blister data

climate findings

2012-02-05T13:47:00.000-08:00

R. Jaiser, K. Dethloff, D. Handorf, A. Rinke, and J. Cohen have found out how global warming causes colder winters.

Their "Impact of sea ice cover changes on the Northern Hemisphere atmospheric winter circulation" is now in Tellus A 64 (2012): 11595. The abstract is here. The full text is here.

Here are excerpts, with the gist in parentheses:

"The observed decrease in Arctic summer sea ice cover over recent decades is likely due to a combination ofdecadalscale variability in the coupled ice-ocean-atmosphere-land system and radiative greenhouse gas forcing ... [others] analysed the Arcticsea ice cover changes in the Fourth IPCC Assessment Report model simulations and demonstrated that the observed sea ice retreat is much faster than in the model mean. Their results suggest that Arctic sea ice influences the formation ofmid-latitude teleconnection patterns and especially the NAO mode." (p.1-2)

(... which means that the ice melts because of our emissions plus the usual climate wave over the arctic,which is in the warm phase, so it's double trouble; that the melt seen by 2011 is faster than the melt we thought in 2007 we would see; and that there's a link between polar ice melt and weather down south.)

"We study the connection between atmospheric planetary waves and baroclinic cyclonic systems inwinter, both influenced by Arctic heat anomalies in autumn following low sea ice concentrations and their impact on large-scale circulation changes. [Colleagues] found atemperature amplification above the surface and concluded that changes inmeridional atmospheric heat transport may be an important driver for the recent Arctic temperature amplification. By diagnosing the non-linear connections between the Arctic sea icecover, planetary waves and synoptic storm tracks during winter, the influence of sea ice concentration changes onatmospheric circulation changes has been identified." (p.3)

(... others measured that arctic temps are getting more extreme and blamed heat arriving from down south. We looked at the polar melt, the long-term seesaw, and storms, and saw that polar melt informs winter weather.)

"For our sensitivity studies, we selected two consecutive winter periods 1990-2000 and 2001-2010. The first 11-year period, 1990-2000, is chosen as a time slice withsignificantly larger sea ice concentration in the preceding late summer (with a mean value in the Siberian domain of0.57), referred to as the high ice phase. The second 10-year period, 2001-2010, represents less sea ice concentration (mean value of 0.45), referred to as the low ice phase." (p.3)

(... we looked at the winter weather over the past two decades; the difference between the 1990s and the 2000s is that now there's far less ice up north than there used to be.)

"A maximum covariance analysis (MCA; von Storch and Zwiers, 1999, see Appendix for details) is used todescribe the relation between the fields of averaged August/September sea ice concentration and mean sea level pressure or 500 hPa geopotential heights in the consecutive autumn or winter over the whole time period 1989_2010. The results of this analysis method are pairs of patterns andassociated time series for each climatic field, which are coupled through a maximised co-variance of their associated time series. The figures show the pairs of patterns that are expected to occur simultaneously." (p.3)

(... and we found a pattern.)

"The winter 500 hPa geopotential differences between low and high ice concentration ... exhibit pronounced changes over high and middle latitudes. The lower/higher values of geopotential heights over the Arctic Ocean are associated with higher/lower sea ice concentration during the analysed period. In contrast, positive/negativegeopotential anomalies are observed over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans during the high/low ice phase. Similar changes in the mean sea level pressure fields between both periodsare shown in Fig. 2b consistent with the more frequent occurrence of negative AO pattern in the later period." (p.3)

(... which is this: lows in the arctic happen when there's more ice, arctic highs happen when there's less ice. So now there are more high pressure zones in the arctic air because of the melt. When there's more ice, there are more highs down south, and when there's less ice, there are more lows down south. BTW: "hPa" is hectopascal, which measures air pressure. And "geopotential height" refers to how high in altitude some air pressure level is, as measured from mean sea level up.)

"Comparing both figures, a decrease in atmospheric stability during the low iceperiod is visible. The difference plot ... shows thisreduction in the middle and lower troposphere in autumn continuing until December. Eady growth rates are larger in autumn compared to winter as seen ... Furthermore, they are increased in the low ice period ... This is partly due to decreased atmospheric stability andtherefore baroclinicity rises in the later period. [Another figure] showsthis increase beginning in late September continuing toNovember. Meridional baroclinic heat fluxes are enhanced around the beginning of October ... Additional oceanic heat uptake during summer is rapidly returned to the atmosphere during the following autumn. This heat release to the atmosphere in autumn is connected to an earlier onset of baroclinic instability because of static stability andEady growth rate changes during the low ice phase. Low sea ice concentration is associated with higher temperatures in the lower troposphere in the polar region (658_808 N) peaking at 758 N (indicated by a negative correlation). The temperature increase … reducesthe vertical static stability of the lower Arctic atmosphere. ... the Arctic atmosphere remembers the summer sea ice concentration reduction through a warming and de-stabilisation of the lower troposphere. The positive correlation betweenvertical static stability and sea ice concentration in theSiberian domain ... demonstrates that reduced verticalstability is connected with less sea ice concentration. Because the onset of baroclinic instability is proportional to the strength of the vertical static stability of the atmosphere,reduced stability leads to an earlier onset of unstablebaroclinic systems in the Arctic troposphere. To examine the impacton baroclinic systems in more detail, we plot ... the correlation between winter Eady growth rate and late summer sea ice concentration in the Siberian domain. The effect of the changed meridional temperature gradient dominates. The correlation indicates an enhancedbaroclinicity north of 758 N in winter for less sea ice in summer, whereas the Eady growth rate between 608 and 708 N is decreased. This may indicate a shift in the occurrence of storms and cyclones to the north. [Colleagues] analysed the JRA-25 atmospheric dataset and detected a shift towards stronger and more frequently occurring cyclones in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic." (p.5-6)

(... as the polar melt goes on, the atmosphere up there gets unruly, which is worst in fall. In the summer the ice-less arctic ocean soaks up heat, and as soon as it gets cold in fall, the ocean radiates this heat back into the atmosphere. The less summer ice there is to reflect heat back during summer, the more heat is being soaked up, and the more of this soaked-up heat radiates when fall temps drop, the sooner the fall atmosphere gets unruly. When winter comes, there are then more storms.)

"[The concluding para of the penultimate section:] We showed that the initial response of the atmosphere to reduced sea ice concentration in late summer isbaroclinic in autumn, which changes to barotropic in winter and triggers changes in the large-scale planetary wave trains over the Pacific. These findings are supported by Honda et al. (2009) who demonstrated in an atmosphere-only model that zonally propagating cold atmospheric anomalies from Europe to the Far East in late winter are correlated with the Arctic sea ice cover decrease in the preceding summer-to-autumn seasons." (p.9)

(The winter storms up north bring cold weather down south.)

And the conclusion:

"We showed that Arctic heating anomalies due to low seaice concentrations in late summer (August/September) trigger changes in baroclinic systems in autumn because of an earlier onset of baroclinic instability that influencesthe structure of large-scale planetary waves in the following

winter. The baroclinic structure of the direct responsein autumn is linked to different patterns of pressureanomalies at the surface and in the mid-troposphere, which arerelated to the decrease in sea ice concentration. Decreasedstatic stability and changed meridional temperature gradients

induce an earlier onset of baroclinicity north of 758 N with greater amplitude. Winter heat fluxes on baroclinic scales are increased in the whole Arctic troposphere, whereas a non-linear adjustment leads to decreased heat fluxes associated with planetary waves. Arctic EP fluxes due to planetary waves during winter are enhanced between 700 and 200 hPa in the latitudinal belt north of 658 N during the low sea icephase. The barotropic structure of the atmospheric response in winter is connected to similar patterns of pressureanomalies at the surface and the mid-troposphere. The pattern over the North Atlantic relates the sea ice decline inlate summer to a negative NAO phase in winter. The barotropic pattern over the Pacific due to changes in Arctic sea ice concentration is connected to a distinguished planetary wave train over the region. These results deliver a dynamical background forunderstanding the role of Arctic sea ice decline on the Arctic temperature amplification and its impact on mid-latitudes contributing to the recent shift to the negative NAO phase.The reduced sea ice concentration at the end of the Arctic summer has the potential to change thelargescale circulation in the following winter that could feed back on the sea ice concentration. This sea ice_atmosphere relationship suggests a potential for use in operational Northern Hemisphere seasonal forecasts. Sea ice cover loss has the potential to preferentially shift theprobability density function of the AO/NAO to the negative phase, in agreement with the investigations by Overland and Wang (2010). The results of the present study showed the large influence of enhanced baroclinicity on planetary waves similarto the connection between snow cover anomalies and the large-scale atmospheric circulation as shown by Cohen et al. (2007). Further investigation is needed to examine the impact of enhanced baroclinic systems on snow anomalies in the Siberian region. It is plausiblethat both processes are closely related." (p.9-10)

Jaiser et al refer to Honda (2009); the research is Honda, M., Inoue, J. and Yamane, S. 2009. Influence of low Arctic sea-ice minima on anomalously cold Eurasian winters. Geophys.

Res. Lett. 36, L08707.

They also refer to Francis (2009); the research is Francis, J. A., Chan, W., Leathers, D. J., Miller, J. R.and Veron, D. E. 2009. Winter Northern Hemisphere weather patterns remember summer Arctic sea-ice extent. Geophys. Res. Lett.36, L07503.

