lenton/Watson 2011
Nature 470 (2011): 460-461 (Lucht)

CONSEQUENCES

(2010 Russia drought reduced wheat harvest by 33%) 
regional drought has global impact
Nature 472 (2011): 169 (Sternberg)

(Should Africa prepare for floods or droughts?)
Africa needs climate data to fight disease
Nature 471 (2011): 440-442 (Thompson &al.)

(sea level rise is result of complex causes;
from now on North polar melt surpasses all other drivers)
geophysics: faster ice melt, higher sea levels
Nature 471 (2011): 268 (staff)
... acceleration of the contribution of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets to sea level rise
Geophys. Res. Lett. 38 (2011): L05502 (Rignot &al.)

(black carbon main driver for Himalaya glacier melt)
climate modeling: melting of the Third Pole
Nature 471 (2011): 413 (staff)
... sensitivity studies on the impacts of Tibetan Plateau snowpack pollution on the Asian hydrological cycle and monsoon climate
Atmos. Chem. Phys. 11 (2011): 1929-1948 (Qian &al.) 

(China, largest wheat producer, now imports grain)
China's water crisis needs more than words
Nature 470 (2011): 307 (Yu)

CHANGES

(Q: why cold winters on hot planet? A: upstream cooling)
cold winters from warm oceans
Nature 471 (2011): 584-586 (Boos)
... winter cold of eastern continental boundaries induced by warm ocean waters
Nature 471 (2011): 621-624 (Kaspi, Schneider)

(overall positive climate forcing by black carbon)
global warming: the soot factor
Nature 471 (2011): 456-457 (Quaas)
... see also above, Consequences: Third Pole

(history of American southwest shows hydrological variability)
climate change: old droughts in New Mexico
Nature 470 (2011): 472-472 (Williams)
... extended megadroughts in the southwestern US during Pleistocene interglacials
Nature 470 (2011): 518-521 (Fawcett &al.)

ATTRIBUTION

(global warming => severe cold streaks)
climate change: cold spells in a warm world
Nature 472 (2011): 139 (staff)
...  cold snaps will persist in warming world
yahoo/Live Science/Amazing Planet 13 Apr 2011
... persisting cold extremes under 21st C warming scenarios
Geophys. Res. Lett. (2011) in press (Kodra, Ganguly et al.)

(climate change => more pollen)
more sneezing in a warmer world
Nature 471 (2011): 8 (staff)
... recent warming by latitude associated with increased length of  ragweed pollen season in central North America
PNAS 108 (2011): 4248-4251 (Ziska &al.)

MITIGATION

(forget nukes; wind is just plain better)
government must pay for clean-energy innovation
Nature 472 (2011): 137 (Hoffert)
(... but we'll still need them for a while)
do not phase out nuclear power--yet
Nature 471 (2011): 411 (Ferguson)

(biggest-ever forest protection up in the air)
Canadian forest deal at risk
Nature 471 (2011): 560  (Pala)

(juggling heat & pressure for deep CO2 sequestration)
some implications of cold CO2 injection into deep saline aquifers 
Geophys. Res. Lett. 38 (2011): L06407

(mid-course corrections necessary for REDD)
cash alone will not slow forest carbon emissions
Nature 471 (2011): 267 (White)

(review of T Flannery's Here on Earth 2011;
hoping for a human-Gaia cooperative future)
Earth systems: the biosphere rebooted
Nature 471 (2011): 303-304 (Benton)

(PRC premier Wen announces five year plan; goals:
1. increase energy efficiency
2. curb carbon emissions
3. reduce economic growth)
China unveils green targets
Nature 471 (2011): 149 (Qiu) 
... five year planning: goals for 2015  
Nature 471 (2011): 149 figures
(in retrospect, new five year plan in line with targets)
... China's climate target: is it achievable?
Nature 462 (2009): 550-551 (Qiu)  

GREEN FACTOIDS

(more species = cleaner drinking water)
biodiversity improves water quality through niche partitioning
Nature 472 (2011): 86-89 (Cardinale)

PROGRESS & REGRESS

("Nature" on the American Disenlightenment)
into ignorance (editorial)
Nature 471 (2011): 265-266

(Google fellow Dessler to spread the word--Q&A)
turning point: Andrew Dessler
Nature 471 (2011): 257 (Gewin)

(if you still need proof Lovelock wins: here it is--review of Lenton/Watson "Revolutions that Made the Earth" 2011)
Earth systems: shaped by life
Nature 470 (2011): 460-461 (Lucht; see quote above)

AND THE "JUST WHAT I NEEDED TO READ" AWARD GOES TO:

(first place: methane hydrate release now unstoppable)
rising Arctic Ocean temperatures cause gas hydrate destabilization and ocean acidification
Geophys. Res. Lett. 38 (2011): L08602 (Biastoch &al.)

