climate may 2011

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

EVENTS

Singapore hit by flash floods 4.5.
NZ: Auckland hit by tornado 4.5.
Hawaii: twin twisters seen offshore 4.5.
US two EF-5 tornadoes strike on same day 3.5.
UK warmest April for more than 100 years 3.5.
US Texas drought worst since 1895 1.5.
US killer twisters likely among largest, strongest 30.4.
US tornado outbreak death toll hits 337 30.4.
US insurer expect $ 5 billion damage 30.4.
US satellite pic: energy steam roller over America 30.4.
US April '11 four times more twisters than average 29.4.
US Alabama 1,700 injured by tornadoes 29.4.
US historic flooding along Mississippi, Ohio rivers 29.4.
US Alabama twisters spread devastation 28.4.
US Mississippi river flood greatest since 1927 28.4. 
US Red Cross responding to flooding, tornadoes, wildfires across more than half of the United States 27.4. 
US Texas inferno, winds renew extreme fire danger 27.4.
US Texas wildfires rage amidst historic drought 27.4.
US Tuscaloosa hit by EF-5 tornado 27.4.
US severe weather across South could set record 27.4.
US mid-South more twisters, flooding expected 26.4.
US Texas drought remains after spring storms 26.4.
US Missouri levees ready to burst 26.4. ... breached 27.4.
US extremely dangerous tornado situation 26.4.
US Texas multiple tornadoes 25.4. and again 27.4.
US St Louis historic tornado 23.4.
US Missouri/Kansas drought eases with rains 21.4.
UK drought looking increasingly likely 19.4.
Brazil Cerrado savanna clear-cut for farming 15.4.
Cuba faces worst drought for 50 years 14.4.
UK driest March for 50 years 1.4.
China worst drought in 60 years appears to have ended 1.4. 
Syria Red Cross/Red Crescent distribute drinking water 15.3. 
Vietnam hit by drought again, faces water shortage 2.3. 
US 'killer' winter storm seen from space, US blanketed 2.2.

TRENDS

1. sea level rise from Arctic melt now 1.6. meters 4.5.

2. three billion more Asians may be affluent by 2050 4.5.

3. downward trend of the past thirty years continues
cf. April 2011 compared to past years (no permalink)
at Arctic Sea Ice & Analysis 5.4.

4. crop losses feared from US drought 28.4.

5. CO2 rising faster now 11.4.

6. water shortage threaten food future in Mid East 5.4.

7. Amazon shrank by 1.5 mio km2 in 2010 (3.5 x Texas) 7.4.

8. US Ogallala aquifer depletion 5.4.

ATTRIBUTION

climate change will bring extreme precipitation and floods
Scientific American 304 (2011):16 (Biello)

more on tornadoes, floods, climate and risk
NYT Dot Earth 4.5.2011 (Revkin)

what's with the weather? is climate to blame?
e360 Yale 21.4.2011 (Kenward)

water supplies in western US threatened by climate change: interior dept. 4.26.

Himalayan farmers correct that snow cover, water resources, and the ecosystem are changing in their region 4.26.
...local perceptions of climate change validated by scientific evidence in the Himalayas
Biology Letters 2011 doi: 10.1098 (Chaudhary, Bawa)

PERPETRATION

which nations are most responsible for climate change? 4.21.

AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

47 percent of residents of Detroit functionally illiterate 4.5
Sarah Palin defends oil subsidies 4.5.
US climate denial: "whipped up by wind, not climate" 28.4.
Superman renounces US citizenship 27.4.
Florida governor rejects EPA water guidelines 22.4.
can US handle historic wildfires? 18.4.

GLOBAL EVOLUTION

Onandaga Nation blasts 'Geronimo' codename for Bin Laden 4.5.
Latin American Green City index 3.5.
Germany: complete nuclear phase-out doable by 2014 3.5.
Mideast revolts and global warming 26.4.
Obama targets 'climate change deniers in Congress' 21.4.

MITIGATION

Germany: CO2 sequestration pilot project launched 4.5.
major polluters say 2011 climate deal "not doable" 28.4.
tornados in USA: warum so viele Tote? 20.4.
fugitive emissions, the big climate issue of fracking 16.4.

CLIMATE ESSAYS

T Lenton: 2C or not 2C? That is the climate question 4.5.
J Sachs: world is drowning in corporate fraud 3.5.
wie der Umbau der Weltwirtschaft gelingen kann 28.4.
B Knopf: brauchen wir Atomstrom fuer den Klimaschutz? 15.3.

ENERGY NEOLOGISMS

fusion-triggered fission

solar gasoline

quantum photovoltaics

heat engines with shape-memory alloys

shock-wave auto engine

magnetic air conditioner

all from: G P Collins, D Biello, et al, "seven radical energy solutions," Scientific American 304 (May 2011): 38-45 (online subscription required).  The seven solution involve six neologisms.  The seventh proposal (ibid., p. 45) is 'clean coal,' which ain't a neologism; it's an oxymoron.

ANNOUNCEMENT

sixty-seven months left.