I didn't see Jaiser et al. talking much about Petoukov/Semenov (2010)'s awesome paper, but the bibliography includes it: Petoukhov, V. and Semenov, V. A. 2010. A link betweenreduced Barents-Kara sea ice and cold winter extremes over northern continents. J. Geophys. Res. 115, D21111. An earlier blistered orb post on that particular paper is here.

climate scholarship

2012-01-29T19:16:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in the Jan 15 blistered orb post, the research annual Osiris published an issue with the title klima. This journal deals with the history of science, and its most recent 2011 issue, volume 27, concerns scholarly aspects of the investigation of climate. The front flap of Osiris says that the volumes in this series 'are designed to dissolve boundaries between history and the history of science' and that they 'cast science in the framework of larger issues prominent in the historical discipline but infrequently treated in the history of science, such as the development of civil society, urbanization, and the evolution of international affairs.' In the introduction, the issue editors write, 'we have named this volume klima. This terse but dynamic moniker fits the tone of the contributions, which revive a multivocal and inclusive understanding of a venerable but elusive term. We seek to decouple klima from its current exclusive association with atmospheric sciences and revisit the implications of an ancient vocabulary for medical, geographical, agricultural, economic, racial, and other 'endemic' concerns. If climate is not just about the weather, what is it? What does it seek to explain? When is climate invoked? By whom? For what purposes? How are other 'key words' linked with it, such as culture, society, civilization, time and change? In what ways is climate a proxy for other concerns such as regulation, industry, and identity? When is it not an explanation at all? Where is climate incarnated? And how does it matter?'

introduction: revisiting klima
James R Fleming & Vladimir Jankovic
27 (2011): 1-15

(section: natural laboratories)

Humboldtian science, Creole meteorology, and the discovery of human-caused climate change in South America
Gregory T Cushman
27 (2011): 19-44

imperial climatographies from Tyrol to Turkestan
Deborah R Coen
27 (2011): 45-65

the anxieties of a science diplomat: field coproduction of climate knowledge and the rise of fall of Hans Ahlmann's 'Polar Warming'
Sverker Soerlin
27 (2011): 66-88

diagnosing the dry: historical case notes from Southwest Western Australia, 1945-2007
Ruth A Morgan
7 (2011): 89-108

(section: social contexts)

the letter from Dublin: climate change, colonialism, and the Royal Society in the seventeenth century
Brant Vogel
7 (2011): 111-128

inventing Caribbean climates: how science, medicine, and tourism changed tropical weather from deadly to healthy
Mark Carey
7 (2011): 129-141

reculturing and particularizing climate discourses: weather, identity, and the work of Gordon Manley
Georgina Endfield
7 (2011): 142-162

(section: international to global)

concentrating on the CO2: the Scandinavian and Arctic measurements
Maria Bohn
7 (2011): 165-179

melting empires? climate change and politics in Antarctica since the International Geophysical Year
Adrian Howkins
7 (2011): 180-197

the politics of atmospheric sciences: 'nuclear winter' and global climate change
Matthias Doerris
7 (2011): 198-223

optimal climate change: economics and climate science policy histories (from heuristic to normative)
Samuel Randalls
7 (2011): 224-242

(section: climate redux)

reducing the future to climate: a story of climate determinism and reductionism
Mike Hulme
7 (2011): 245-266

climate philosophy

2012-01-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

These are the articles that appeared in Journal of Global Ethics 7 (2011), special issue "Climate Ethics." An expanded edition, as a book, is in the works, with essays on African wisdom and Arctic perspectives. I have no legit hyperlinks (sorry). The intro is excerpted below. An oddity about this issue is that 'climate ethics' seemed alright as a title when I put the collection together, but it strikes me now as a misnomer. If climate ethics is what critics say--a technical application of analytic approaches meaningful in an Anglo-American domain--then what we are doing is not climate ethics!
Call it 'climate philosophy'.

Plan B: global ethics on climate change

Martin Schönfeld

7 (2011): 129-136

climate, imagination, Kant, and situational awareness

Michael Thompson

7 (2011): 137-148

moral progress and Canada's climate failure

Byron Williston

7 (2011): 149-160

climate change and philosophy in Latin America

Ernesto O. Hernandez

7 (2011): 161-172

Watsuji Tetsuro, Fudo, and climate change

Bruce B. Janz

7 (2011): 173-184

climate change and the ecological intelligence of Confucius

Shih-yu Kuo

7 (2011): 185-194

a Daoist response to climate change

Chen Xia, Martin Schönfeld

7 (2011): 195-204

justice, negative GHIs, and the consumption of farmed animal products

Jan Deckers

7 (2011): 205-216

Excerpt from my introduction (pp. 129-136)

"(p. 129) If we are not careful, climate change may trigger the greatest catastrophe in the history of civilization. Climate change is not a future danger anymore. The processes are well underway, and a destabilization of the Earth system has begun. This lends vital urgency to the question that is at the heart of ethics: what should we do? Philosophy is the rational investigation of existence in the world, but the world is different now from the one our ancestors inhabited. The difference concerns not so much the obvious phenomena one associates with modernity, such as urbanization, industry, and technology, because all of them, in various ways, have shaped the world already for centuries. The real and radical difference, between our generation and all the ones in the past, is the collective arrival at the limit of existing in the world. The world is our oikos or house; we have filled this ecological house over time, and now the house is full. Reaching such limits is an experience bygone cultures knew as well, but only in localized form. This is the first time in all of history that global civilization without exception – the sum-total of humankind – arrives at this juncture.
"... (p. 133) The new reality of climate change informs virtually all phenomena on the list of environmental problems, plus spawning entire new orders of hitherto unknown troubles of its own. From the traditional vantage point of environmental ethics, it also affects whoever has moral standing in some form, whether these are people, future generations, apes, animals, plants, biotic systems, or Aldo Leopold’s integrity of the land. Climate change, through its diverse facets, manifold risks, and multiple dimensions, is an integrative reality. It puts all the traditional problems in a new place. It arises as the salient context for all of them. Thus, it is not an entry on the list; it is the new paper the old items are written on. To put it baldly, it is the list. Because being-in-the-world has arrived at the fork, everything is now different. As an academic aside, it is perhaps worth noting that environmental ethics is now obsolete. The sum-total of its subject-matter currently integrates in the existential context of climate change. Thus, climate ethics is its rightful heir. From a philosophical look at the fork, all empirical trends point to the same conceptual conclusion: taking the right path – the path of sustainability, mitigation, and resilience – requires civilization to put as much distance as possible between itself and the paradigm whose implementation unleashed the climate crisis. The question of where we stand at the fork is also a question about location relative to the paradigm.
"... (p. 134) This topic issue of Journal of Global Ethics is based on the assumption that conventional modes of thought are bankrupt. It is difficult to believe that the normative perspectives and conceptual tools that contributed to the climate crisis in the first place, such as discounting against the future, cost-benefit analysis, and other utilitarian market devices, will be capable of providing us with a solution. Put differently, I doubt that ‘Plan A’ is going to work. A continued deliberation of market tools and utilitarian devices may not lead very far. What is worse, it appears that the prevailing mentalities of philosophical convention are not going to be of great use either. Philosophy, in the past century, split into postmodern thought and analytic philosophy. These two camps, despite their obvious differences, share the common ground of skepticism. Skepticism is inappropriate and irresponsible in the face of absolute limits. Postmodernity emphasizes culture over nature, (p. 135) deconstruction over structure, and interpretation over lawfulness. Such emphasis, it appears, makes things worse, as postmodern approaches are easily appropriated by climate deniers for corporate gain. Analyticity stresses the breakdown of information, the isolation of data, and the separation of events from context. This appears wrong-headed and obsolete, because climate change asks philosophers to do the precise opposite: the reconciliation of information, the understanding of data, and the integration of events in context.
Analysis is not needed now; synthesis is."

climate ethics

2012-01-01T10:18:00.000-08:00

These are the articles that appeared in The Monist 94 (2011), special issue "Morality and Climate Change," edited by Simon Caney (Oxford) and Derek Bell (Newcastle), pp. 305-452. The links are to pdfs at the USF library; apologies if they may be iffy off-campus. The intro is excerpted below.

morality and climate change
Simon Caney, Derek Bell
94 (2011): 305-309

climate change refugees, compensation, and rectification
Avner de Shalit
94 (2011): 310-328

can the maximin principle serve as a basis for climate change policy?
Greg Bognar
94 (2011): 329-348

climate change and individual responsibility
Avram Hiller
94 (2011): 349-368

nonrenewable resources and the inevitability of outcomes
Benjamin Hale
94 (2011): 369-390

global climate justice, historic emissions, and excusable ignorance
Derek Bell
94 (2011): 391-411

climatic justice and the fair distribution of atmospheric burdens: a conjunctive account
Edward Page
94 (2011): 412-432

a right to sustainable development
Darrel Moellendorf
94 (2011): 433-452

Excerpt from Caney's introduction (p 305-309):

