Monday, December 31, 2012

climate december 2012

Happy new year with the blisterdata holiday double issue!  : D

Arctic frost flowers photograph Bowman via Colossal
 COP-18 DOHA

Wikipedia entry on Doha climate conference  Dec 12
The information-is-beautiful guide to Doha 
UN FCCC COP-18 Doha page
The Guardian's Doha news page
Animation:
... the history of climate talks in 83 seconds 7 Dec 12
Postmortems:
... German climatologists demand end of COPs 13 Dec 12
...China and US hold the key 12 Dec 12
... COP18 failed to turn down the heat 12 Dec 12
...look on my works ye mighty and despair 11 Dec 12
...2015 will be the moment of truth 10 Dec 12
...only domestic policy works 10 Dec 12
Articles:
After COP, eyes on U.S. for next round 9 Dec 12
Kyoto Protocol extended at Doha talks 9 Dec 12
Doha reaches climate compromise 9 Dec 12
Should the rich compensate the poor over climate? 9 Dec 12
staying below 2 C: the choices we face (graphic) 8 Dec 12
... Climate Action Tracker
EU pushes for Kyoto deal as talks wind down 8 Dec 12
Qatari hosts under fire as talks drag on 7 Dec 12
Germany's lame showing at Doha 6 Dec 12
US envoy's CO2 numbers don't add up 6 Dec 12
... the EIA 2013 report: US 9% cut by 2020
Poland blocks Doha deal 5 Dec 12
UN's Ban Ki-Moon urges climate action 3 Dec 12
S Cooke: why UN climate agreements fail 3 Dec 12 
U.S. challenges China's emissions leniency demand 3 Dec 12
M. Monbiot: Neoliberalism and Doha 3 Dec 12
5+ C temp rise is now in the ballpark 2 Dec 12
Doha talks face multiple challenges 25 Nov 12
Will U.S. take more central role? 24 Nov 12
Obama under pressure to show he is serious  23 Nov 12
EU weakened over new emissions targets 23 Nov 12

QUOTE

Observed emission trends are in line with ... the highest temperature projections in the scenarios, with a mean temperature increase of 4.2-5C in 2100.

The challenge to keep global temperatures below 2 C
G. P. Peters et al., Nature Climate Change Dec 2012, doi:10.1038/nclimate1783

Greenland, which had above-average temperatures for much of the year, recorded its all-time highest May maximum temperature, when temperatures soared to 24.8 C at Ivittuut/Narsasuaq on May 29th.

WMO statement on the state of global climate in 2012
World Meteorolog Org 20 Nov 12 (press release here)

THE WEIRDING WEATHER

Insane 21 C Christmas heat in Munich 24 Dec
Germany record heat predicted for Christmas 23 Dec
West Antarctica warms up twice as fast as expected 23 Dec 12
... Real Climate: the heat is on in West Antarctica 23 Dec 
Record low temps in Russia--minus 57 C 22 Dec 12
Record low temps in Romania, Bulgaria 20 Dec 12
Historic low levels on the Mississippi river 14 Dec 12
2012 probably warmest year on record ever 7 Dec 12
Balmy November virtually assures 2012 to be hottest year 6 Dec
... NOAA State of the Climate Nat'l Overview Nov 12
Hurricane Sandy's sister, typhoon Bopha 7 Dec 12
US drought could be most extreme weather event 2012 5 Dec 12
C. Hedges: Katrina, all over again 3 Dec 12
Bopha most southerly typhoon ever recorded in W-Pacific 3 Dec
UNEP: permafrost thawing across Siberia and Alaska 27 Nov 
Nearly 28 years since last colder-than-average month 16 Nov 12
... more analysis on Grist 16 Nov 12
... the NOAA report 15 Nov 12

FIGURING IT ALL OUT

U.S. 2012's record drought set to continue into 2013 31 Dec
R Solnit 2013 as year zero for Earth and for us 24 Dec
Report: ecosystems in upheaval, biodiversity in collapse 20 Dec
2012 another record-setter, fits climate forecasts 20 Dec
Report: IPCC underestimates climate risks 10 Dec 12
Study: arctic wildfires speed melting of Greenland ice 7 Dec 12
CO2 measurements spike above 400 ppm 6 Dec 12
Development Cooperation Report: call for radical change 4 Dec
Heat-trapping pollution rose by 3 pct last year 2 Dec 12
... the OECD Development Co-operation Report Dec 2012
Explaining extreme events of 2011 from a climate perspective 
... Peterson, T. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 93 (2012): 1041-67
Turn down the heat: why a 4 C warmer world must be avoided
... Schnellnhuber, H./PIK (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2012)

(acidification is now a biological reality for some molluscs)
Oceanography: a sea butterfly flaps its wings
... Ries, J., Nature Geoscience 5 (2012): 845-846
... 'Dissolving' shells portend marine disaster 26 Nov 12
... Rise of acid ocean eats away base of food chain 25 Nov 12

CLIMATE SILENCE AND DENIAL

Poll: climate skeptics swayed by weather, not by science 15 Dec
The GOP's existential crisis 14 Dec 12
Rep adviser doubted Romney win after Hurricane 6 Dec 12
Forecasting denial: why TV weathercasters ignore climate 5 Dec
P. Krugman: Rubio's denial of geology 22 Nov 12
Republican 2016 contenders are all creationists 20 Nov 12
Ten numbers the rich would like fudged 19 Nov 12

MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION

CO2 turns into an industrial resource in Germany 26 Dec 12
US wind industry threatened by fiscal cliff 8 Dec 12
South Florida climate efforts move towards action 7 Dec 12
J Hansen a carbon price must follow 30 Nov 12
Pavegen--kinetic energy from students 29 Nov 12
What Obama must do now for the environment 28 Nov 12
Germany subsidizes low-emission household fridges 23 Nov 12
Laos cricket farms: insect meat boosts food security 4 Nov 12

CIVIL EVOLUTION

Story of the year: it's global warming, stupid 31 Dec 12
Buenos Aires: bicycles no longer mere recreation 30 Dec 12
P Krugman is growth over? 28 Dec 12
China opens world's longest high-speed rail route 26 Dec 12
Canada's Idle No More movement spreads 24 Dec 12
Niko Paech: economist and growth critic 11 Dec 12
J Kunstler homeless 3 Dec 12
The Limits of Growth--forty years later 22 Nov 12

(survey of analytical climate ethics)
"Climate change and ethics"
... T. Hayward, Nature Climate Change 2 (2012): 843-848

(Danish bicycling-is-the-new-cool blog)
Copenhagen Cycle Chic
... what German cities can learn from Copenhagen biking

WELCOME TO THE ANTHROPOCENE

Coal is doomed: death spiral of a once booming industry 27 Nov
M Moore's open letter to Obama  19 Nov 12
J Kunstler on the International Energy Agency report  19 Nov 12
Midwest drought makes Thanksgiving more pricey 19 Nov 12
World Bank climate report says turn down the heat 18 Nov 12

TOP TEN BEST PLACES TO BE BORN IN 2013

1. Switzerland
2. Australia
3. Norway
4. Sweden
5. Denmark
6. Singapore
7. New Zealand
8. Netherlands
9. Canada
10. Hong Kong

The lottery of life: where to be born in 2013
The Economist 21 Nov 12

NEW WORDS (at least to me)

biodiversity offsetting
Big Oil 
Doha gateway 
peak farmland
Robin Hood tax 
kampfradeln (German neologism for "warrior bicycling")