(second place: the savannah conversion has started)
widespread decline in greenness of Amazonian vegetation due to the 2010 drought
Geophys. Res. Lett. 38 (2011): L07402 (Xu &al.)

climate findings

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

updated 4.4.2011

QUOTE

"Following the failed climate change negotiations in Copenhagen, the prospects for sufficient public concern about climate change and political will to reduce carbon emissions have seemed dim.  However, recent events in Tunisia, Egypt, and other countries have shown, albeit in a very different context, that increases in the perceived effectiveness of individual and collective action can change attitudes and behaviours quickly and dramatically; in this case the willingness of ordinary citizens to rise up against autocratic rulers.  The results reported by Spence and colleagues provide a glimmer of hope that similar 'tipping point' dynamics might exist in the domain of climate change, a prospect that is strengthened by recent evidence that further links flooding to climate change."

Elke U. Weber
psychology: climate change hits home
Nature Climate Change 1 (2011): 25-26 (Weber)

ATTRIBUTION

(the first casualties: Mexico, Mozambique, Vietnam)
casualties of climate change
Scientific American Jan 2011 (Sherbinin &al) 

(no doubts on attributing Aussi/Paki floods)
Forscher geben Menschheit Schuld an Katastrophen
Der Spiegel 17 Feb 2011

(no doubts on attributing 2011 US winter)
going to extremes
Realclimate 17 Feb 2011
extreme winter weather linked to climate change
Common Dreams 2 Mar 2011
human contribution to more-intense precipitation extremes
Nature 470 (2010): 378-381 (Min, Zhang, Zwiers, Hegerl)
anthropogenic GHG contribution to flood risk in the UK
Nature 470 (2011): 382-385 (Pall, Aina &al.)

(probable attributing of current rains, floods)
climate change: human influence on rainfall
Nature 470 (2010): 344-345 (Allan) 

(doubts on attributing 2010 Russian heat)
Russian heat wave was natural
Yahoo/AP 9 Mar 2011
Dole / Hoerling Geophysical Research Letters

(B McKibben asks: are we to blame?)
natural disasters?
The Guardian 2 Apr 2011

MITIGATION

(what's wrong with biofuels)
special report food: plagued by politics
The Economist 24 Feb 2011

(Japan's newest supertrain)
the new high speed Hayabusa
Japan bullet train commercial 5 Mar 2011

(corporate agribusiness is inefficient)
UN: ecofarming feeds the world
Civil Eats 9 Mar 2011
sustainable farming can feed the world?
NYT Opinionator 8 Mar 2011
the 9 billion-people question
The Economist 24 Feb 2011
Agro-Ecology and the Right to Food
UN General Assembly report

(the mitigation fallout from Fukushima)
 nuclear renaissance threatened
Businessweek 13 Mar 2011

(reducing CO2 will create wetter climate)
cutting carbon dioxide helps prevent drying
Carnegie Science  24 Mar 2011
why increase in precipitation in response to less CO2 forcing?
Geophysical Research Letters 38 (2011): L06703
(Cao, Bao, Caldeira) 

(the US is still not getting it)
Barack Obama's on thin green ice
Politico 2 Apr 2011

UNDERSTANDING CONSEQUENCES

(the climate-food link hardens)
foresight: the future of food and farming
The Government Office for Science London 2011
im Wettlauf um Ressourcen
Die Zeit 3 Feb 2011

(US Southwest may become desert -- again)
does the Southwest face a mega-drought?
NYT Green 25 Feb 2011
ancient megadroughts preview climate change future 
Huff Post 28 Feb 2011
extended megadroughts during Pleistocene interglacials
Nature 470 (2011): 518-521 (Fawcett & al)

(1 C rise in temps reduces yields even w/o drought)
climate change & crop yields: one degree over 
Economist 17 Mar 2011
nonlinear heat effects on African maize
Nature Climate Change 1 (2011): 42-45 (Lobell &al)

(faster winds, rougher waves, more rain)
wind speeds increasing over oceans: more rain
Huff Post 25 Mar 2011
global trends in wind speed and wave height
Science 2011 doi: 10.1126/science.1197219

northward creep of vines chokes off ecosystems)
stranglers of the tropics--and beyond
National Science Foundation 25 Mar 2011

UNFOLDING CHANGES

(worst drought in Amazon in 2010)
mass tree deaths prompts fears of tipping point
The Guardian 4 Feb 2011
catastrophic drought in the Amazon
Independent 4 Feb 2011

(as ice is melting, planet is losing its lungs)
extinction event?
Nature bats last 7 Feb 2011 

(worst drought in 60 years in China)
drought imperils China's wheat crop
NYT Green 8 Feb 2011 

(crop yields are growing slower than population)
special report food: how much is enough?
The Economist 24 Feb 2011

(ice melt is becoming main driver of sea level rise)
polar ice loss quickens, raising seas
BBC 9 Mar 2011

PROGRESS & REGRESS

(the 2010 baseline)
global wellbeing index 2011--country rankings
Gallup 10 Dec 2010 

(average American 3x emissions of average Chinese) 
your piece of the keeling curve
NYT Green 24 Dec 2010

(N Chomsky on the American Disenlightenment)
how climate change became a 'liberal hoax'
The Nation 9 Feb 2011

(quantifying the American Disenlightenment)
why don't Americans believe in global warming?
The Economist 8 Feb 2011

(dysfunctional American sprawl)
J H Kunstler: the old American dream is a nightmare
Grist 9 Mar 2011

(climate denial in US school books)
our climate crisis is an education crisis
Rethinking Schools 2 Apr 2011