"Climate change poses many ethical issues. One important normative question concerns how we evaluate the impacts of climate change. Should we be concerned only with its impact on human beings? What about its effects on nonhuman animals and on the world itself? Do these have independent moral value? Furthermore, when we are considering its impacts on human beings there are a number of different ethical criteria one might appeal to. One might, for example, focus on its effects on utility or well-being considered more broadly, or its effects on the realization of human rights (Caney 2009), or on some other criterion. ... Any normative appraisal of how to respond to the prospect of climate change requires more than an account of what criteria should be employed to evaluate climatic impacts. Another highly important question arises from the fact that there is considerable uncertainty about the magnitude of the likely changes to the earth’s climate and their corresponding effects on people’s lives. ... This raises the question: how should humanity respond to the risks and uncertainties involved?... (p.306) In addition to the two questions considered so far, a third important question (or rather set of questions) concerns the resulting moral responsibilities to act. One can distinguish between (at least) two questions here. First, what kinds of entities have moral responsibilities to act? It is commonly assumed that states have a responsibility to act but what about individuals? Or corporations? What role, if any, should international institutions (such as theWTO or IMF orWorld Bank or EU) play? A second question is: how should the burden of combating climate change be distributed? What distributive principle should be adopted? ... (p. 307) As noted above, any adequate account of the responsibilities to address climate change must address not simply what kinds of entities are the relevant duty bearers but also how duties should be distributed among duty bearers. ... As noted above, one principle invoked by Page and others is that those responsible for bringing about climate change should pay. One issue that arises here concerns what responsibilities we should ascribe in cases where people emitted greenhouse gases but were excusably ignorant of their role in bringing about dangerous climate change. ... (p. 308) The issue of how to distribute burdens connects to another fundamental issue—namely, what is the relationship between burden sharing and enabling the least developed countries to develop? ... (p. 309) These, then, are the questions explored by the papers in this issue. There are, of course, many other questions—including, for example, What principle of intergenerational equity should be applied? Is it appropriate, as many economists have argued, to adopt a positive social discount rate? How should the right to emit greenhouse gases be distributed? What moral issues, if any, are raised by the measures suggested to deal with climate change—measures such as emissions trading, geo-engineering, population control, and nuclear energy? There is increasing interest in climate ethics (Gardiner, Caney, Jamieson, and Shue 2010). Our hope is that the essays included here help stimulate further reflection on the moral challenges raised by climate change."

climate events

2011-12-15T10:07:00.000-08:00

The COP-17 Durban Edition

US student led away by security after heckling the official US Negotiator

QUOTES

I am speaking on behalf of the United States of America because my negotiators cannot.

... A Borah (Middlebury College) interrupting US Negotiator on 8 Dec to wide applause from the crowd

Todd D. Stern, the Obama administration's special envoy was put on the defensive by a narrative developing here that the United States opposed any further action to address global climate disruption until after 2020.

... J Broder in the New York Times, 8 Dec 2011

We are going backwards here.

... Bobby Peek, Friends of the Earth, Durban 7 Dec 2011

Greenpeace, WWF, Oxfam, and the International Trades Union Congress have adopted a joint position demanding that the U.S. stand aside and let those who are willing to move ahead in saving lives, habitats and economies -- in agreeing to a climate saving deal. Here in Durban, the U.S. is once again trying to kill off the global climate talks by eviscerating the midsummit draft agreement. On Saturday, the U.S. axed a whole section of the draft agreement that would have offered real protection to those who are being hardest and fastest hit by global warming. During the talks the U.S. is fond of insisting that they want to be involved, but at the same time makes derailing demands and announces commitments that barely survive the plane trip home.

... Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International, 7 Dec 2011

MORE TAKES

B McKibben the most important news story DK 12 Dec 11
M Alt in the wake of Durban HP 10 Dec 2011
Leahy looking for a climate champion TV 7 Dec 2011
M Moore the winter of our occupation CD 7 Dec 2011
K Naidoo US obstructionism is hurting climate HP 7 Dec
B Ki-moon l'avenir de la planète est en jeu NObs 6 Dec
D Roberts the brutal logic of climate change Grist 5 Dec
C Hedges where were you? TD 5 Dec 2011
T Friedman this is a big deal NYT 3 Dec 2011
J Gooddell the big lie in the Durban talks RS 1 Dec 11
D Tutu climate justice PS 30 Nov 2011

EVENTS & NEWS

Durban beschliesst neuen Klimavertrag 12 Dec 2011
Durban wraps up with modest accomplishments 11 Dec
die klimaretter haben sich verrannt 11 Dec 2011
Durban on the edge 10 Dec 2011
marathon continues, negotiators don't give up 10 Dec 2011
climate conference in chaos 10 Dec 2011
new deal tabled at talks after rebellion 9 Dec 2011
father of climate change: 2C limit is not enough 8 Dec 2011
US college student shames US delegation in Durban 8 Dec 11
US called 'immoral' at UN Climate Conference 7 Dec 2011
J Inhofe (R) claims Durban talks are being ignored 7 Dec 11
Durban threatens to fail because of money 7 Dec 2011
J Huntsman (R): science 'not enough' for US action 6 Dec 11
thousands protest in Durban for climate justice 3 Dec 11
Holland: wohnen in Ebbe- & Flut-Haeusern 1 Dec 2011
US: "decisions at Durban mean nothing" 1 Dec 2011
US citizens subject to indefinite military detention 1Dec
EU proposes a new Green Fund 30 Nov 2011
the climate Trojan horse to abolish capitalism 27 Nov 11
EU wants a new climate deal for 2015 29 Nov 2011

DURBAN-RELATED FEATURES

women's rights leaders accept Nobel Peace Prize 11 Dec
China's path to climate-friendly superpower 7 Dec 11
T Dickinson the GOP's crackpot agenda 7 Dec 2011
German pirates party votes for basic income 3 Dec 2011
Canada may miss $ 7 bill carbon bill by exiting Kyoto 2 Dec
Bhutan has gross happiness product; 40.9% are happy 2 Dec
climate change threatens food security NObs 1 Dec 11
F Pearce the triumph of king coal e360 31 Oct 11

OTHER CLIMATE EVENTS

Chile glacier melts at record speed 8 Dec 2011
French glaciers have lost quarter of area in 40 yrs 6 Dec
Wale profitieren von neuer Waerme in Arktis 2 Dec 11
German autobahn to be covered with public park 30 Nov
Ocean acidification kills Northwest oysters 21 Nov

FINDINGS

three-quarters of climate change is man-made Nature

NEOLOGISM

Klimagerechtigkeit / justice climatique / climate justice

bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen /
renta básica universal /
renda básica de cidadania /
allocation universelle /
basic income guarantee /

TOTALLY UNRELATED SLUSH

Mika explains Avatar youtube

climate events

2011-11-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

--text posts are at the blisteredorb--


Delhi slum dwellers wait for hours in line at privately owned water tap (Nat Geo)

EVENTS

Thailand PMs want to abandon capital 15 Nov 2011
UK false spring: plants fooled into flowering 12 Nov 2011
US delays Keystone XL pipeline decision 11 Nov 2011
Alaska coast battered by hurricane 10 Nov 2011
Alaska coast prepares for storm surge 9 Nov 2011
Thailand flood deaths top 500 6 Nov 2011
Thailand flood cripples hard-drive suppliers 6 Nov 2011
New England record damage from snow storm 4 Nov 2011
World: biggest jump ever in GHG emissions 4 Nov 2011
... 2010 GHG increase six percent over 2009
... higher than worst case scenario
France oysters dying 4 Nov 2011
New England schools use up snow days pre winter 2 Nov
Cambodia floods affect over 1 million 2 Nov
New York record pre-Halloween snow storm 30 Oct 11
Thai gov decides to rip up Bangkok's streets 28 Oct 2011
Italy: flash floods, mudslides in Tuscany 27 Oct 2011
Thai floods reach northern Bangkok 24 Oct 2011
Thai government decides to flood Bangkok 20 Oct 11
Thailand: record flood in Bangkok 16 Oct 2011
Texas wildfires destroy state park 12 Oct 2011
SE Asia floods kill hundreds 10 Oct 2011

TRENDS

why is it so hard to stop climate change? 9 Nov 2011
climate health costs projected to be enormous 7 Nov 2011
looming water scarcity Spiegel 3 Nov 2011
breaking a long silence on population control 31 Oct 2011
world at 7 billion: Q&A with Ban Ki-Moon Time 26 Oct 11
Chinese researchers see dramatic glacier loss Spiegel 25 Oct
'the water is rising tour' sinking island nations Kos 25 Oct
economic protests sweep the Globe 15 Oct 2011
rising temps devastate forests worldwide 1 Oct 2011
... changing forests NYT interactive 30 Sep 2011

ATTRIBUTION, PRE COP-17

panel charts extreme weather in warming world 18 Nov
science panel: get ready for extreme weather 18 Nov 2011
global warming toll on extreme weather Time 18 Nov 11
N. Klein "capitalism vs. the climate" Nation 9 Nov 2011

COMMENTED ON BLISTERED ORB

B. Walsh "the victim of overpopulation" Time 26 Oct 11
OECD social justice "bottom of the heap" NYT 29 Oct 2011

COP-17 BLOG

The road to Durban The Guardian since Nov 2011

CIVIL EVOLUTION

J Sachs "the new progressive movement" NYT 13 Nov 2011
M Taibbi "learning to love the OWS protest s" RS 11 Nov 11
W Myers "social psychosis & sanity" CD 10 Nov 2011
D Suzuki "occupy--for our grandchildren" CD 10 Nov 2011
J Stiglitz "the globalization of protest" CD 7 Nov 2011
S King "time for the wealthy to pay their fair share" TP 7 Nov
J Habermas scolds predatory capitalism Spiegel 7 Nov 2011
P Krugman "here comes the sun" NYT 6 Nov 2011
P Krugman "oligarchy, American style" NYT 4 Nov 2011
S Zizek "interview with Smiley & West" NPR 3 Nov 2011
B Moyers "how Wall Street occupied America" Nation 2 Nov
S Zizek "occupy first. demands come later" Guardian 29 Oct
K Rigg "the war against climate science unravels" HP 26 Oct
P Krugman "Republicans, party of pollution" NYT 20 Oct 2011
C Hedges "a movement too big to fail" TruthDig 17 Oct 2011
J Nocera "this time it really is different" NYT 10 Oct 2011
M Morford "how to make a creationist weep" SF 21 Sep 11
D Korten "the path to real prosperity" Yes 8 Sep 2011
J Rifkin "how the 99% use lateral power" HP 8 Nov 2011
D Revkin "condom, electricity & climate divides" NYT 2 Nov
J Atcheson "it's the 1% doctrine, stupid" CD 31 Oct 2011
R. Constanza "needed: the solution generations" CD 28 Oct
R Nader "occupy Wall Street on the move" CD27 Oct 2011
M Morford "seashells of fun and horror" SF 26 Oct 2011
D Lithwick "occupy the no-spin zone" Slate 26 Oct 2011
G Lakoff "how to frame yourself: OWS" CD 19 Oct 2011
N Kristof "America's primal scream" NYT 15 Oct 2011
P Krugman "rabbit-hole economics" NYT 13 Oct 2011
T Friedman "something's happening here" NYT 11 Oct 2011
J Stiglitz "how to put America back to work" CD 8 Sep 11
T Friedman "the whole truth & nothing but" NYT 6 Sep 11
J Atcheson "Atlas Mugged" CD 2 Sep 2011

... and: UN Human Development Report 2011

MITIGATION

most efficient solar panel ever 11 Nov 2011
A Gore "history is made in Australia" 8 Nov 2011
Australia passes 'controversial' carbon tax 7 Nov 2011
regulating the rush for land 31 Oct 2011
new garbage law passed in Germany 28 Oct 2011
California poised to finalize cap-and-trade 20 Oct 2011

ADAPTATION

klimawandel wird zur katastrophalen normalitaet 6 Nov 11
will a fossil boom delay renewables? NYT debate 6 Nov 11

FINDINGS

grim future for frogs AP 16 Nov 2011
record high 2011 global CO2 emissions CDIAC 4 Nov 2011
Fukushima fallout twice as bad as official estimates 27 Oct
real after-tax income growth of 1% 1979-2007 CD 26 Oct 11
temp record analysis no room for doubt Economist 22 Oct 11
study finds no ground for skeptics' concern Guardian 20 Oct
NAFTA is starving Mexico FPiF 20 Oct 2011
GM crops promote superweeds & food insecurity 19 Oct 11
climate makes many species shrink in size HP 16 Oct 2011
climate may turn chocolate into luxury HP 3 Oct 2011
how fewer working hours can save the planet Yes 9 Sep 2011

DISENLIGHTENMENT & DEVOLUTION

US cities cut police, switch to contractors 16 Nov 2011
Republicans oppose better school lunches 16 Nov 2011
SWAT team takes out Occupy food bank 14 Nov 2011
climate denialism: an Anglo-Saxon thing grist 11 Nov 2011
is climate skepticism Anglo-Saxon? Guardian 11 Nov 2011
Kapitalismus in der Reichtumsfalle Zeit 11 Nov 2011
the Republican wrath of Ayn Rand CD 11 Nov 2011
questions for the Republican candidates NYT 9 Nov 2011
poverty in US now at record levels Alternet 8 Nov 2011
Greek people deprived of referendum Guardian 8 Nov 2011
Republicans filibuster infrastructure bill Kos 7 Nov 2011
how to lie about climate in one picture Kos 5 Nov 2011
the Republicans: a dangerous game Economist 5 Nov 2011
Rand Paul amendment to stop funding bike lanes 1 Nov 11
kneecapping the Environment CD 28 Oct 2011
why are bikes being targeted by Congress? CD 28 Oct 2011
Romney embraces climate denial HP 28 Oct 2011
is the EPA selling out your water? CD 26 Oct 2011
Perry slashed environ protection as gov HP 17 Oct 2011
the Evangelical rejection of reason NYT 17 Oct 2011
where did global warming go? NYT 15 Oct 2011
Perry officials doctor environmental report 14 Oct 2011
Republicans shift power away from EPA HP 14 Oct 2011
portrait of a climate skeptic journalist Guardian 13 Oct 11
climate skeptics are winning Independent 11 Oct 2011
Perry repeats climate skepticism HP 1 Oct 2011
NYT editorial: in the land of denial NYT 6 Sep 2011

POLL

European public opinion on climate HP 7 Oct 2011
American public opinion on climate Economist 8 Sep 2011
Americans unsure about evolution triples MSU poll

QUOTE

"These estimates show that 2010 was by far a record year for CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel combustion and cement manufacture."

T Boden, T J Blasing, CDIAC

NEOLOGISM

food desert

context: "...there tend to be more diet-related deaths in places where 'fringe' retailers accept food stamps. Fringe retailers ... are those shops that specialize in food high in salt, fat and sugar, plus non-food items such as fizzy drinks. ... food stamps are supposed to protect the poor from malnutrition, not make them ill" Cf. The Economist "America's food deserts" print ed 29 Oct 2011

explanation: a food desert is a (usually urban) area whose (usually U.S. American) inhabitants have little access to fresh food as a consequence of predatory capitalism, whereby corporate-friendly zoning, market deregulation, and estate prices make it profitable for fringe retailers such as gas stations, franchised fry pits, and dollar stores to sell snacks -- instead of grocers to open shop or local farmers to market produce. The corporate-driven absence of safe bicycle paths, usable buses, and subway systems immobilizes low-income residents, locking them down in housing within food deserts. In Climate Philosophy, we can conceive of U.S. food deserts as emblematic of the market-driven global changes to come.

ANOTHER NEOLOGISM

the solutions generation

context: "In 'empty world' times of resource abundance, competition is favored. The great acceleration powered by abundant fossil fuels favored individualism, competition, and greed-based capitalism. The coming 'full world' will favor cooperation and networking." cf. R. Constanza "needed: the solution generations" Solutions 28 Oct 2011

Flashback:

the grasshopper generation

by K Andersen 2010

ANNOUNCEMENT

... sixty-one months left.

climate events

2011-10-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

U.S. Drought Monitor Oct 2011 screenshot

Uni Bremen Arctic Sea Ice 25 Sep 2011 screenshot

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

EVENTS

Thailand: century flood Spiegel 7 Oct 2011
Cal./Nev.: winter already in the Sierra? 4 Oct 2011
Cambodia: worst flood in a decade Guardian 2 Oct 2011
Philippines: typhoon after floods BBC 1 Oct 2011
Great Britain: record-breaking heat 1 Oct 2011
India: flooding kills dozens, maroons many AP 26 Sep 2011
Somalia: famine, unspeakable violence NYT 25 Sep 2011
China: heavy flooding, mass evacuations Xinhua 22 Sep 2011
Arctic: whales can take Northwest Passage BBC 21 Sep 2011
Japan: typhoon Roke: destruction, floods Zeit 21 Sep 2011
Pakistan: people flee from record floods Zeit 13 Sep 2011
Arctic ice at historic low AFP 11 Sep 2011
Pakistan: deadly floods, again Climate Signals 10 Sep 2011
US Northeast: 100,000 told to flee floods MSN 9 Sep 2011
Arctic: historic minimum in sea ice extent ASI Blog 9 Sep 2011
Pakistan: 200+ dead, record floods again Spiegel 9 Sep 2011
Japan: deadly typhoon strikes Zeit 4 Sep 2011

TRENDS

UK cod collapse due to overfishing Guardian 30 Sep 2011
Africa: Oxfam warns about 'land rush' BBC 22 Sep 2011
Arctic sea ice melt at record minimum Spiegel 9 Sep 2011
Meereseisflaechen so klein wie nie Univ Bremen 9 Sep 2011

ATTRIBUTION

record melt --> high pressure --> altitude cold --> ozone hole?
G Manney et al. "unprecedented Arctic ozone loss in 2011"
Nature 2 Oct 2011 10.1038/nature10556

global warming --> powersurge --> bad crops --> no food
GRAIN "food & climate: the forgotten connection"
Common Dreams 29 Sept 2011

DEVOLUTION

A map of organized climate denial NYT 4 Oct 2011
GOP vs. clean energy Switchboard 27 Sep 2011
corporate media turn blind eye to protests OS 27 Sep 2011
why Americans are in climate denial HuffPost 24 Sep 2011
House vote slaps at EPA rules 23 WSJ 23 Sep 2011
reality TV and lack of empathy AlterNet 20 Sep 2011
climate denial: is it weird enough yet? NYT 13 Sep 2011

EVOLUTION

shifting the suburban paradigm NYT 2 Oct 2011
Peugeot Diesel/Electric hybrid 27 Sep 2011
Mercedes Smart with photovoltaic drive 23 Sep 2011
Fiat 500 Electric 22 Sep 2011

MITIGATION

Japan: $280 billion for no nukes Reuters 12 Sep 2011
Germany: bullet trains to run on wind power NYT 4 Oct 2011

FINDINGS

food prices and the Arab spring CD 28 Aug 2011
Greenland meltdown 2011 data are in RC 21 Sep 2011
unprecedented Arctic ozone loss in 2011 Nature 2 Oct 2011
climatic habitat shift in Antarctic Abyss HuffPost 11 Sep 2011
bacteria spreading in warming oceans HuffPost 9 Sep 2011

ANTI-CAPITALISM

P Krugman confronting the malefactors NYT 8 Oct 2011
D Morris it's labor vs. capital, stupid CD 7 Oct 2011
A Lowrey the economics of occupy W-Street Slate 5 Oct 2011
D Korten why I am in solidarity Yes 5 Oct 2011
anon best occupy W-Street rant YouTube 4 Oct 2011
J Kunstler here come the OWsers! clusterf*ck 3 Oct 2011

POLL

Americans who accept evolution: 57%
Americans who acknowledge climate change: 69%
Republicans who acknowledge climate change: 49%
Tea Partiers who acknowledge climate change: 41%
Tea Parties who'd vote for a climate denier: 33%
Republicans who'd vote for a climate denier: 16%
Democrats who'd vote for a climate denier: 5%

22 Sep 2011 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute in partnership with Religion News Service (pdf) (link)

QUOTE

"das alte Wachstumsmodell ist gescheitert"
(the old model of growth has failed)
Jeremy Rifkin, Die Zeit 27 Sep 2011

"we look like a joke, right?"
Bill Clinton about US climate deniers
HuffPost 20 Sep 2011

"prepare for a climate skeptic defeating Obama"
Leo Hickman, The Guardian 8 Sep 2011
And yet: would it matter? cf. Richard Black, BBC, 8 Sep 2011

"total area of sea ice in Arctic Ocean smallest since observations started; much faster pace of ice melting than forecasted"
JAXA press release 16 Aug 2011

NEOLOGISM

moop

ANNOUNCEMENT

... sixty-two months left.

climate events

2011-09-03T15:20:00.000-07:00

US Drought Monitor current conditions

"Obama lost his chance for a spot on Mount Rushmore by not addressing the moral issue of the century."

Jim Hansen, the white house and tar sands, 3 Sep 2011
(at ClimateStoryTellers.org)

TRENDS

China benefits as US solar industry withers NYT 2 Sep 2011
US tea party defends sprawl Grist 31 Aug 2011
species flee warming faster than thought BBC 20 Aug 2011

EVENTS

disasters in the US: an extreme year AP 2 Sep 2011
Greenland glacier is breaking up MSNBC 1 Sep 2011
hurricane Irene cost ranks in top ten NYC 30 Aug 2011
Vermont worst flooding in a century AP 29 Aug 2011
Arctic sea routes open as ice melts BBC 25 Aug 2011
no relief in sight for Texas drought yahoo 22 Aug 2011

POLICY

U.S. environmentalists weigh their options NYT 3 Sep 2011
Obama withdraws EPA smog regulation AP 2 Sep 2011
Germany sets renewables record Grist 30 Aug 2011
Cheney: 'I didn't change. The world changed' WSJ 30 Aug 2011
U.S. State Dept approves of pipeline Alternet 29 Aug 2011
20 pct of German power now solar/wind Die Zeit 29 Aug 2011
Kyoto suspends Romania from carbon market AFP 28 Aug 2011
U.S. offers support to Canadian pipeline NYT 27 Aug 2011
U.S. keystone pipeline protests Dissent 26 Aug 2011
Emerging powers press rich world on CO2 cuts AFP 26 Aug 2011
Repubs target EPA's regulatory authority HuffPost 25 Aug 2011
Germany waters down climate regulation Die Zeit 23 Aug 2011

SCIENCE

editor resigns over climate skeptic paper BBC 2 Sep 2011
climate shock puts the world on notice Forbes 29 Aug 2011
weather and war Slate 24 Aug 2011
'Climategate' scientist cleared--again Forbes 24 Aug 2011

DISINFORMATION

Nestle: be scared of organic food Grist 30 Aug 2011
what did you learn in school today: Texas AAS 25 Aug 2011

HEROES TO FUTURE GENERATIONS

Tar Sands sit-in ends with surge of support HuffPost 3 Sep 2011
Tim DeChristopher's letter from prison Grist 28 Aug 2011
... wiki on Tim DeChristopher's protest action

OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE GETTING IT

J Jensen "Unterwegs zur Plutokratie" Die Zeit 3 Sep 2011
E Linden "betting the farm against climate" LAT 28 Aug 2011
D Elgin "simple life misconceptions" HuffPost 27 Aug 2011
H Bude "No future war gestern" Die Zeit 25 Aug 2011
S Zizek "der autoritaere Kapitalismus ist der Gewinner" ibid.

PHILOSOPHY

in the Journal for Global Ethics 7 (2011) climate issue:

M Schönfeld "plan B: global ethics on climate change"
M Thompson "climate, imagination, and Kant"
B Williston "moral progress & Canada's climate failure"
E Hernandez "climate and philosophy in Latin America"
B Janz "Watsuji, Fudo, and climate change"
S Kuo "climate and Confucian ecological intelligence"
X Chen, M Schönfeld "a Daoist response to climate change"
J Decker "the consumption of farmed animal products"

... sixty-three months left.

climate events

2011-08-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

IARC-JAXA arctic sea ice cover extent, updated daily
(click on the image to enlarge)

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

EVENTS

World Oceans in 'shocking' decline 20 Jun
Africa drought worst in sixty years 14 Jul
Arctic sea ice way beyond the albedo tipping point 20 Jul
UK beaches see rise in jellyfish 21 Jul
Alaska fire order of magnitude higher than historical size 28 Jul
Somalia famine spreads to more areas 3 Aug
US most of the country in grip of record heat wave 5 Aug
N-Europe, Russia, and US abnormally warm conditions 17 Aug
US Southwest in grip of mega-drought 19 Aug

... wiki on the 2011 East Africa drought
... wiki on the 2011 China floods

TRENDS

expanding deserts & falling water tables
(read here by Lester Brown, Aug 23)

species flee warming faster than previously thought
(read here by I Chen et al, Science 333:1024-1026)
(write-up by J Carpenter Aug 20)

climate-related decline in global crop production
(read here by D Lobell et al, Science 333: 616-620)
(write-up by R Harris, May 7)

ATTRIBUTION

Somalia famine linked to global warming Aug 24

DEVOLUTION

Only 30% of Americans think warming is anthropogenic 22 Jul
69% of Americans think scientists falsify climate research 3 Aug
... 57% think there is significant scientific disagreement 3 Aug
Aussies protest against carbon tax 16 Aug
Rick Perry, climate skeptic 24 Aug

EVOLUTION

Greens react to planned German nuclear phase-out 31 May
Hundred dollar hamburger? 14 Jun
Greens enjoy taste of power in Australia parliament 3 Jul
UN official warns climate change 'threatens peace' 21 Jul

MITIGATION

China threat over EU airline emissions trading 6 Jun
IPCC's Pachauri on consequences of stalled climate talks 25 Jul

FINDINGS

climate to wreak havoc on food supply 2 Jun
global warming lull 1998-2008 down to China's coal growth 5 Jul
GHG regulations and job growth linked in new study 21 Aug

REVIEWS

D Arnold, ed. The Ethics of Global Climate Change 2011
reviewed by K Shrader-Frechette, NDPR

QUOTE

'the window for cutting CO2 is closing'
Lord Stern 31 May link

ANNOUNCEMENT

sixty-four months left.

news holiday

2011-05-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Mad Hun is away from his desk and out of the office. Wishing everyone a nice, safe, and enlightening summer. There is still time for civil evolution.
See you in the fall ...

climate events

2011-05-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

--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.

climate events

2011-04-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

--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

2011-04-16T15:59:00.000-07:00

--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

2011-04-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

--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

climate events

2011-02-28T11:53:00.000-08:00

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

(more updates were added March 5)

EVENTS

US Midwest: rain and snowmelt trigger flooding 3.1.
San Francisco: record low follows record snow 2.28.
Bolivia: floods and landslides 2.27.
US New England: more snow, floods, storms 2.25.
Illinois, Chicago: more record snow 2.25.
US Midwest: more snow, more cold 2.18.
Alaska: climate change now visible in national parks 2.14.
Oklahoma: record lows 2.10.
Oklahoma: yet another blizzard 2.9.
Australia: floods, cyclone stress Great Barrier reef 2.10.
Australia: downunder GHG rise due to mining boom 2.9.
Australia: flood, cyclone hits national economy 2.8.
Australia: more torrential downpours 2.5.
Texas: winter storm causes water shortage 2.7.
Georgia: coldest winter ever 2.8.
Mexico: cold snap paralyzes Ciudad Juarez 2.4.
Mexico: zoo animals freeze to death 2.5.
China: severe northern drought, crops wither, prices rise 2.3.

TRENDS

World food prices set yet another record 3.2.
Extreme food prices will stay 2.24.
US crop boom not enough to rebuild supplies 2.24.
India thousands protest high food prices in Delhi 2.23.
Bad cotton harvest pushes global clothing prices up 2.14.
the new scramble for African crop land 2.10.
Amazon drought exhales more CO2 than US in a year 2.7.
Global food crisis: "droughts, floods, and food" (P Krugman) 2.6.
Global: effects of windblown material now being felt 1.6.
Record warmth in 2010 despite cooling influences 1.4.

ATTRIBUTION

Forscher geben Menschheit Schuld an Flutkatastrophen 17.2.

AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

oligarchs: the Koch prank 2.28.
oligarchs: the plutocrats' coup d'etat 2.28.
oligarchs: why isn't Wall Street in jail 2.17.
Wisconsin: authoritarian tactics 2.28.
Wisconsin: "mad as hell" (R Nader) 2.26.
Wisconsin: the Koch whore (Daily Beast transcript) 2.23.
GOP: Repub spending plan would cost 700k jobs 2.28.
media: Fox lies 2.24.
media: Fox flips union-busting poll results 2.23.
EPA scales back emission rules 2.24.
American decline in a new world 2.24.
budget "choice b/w bad and worse" (A Huffington) 2.23.
GOP: House Repubs want to cut funds to UN IPCC 2.21.
GOP: House Repubs want to cut funds to EPA 2.9.
military budget "on the wrong side of history" 2.21.
Detroit to close half its schools 2.21.
GOP: Senate dumbs down on clean energy 2.18.
budget: if only Washington had a brain (T Engelhardt) 2.17.
Florida: governor rejects high speed funding 2.16.
Montana: Repub bill would 'embrace' global warming 2.18.
GOP: "eat the future" (P Krugman) 2.13.
military spending (Economist) 2.10.
energy: new drilling techniques open new shale gas fields 2.9.
bad food makes dumb kids 2.8.
cognition: when a country goes insane 2.21.
cognition: we're all mad here 2.12.
cognition: why don't gringos believe in global warming? 2.8.
cognition: repub critic calls high speed rail 'insane' 2.8.
GOP: Repubs defend incandescent light bulbs 2.4.
cognition: Fox contrives global warming 'debate' 2.3.
obesity worsens at fastest pace among rich nations 2.3.
driving: car pools are disappearing 1.28.

GLOBAL EVOLUTION

France to scrap tax cuts for the rich 3.2.
UK reveals second phase of high speed rail plan 2.28.
climate art: the drama of climate change 2.27.
food future: crisis prevention 2.17.
World's most livable cities in 2011 2.21.
USF earns sustainability gold award 2.7.
no more immunity for Bush--abroad, at least 2.8.
Bush ducks Swiss torture charges 2.7.
Bush trip to Switzerland axed over torture protest fears 2.6.

MITIGATION

Renewable energy beats coal on price 2.27.
Volcanic energy channeled in Iceland 2.27.
Gas price taxes: world wide comparison 2.25.
Meat: one more reason to close factory farms 2.25.
Agriculture: biodiverse ecological farming 2.23.
Black Carbon: climate change in black and white 2.17.
Spain: solar power tower 2.15.
Smart buildings: soaking up the sun to squeeze bills to zero 2.14.
US: new battle over GHG emissions 2.10.
Indonesia: palm oil deal to save forests and carbon 2.8.
EU: Copenhagen winter bicycling 1.5.

CLIMATE ESSAYS

P Popham "the price of food at the heart of revolution" 27 Feb
M Parenti "profit pathology and disposable planet" 27 Feb
D Roberts "gargantuan challenge to shift to green energy" 11 Feb
D Roberts "are we in a clean energy race with China?" 10 Feb
N Chomsky "how climate became a 'liberal hoax'" 9 Feb
R Anderson "the year in review, climatically" 9 Feb

CLIMATE NEOLOGISM

"Copenhagenize"

From the our bikes weigh more than your bikes website

ANNOUNCEMENT

sixty-nine months left.

climate events

2011-02-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

--text posts are at blistered orb--

EVENTS

Amazon at tipping point: billions of trees deaths 4 Feb
US snow in Texas, again 4 Feb
US snow blankets south 3 Feb
Global food prices hit new record high 3 Feb
Australia cyclone makes landfall 2 Feb
US deep freeze sets in over two-thirds of country 2 Feb
Illinois blizzard third-largest in Chicago history 2 Feb
US flight cancellations top 6,000 for second straight day 1 Feb
Australia gets most powerful cyclone in country's history 1 Feb
US colossal winter storm impacts 100 million 28 Jan + 2 Feb
Arctic temps at Baffin Island + 21 C/39 F for a month 28 Jan
Arctic temps at Coral Harbor above freezing for first time 28 Jan
US yet another major snowstorm his northeast 27 Jan
US snowstorm shatters NYC, Philadelphia records 27 Jan
New England snowstorm blasting the northeast 26 Jan

TRENDS

oil price now above $ 103 3 Feb
oysters disappearing worldwide 3 Feb
food crisis fuels Egypt revolution 31 Jan
Arctic defrost dumping snow on US and Europe 28 Jan and here
Arctic waters warmer than in 2,000 years 28 Jan
African land grabs could herald new age of hunger 28 Jan
climate change: driving straight into catastrophe 24 Jan
2o10 updates to model-data comparisons 21 Jan

AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

US KZ Guantanamo celebrates 9th anniversary, victim dies 4 Feb
US Al Jazeera blacked out across most of United States 4 Feb
US climate denier at the Boston Herald 3 Feb
US NYT on Republican climate deniers 2 Feb
US gov gives GHG exemption to GE power plants 2 Feb
US Koch Brothers and their climate denial machine 2 Feb
US endless storms causing snow rage 31 Jan
US nuclear power suffers more setbacks 31 Jan
US Senate votes to reject filibuster restrictions 28 Jan
US why military spending remains untouchable 27 Jan
US how the U.S. is failing its people, compared to EU 26 Jan
US Repubs symbolically repeal climate policies 20 Jan

GLOBAL EVOLUTION

UK ministry unveils national 'climate-proofing' plans 28 Jan
UN climate talks in focus at Davos forum 27 Jan

MITIGATION

UN Ban K-M redirects focus to energy, sustainability 27 Jan
India's Suzlon Energy wins 1 billion $ wind power deal 28 Jan
UN moratorium halts geo-engineering experiments 8 Dec

CLIMATE ESSAYS

L Pitts "the dumbing down of America" 4 Feb
P. Barnes "a brief history of commons destruction" 31 Jan
M Hertsgaard "Seattle will stay dry when your city floods" 30 Jan
J Boykoff "reheating the climate change story" 30 Jan
M Brune "the billionaire brothers who make us sick" 28 Jan
R. Benestad "cold winter in a world of warming?" 14 Dec

CLIMATE QUOTE

rising food prices have potentially devastating consequences for poorer nations

D Strauss-Kahn, International Monetary Fund 1 Feb

climate events

2011-01-26T13:32:00.000-08:00

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

EVENTS

Florida: freak summer storm batters Tampa Bay region 25 Jan
Maine: arctic blast sets cold record 24 Jan
New England: extreme cold 24 Jan
Tunisia: record food prices topple government (M Klare) Jan 24
China: crop warning over multiple droughts 24 Jan
Australia: more flee as floods move across southeast 24 Jan
Australia: Southeast set for another week of floods 23 Jan
Vietnam: harsh weather kills 10,000 cattle 21 Jan
US Midwest: deep freeze grips plains states 21 Jan
Australia: first burials as flood crisis deepens 19 Jan
New England: more snow: northeast can't catch a break 18 Jan
Algeria: record food prices cause riots 18 Jan
Brazil: floodwaters, mudslides kill at least 700 18 Jan
South Africa: gov declares flood disaster 18 Jan
Brazil: floodwaters, mudslides kill at least 655 17 Jan
Australia: floodwaters hit Victoria 16 Jan
Philippines: flash floods, mudslides kill at least 47 15 Jan
Brazil: floodwaters, mudslides kill at least 257 12 Jan
Australia: floodwaters peak in Brisbane 12 Jan
Illinois: major fish die-off on iced-up Lake Michigan 11 Jan
Australia: floods rage through Brisbane 11 Jan
Georgia: record snow in Atlanta and elsewhere 10 Jan
England: frigid seas kills 40,000 crabs off Dover coast 6 Jan
Australia: floodwaters surge near peak in Queensland 5 Jan
Australia: Great Barrier Reef under threat from dirty floods 5 Jan
Florida: freezing temps cause fish die-off 4 Jan
China: gov warns of a 300-year desertification fight 4 Jan
India: farmers say climate change weakens Assam tea 31 Dec

TRENDS

UK report: urgent action needed to avert global hunger 24 Jan
steep oil prices, food shortages, more riots to come 23 Jan
NYT: for many species no escape as temperature rises 21 Jan
BBC: 2010 warmest year since records began 20 Jan
global food chain stretched to the limit 14 Jan
food bubble is bursting, and biotech won't save us 12 Jan
UN: world food prices at fresh high 5 Jan and 7 Jan and 17 Jan
US bumble bees in sharp decline 3 Jan
Climate Central: list of countries that set record highs 2010

AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

USA: why the rich are getting richer Foreign Affairs Jan/Feb
USA: Obama's climate advisor to leave, to appease Repubs 25 Jan
USA: climate skeptic misled Congress over oil funding 25 Jan
USA: Olberman departs, as US media consolidate further 22 Jan
USA: conservatives try to privatize college as tuition soars 22 Jan
USA: NM governor (R) violates constitution for polluters 20 Jan
USA (& abroad): full speed ahead on deepwater drilling 19 Jan
USA: solar firms frustrated by permits 19 Jan
USA: JP Morgan profiteers from food stamps 19 Jan
USA: GOP presidential candidate H Cain is climate denier 19 Jan
USA: the myth of American exceptionalism implodes 18 Jan
USA: torture in domestic "supermax" prisons 18 Jan
USA: the "new normal" of unemployment 15 Jan
USA: lack of money grounds NASA space flights 13 Jan
USA: deepening crisis traps American have-nots 9 Jan
USA: NYT editorial: failure in the Gulf 7 Jan
USA: the big Republican lie (with Democrats' help) 4 Jan
USA: Prof L Bell (U Houston) book on global warming "hoax" 1 Jan
USA: Republican politicians trash talking bicycles list of quotes

GLOBAL EVOLUTION

India plans Asia's first tidal power plant 18 Jan
building bike infrastructure creaets more jobs 14 Jan
US solar panel maker moves to China 14 Jan
how China outguns the US on clean energy 12 Jan

MITIGATION

Tianjin Eco-City future of urban development? 13 Jan
UNEP chief: silent momentum on climate change 10 Jan
J Hansen: the case for carbon tax 4 Jan

CLIMATE ESSAYS

M Klare "rising commodity prices & extreme weather" 24 Jan
J C Centeno "cambio climático azota a Venezuela" 22 Jan
M Hertsgaard "confronting the climate cranks" 20 Jan
T Lohan "how global capitalism makes our lives worse" 16 Jan
C Mims "amidst giant snows, last year was hottest ever" 13 Jan
older:
Achim Steiner (UNEP) climate science editorial 2010

MORE ON THE COLD

NYT: cold jumps arctic 'fence,' stoking winter's fury 25 Jan

NEW INFO PORTAL

ecoportal.net

climate findings

2011-01-18T13:55:00.000-08:00

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

THE YEAR 2010

Climate Progress: 2010 equals record for world's hottest year
WMO: no statistical difference among 1998, 2005, and 2010
NASA: 2010 tied for warmest year on record
NOAA: global climate now .62 C (1.12 F) above 20th century
NSINA: lowest December arctic sea ice on record ever

and:
(climate denialists' "it's-the-sunspots-fault" falsified)
NASA: deepest solar minimum in nearly a century
... G Kopp a new lower value of solar irradiance
Geophys Res Let 38 L01706

and:
flawed data analysis yes--but it's the other way around!)
New Scientist: MET office & Hadley underestimated rate of change

THE YEAR'S RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

(why winters are colder on a hotter world. For now.)
V Petoukhov a link b/w reduced sea ice and cold winter extremes
J of Geophys Res 115 D21111
... "could cool down winters" PIK 16.11.2010

(global warming causes 40% decline in phytoplankton)
D Boyce global phytoplankton decline over the past century
Nature 466 (2010): 591-596
... "dead sea," Independent 29.7.2010
... "Nature stunner," Energy Bulletin 29.7.2010
... "plants in decline," Wall Street Journal (via ILP) 29.7.2010

(permafrost methane stores are destabilizing now)
N Shakhova extensive methane venting from Siberian sediments
Science 327 (2010): 1246-1250
... "Science stunner," Climate Progress 4.3.2010
..."venting highest in half million years," youtube 4.3.2010

(devastating droughts predicted even for moderate emissions)
A Dai drought under global warming: a review
(@ NCAR) Wiley Interdisc Rev Climate Change 2 (2011): 45-65
... see also S Solomon irreversible climate change now
PNAS 106 (2009) 1704-1709
... "2000s vs. 1950s drought," Climate Progress 11.3.2009
... "future droughts will be shockers," MSNBC 19.10.2010
... "extreme droughts," AFP 19.10.2010
... "world's populous areas," Reuters 19.10.2010

(oceans acidifying 1o times faster than at the last extinction)
A Rigwell past constraints on the vulnerability of marine calcifiers
Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 196-200
... see also G Shaffer oxygen depletion in response to emissions
Nature Geoscience 2 (2009): 105-109
... "an ominous warning," Yale 360 15.2.2010
... "mass extinction" Climate Progress 18.2.2010

(sea levels may rise 3 times faster than IPCC estimated)
M Vermeer/S Rahmstorf global sea level linked to global temps
PNAS 106 51 (2009) 21527-21532
... see also R Nicholls sea-level rise and its possible impacts
Phil Trans R Soc A 369 (2011): 161-181
... see also R Nicholls sea level rise impact on coastal zones
Science 328 (2010): 1517-1520
... see also J Overpeck projections becoming more dire
PNAS 106 51 (2009) 21461-21462
... "large tracts will be underwater," Independent 8.12.2009

(current extinction rate far exceeds anything in fossil record)
discussion meeting issue biological diversity in a changing world
Trans R Soc B 365 (1558)
... "mass extinction inevitable," Climate Progress 9.10. 2010
... issue author: how we wrecked the oceans TED talk 2010

(drought drives decade-long decline in plant growth)
M Zhao reduction in global terrestrial net primary production
Science 329 (2010): 940-943
... "an ecological about-face," NASA press release 19.8.2010

(positive feedback loop! warming soils emit more CO2)
B Bond-Lamberty temps-associated increases in soil respiration
Nature 464 (2010): 579-582
...see also J Fang soils emitting more carbon dioxide
Nature online 10.1039/news.2010.147 24 3 2010
... see also K Karhu soil carbon fractions in boreal forest soil
Ecology 91 (2010)

(deadly temps for humans are now possible)
E Gardner future temperatures could exceed livable limits
Science Daily 5 5 2010
... see also S Sherwood adaptibility limit due to heat stress
PNAS 107 (2010): 9552-9555

(catastrophic climate change, +10 C in US, due in 50 years)
Met Office warns of catastrophic temp rise The Times 19.12.2008
Met Office warns of catastrophic warming Guardian 28.9.2009
... see also M.I.T. doubles its warming projection Climate Progress
... see also US Impacts Summary Global Change (US gov)

NEOLOGISM OF THE YEAR

Generation Hot

as in: "all of this makes my daughter an involuntary member of what I call Generation Hot"

M Heertsgaard "Confronting Climate Cranks" Nation 7 Feb 2011

climate events

2011-01-03T11:34:00.000-08:00

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

EVENTS

New Jersey: state snow record 12.27.
New York: snow strands subway riders 12.27.
Northeast: powerful blizzard paralyzes several states 12.26.
Northeast: heaviest December snowfall in six decades 12.27.
Missouri, Arkansas see out-of-season tornados 1.1.
South Carolina: frigid ocean temps kill off sea creatures 12.26.
South Carolina sees record snow 12.26.
Georgia: Atlanta first white Christmas in 128 years 12.25.
Arizona astonished by snow fall 12.30.
Sweden: coldest December in 110 years 12.26.
Israel: heat wave and deepening drought 12.28.
Israel: forest fires, unseasonable heat, incipient drought 12.3.
India: Ladakh sees record cold 12.29.
Russia: freezing rain, power cuts, airport riots 12.28.
Australia: Queensland evacuates towns 12.28.
Australia: floods strand 200,000 12.31.
Australia sees flood record 1.2.

TRENDS

global food crisis has arrived Die Zeit dossier 12.27.
oil price rises 30 percent in 2010 12.31.
2010 top three hottest yrs; 2001-10 warmest decade ever 12.2.

AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

USA forecast: C Hedges 2011: a brave new dystopia 12.27.
USA Bushism: Cheney buys off criminal charges in Nigeria 12.28.
USA: Pennsylvania allows natural gas waste in waterways 1.3.
USA: F Upton (R; House Energy) to fight GHG emission limits 1.2.
USA: religious right attacks environmentalism 12.29.
USA: IBD climate denial editorial 12.22.

GLOBAL ENLIGHTENMENT

Brazil: A Huffington: rebrand it the South American dream 12.22.

MITIGATION

US stricter air regulations & cleaner farm equipment 1.3.
US EPA moves to limit greenhouse gases 12.24.

CLIMATE ESSAYS

J Cohen: bundle up, it's global warming 12.25.
P Krugman: the finite world 12.27.

CLIMATE NEOLOGISMS

"the consensus trance of recovery makes itself manifest through every conduit of public utterance ... even though the Consumer Price Index omits items such as food, gasoline, and heating oil in its calibrations, while heaping on fictional hedonic adjustments."

J H Kunstler "forecast 2011" at clusterfucknation.com 1.3.11

(granted, 'consensus trance' is old, but it's timely. Kunstler uses it in The Long Emergency 2005, citing E. Davis, TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information 1998)

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Leibowitz Society forms (see blog here)

climate events

2010-12-24T13:52:00.000-08:00

--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

2010-12-16T14:14:00.000-08:00

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 events

2010-12-14T14:21:00.000-08:00

--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

2010-12-04T15:03:00.000-08:00

--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 events

2010-11-27T16:12:00.000-08:00

--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 events

2010-11-13T22:52:00.000-08:00

--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

2010-11-04T09:34:00.001-07:00

--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 events

2010-10-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

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 happenings

2010-10-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

--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 happenings

2010-09-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

--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 happenings

2010-09-16T09:13:00.001-07:00

--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 Happenings

2010-08-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

-- 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.

.

Climate Happenings

2010-08-19T01:05:00.001-07:00

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

CLIMATE EVENTS

Arctic lowest sea ice extent ever, for month of June 7.6.
Greenland huge ice island calves off glacier 8.11.
Global wheat supply forecast cut 8.12.
Russia ban on grain exports begins 8.19.
Russia probably thousands killed in Moscow by heat 8.17.
Russia lashed by storm after heatwave 8.16.
Russia reduces grain harvest forecast 8.9.
Russia hottest summer on record 7.29.
China suffers more heat and rainstorms (August) 8.14.
China floods affect twenty-nine provinces (July) 8.5.
China floods affect nine provinces (June) 6.20.
Pakistan the race to save the country's agriculture 8.17.
Pakistan heat spikes to new record at 128 F / 53 C 8.12.
Pakistan floods worst disaster in national history 8.10.
India fatal cloudburst kills 150 in driest place on Earth 8.17.
Niger extreme drought worsens 8.12.
Ghana 10 mio affected by drought and famine 7.5.
Ghana head meteo: false alarm; no drought this year 4.14.
Ghana warned to face drought this year 4.14.
Germany floods, again 8.16.
Indonesia reefs die at record rates due to warming seas 8.18.
Indonesia tropical mountain glaciers gone by end of the decade 8.16.
Southeast Asia world's "coral triangle" now bleaching out 7.27.

GULF OIL

...BP cover-up of true size of spill continues 8.17.
...70-79 percent of oil spilled is still in water 8.17. (see also here)
...oil lurking beneath surface, settling in Panhandle Canyon 8.17.
...Gulf sea food not tested for dispersant 8.16.
...freedom of spill research threatened 7.28.

GAIA TRENDS

How the heatwave in Russia is connected to floods in Pakistan 8.12.
WMO warns: unprecedented series of climate events 8.11.
WMO ties Pakistan floods to climate change 8.18.
UN warns: mass extinction now worst since 62 mio yrs ago 8.16.

CLIMATE SCIENCE

(three options how to mitigate risks of runaway events)
C Kousky responding to the threat of climate mega-catastrophes
Harvard, Kennedy School of Government 19 Oct 2010

(mangrove forests disappear ever faster)
C Giri status and distribution of mangrove forests of the world
Global Ecology & Biogeography 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00584.x

(warming-related cold snaps thwart plant adaptation)
A Jalili climate change, cold waves, and brakes on plant migration
Global Ecology & Biogeography 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00553.x

(mammoths went extinct because of global warming)
J Allen last glacial vegetation in northern Eurasia
Quaternary Science Reviews 10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.05.031

(China's soot worsens global warming)
M Ramana warming influenced by the ratio of black carbon
Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 542-543

(positive feedbacks via nitrogen et al worsen climate change)
A Arneth terrestrial biogeochemical feedbacks in the climate system
Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 525-543

(gulf oil isn't gone; it's hovering in the deep)
R Kerr a lot of oil on the loose, not so much to be found
Science 329 (2010): 734-735

(Science special issue on scaling up alternative energy)
Editorial getting better to get bigger (links to papers)
Science 329 (2010): 779

(combination punch could fell rainforests -- cf. New Scientist)
G Asner combined effects of climate and land-use change on the future of humid tropical forests
Conservation Letters doi 10.1111/j.1755-263x.2010.00133x

CLIMATE POLICY

US biggest expansion of coal (!) power in 2 decades 8.17.
US Wisconsin Republican to stop high speed rail 8.18.
US Republicans derail cap-and-trade bill 8.5.

CLIMATE MITIGATION

Toyota hybrids lead German enviro ranking 8.18.
German solar city (Freiburg) creates 4 x energy it uses 8.16.
China surges ahead with renewable energy 8.5.
Kyoto targets are impossible to verify 8.13.

CLIMATE DENIERS / AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

... a list of corrupt Republican assholes courtesy of The Grist,
supplemented by Politico

California: Carly Fiorina (R)
Colorado: Ken Buck (R)
Connecticut: Linda MacMahon (R)
Florida 1: Marco Rubio (R)
Florida 2: Rick Scott (R)
Kentucky: Rand Paul (R)
Massachussetts: Charlie Baker (R)
Nevada: Sharron Angle (R)
New Mexico 1: Steve Pearce (R)
New Mexico 2: Susana Martinez (R)
Oklahoma: Jim Inhofe (R)
Pennsylvania: Pat Toomey (R)
Washington: Dino Rossi (R)
Wisconsin: Ron Johnson (R)

BEST GLOBAL WARMING QUOTE

Coal and oil--the real "Axis of Evil" 'in the United States today--present a major challenge in the context of climate change.

D Kennedy (editor emeritus) "Beyond Petroleum?"
Science 329 (2010): 727

.

Climate Happenings

2010-06-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

--edited by Mad Hun 10/18/10--

New Text Unbalanced and Kyoto Negotiations Stalled
Climate Negotiations at Risk

BONN, Germany - Today at the UN climate negotiations in Bonn, countries responded to a new draft text document released late Thursday night.

At a press conference held by NGOs from across the world in response to the new text and developments in the Kyoto Protocl negotiations, Martin Khor, Director of the South Centre, an intergovernmental think-tank of developing countries, said:

"The text has become even more imbalanced towards developed country interests. It leaves out many important points that the old text included. This affects the balance. This text removes the equity principle from the most important elements of the climate regime. It is a step backward."

Antje von Broock a climate campaigner with Friends of the Earth added:

"This new text is an invitation for the European Union to show leadership again on climate. This text shows a real drift away from the principles, values and rules of the agreed international climate change legal framework. Developing countries have been clear on how that drift can stop: a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. That's not in the text. Friends of the Earth is asking the EU to put it there and reclaim the mantle of 'climate leader."

Mohamed Adow, program officer at Christian Aid said:

"Developed countries have a two faced approach to the Kyoto Protocol and are condemning it to death. This text reflects a real imbalance, there is no room for concerns about equity or justice. If negotiations continue in this direction there will be no international climate law worth talking about and that would condemn millions of people, particularly in Africa, to unsurvivable food and water shortages."

Raman Mehta, of Action Aid (India) said:

"The suspension of the Kyoto Protocol negotiations today by Japan and Russia is a real threat to the lives of the poor and vulnerable. They are clearly acting in concert with the US, which continues to reject the need for substantially legal binding emission cuts. Without those binding cuts millions of people in the developing world will suffer a climate catastrophe that they have not caused. The US must stop undermining the Kyoto Protocol and the EU must bring Russia and Japan into a new commitment period with strong, effective, just and science-based emission cuts."GULF OIL

BP liews about amount of spill 6.08
Obama insists BP stay in charge 5.27
BP uses dispersants 5.20
Obama finally claims responsibility...6.08

CLIMATE MITIGATION

washing carbon out of the air 6.11

CLIMATE EVENTS

Germany torrential rains cause nationwide alert 6.04
Poland freak flood kills 21 people 5.29
Hungary a month of continuous rainfall 6.05
India heatwave kills hundreds 5.30
Korea biggest snowfall in modern history 6.01
China floods kill 53 in the south 6.05
China 9 more people die from landslide 6.14
West Africa and Ghana face 100 year drought 4.20
Guatemala over 100 people die in flood and landslide 6.02

CLIMATE POLICY

UN says eating less meet can curb climate change 6.02
China 'not very optimistic' on lowering carbon emissions 6.03

Climate Happenings

2010-05-10T16:10:00.001-07:00

--text posts are at the climate blog--

CLIMATE EVENTS

Tanzania/Congo: Lake Tanganyika warming fast 5.15.
Oklahoma/Kansas: nineteen tornadoes hit at once 5.11.
Germany: let it snow! 5.7.
Tennessee record floods kill 10 in Nashville 5.6.
Tennessee floods overwhelm Cumberland river region 5.3.
Mississippi killer storm 5.2.

GULF OIL

... oil forms deep sea plume; biggest spill in US history 5.14.
... BP flow rate lies reflects badly on gov oversight 5.14.
... Purdue U scientist: spill 14 x larger than thought 5.14.
... Florida St U scientist: spill 5 x larger than thought 5.13.
... US Republicans block effort to make oil company pay 5.13.
... Mississippi: tar balls wash up on beaches 5.13.
... Louisiana: tar balls wash up on beaches 5.12.
... Alabama: tar balls wash up on offshore islands 5.12.
... aerial and underwater footage of spill 5.12.
... spill measures now 100 x 120 miles 5.11.
... NYT editorial: the oil industry doesn't step up 5.11.
... Mississippi: dead dolphins wash up on coast 5.11.
... containment dome fails to stop gusher 5.10.
... background info from Daily Grist 5.7.
... dispersant may make oil spill more toxic 5.5.
... oil arrives at Chandeleur islands 5.4.
... sea food industry hangs in the balance 5.4.
... oil comes ashore in Louisiana 4.30.
... oil well gushing out 42,000 gallons oil per day 4.26.

see also:

Containing and cleaning up the deepwater oil rig disaster
Scientific American (May 2010) special report

GAIA TRENDS

Global warming drives lizards to extinction 5.12.
China is becoming world leader in green technologies 5.6.
US Bienentod alarmiert amerik. Landwirte 5.3.
US colony collapse disorder continues and worsens 5.2.

CLIMATE SCIENCE

(climate scientists speak out against political threats)
100s of authors: climate change and the integrity of science
Science 328 (2010): 689-690
see also news report 5.6.

Earth could become too hot for humans 5.4.

(quiet sun has regional effects only, won't help with warming)
M Lockwood are cold winters in Europe with low solar activity?
Environmental Research Letters 5 (2010) 024001

(more vapor + more heat = more high cold; more CO2 = less rain)
M Previdi radiative feedbacks on global precipitation
Environmental Research Letters 5 (2010)

(it'll go up 0.6-1.8 m if IPCCs conservative models are followed)
S Jevrejeva how will sea level rise with climate forcing by 2100?
Geophysical Research Letters 37 (2010) L07703

(Atlantic's way warmer now, half natural oscillation, half our doing)
C Wang is warmer N Atlantic related to CO2 and climate change?
Geophysical Research Letters 37 (2010) L08707

(more airborne nitrogen winds up in soil, helps to lock down carbon)
I Janssens less forest soil respiration b/c of nitrogen deposition
Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 315-322

(climate change may cause 1/5 of plants & animals to go extinct)
M LePage lost lizards validate grim extinction predictions
New Scientist 13 May 2010

(economic analysis, risk analysis, and really bad climate change)
C Costello bounded uncertainty and climate change economics
PNAS 107 (2010): 8101-8110

CLIMATE POLICY

US federal push for solar technology 5.14.
US climate bill won't achieve 350 goal 5.13.
US senate gets climate bill, modified by oil spill 5.12.
US climate bill ("American power act"): the key points 5.12.
EU climate commissioner seeks 30 percent carbon cuts 5.11.
US climate bill loses Republican support 5.7.
EU Bonn climate meeting 'ice broken' 5.4.
US climate bill could be harmed by Gulf spill 5.1.
US interior dept approves first offshore wind farm 4.28.

COP-15 FOLLOW UP

The Copenhagen failure: China sinks consensus (video protocol) 5.3.

CLIMATE MITIGATION

US emit 7% less CO2 in 2009 5.6.
US Cape Cod project crucial for American wind industry 4.26.

THE BIG PICTURE

UNPFII report: Christian doctrine fueled dehumanization 5.3.
H Wasserman as we die for BP, military rots in the wrong gulf 5.12.
B Berry oil spill not this year's only disaster 5.10.
E v Thadden Oelpest zum Anfassen 5.7.
R Kennedy sex, lies, and oil spills 5.6.
H Wasserman the triple curse of the corporate climate bill 5.3.
P Krugman drilling, disaster, denial 5.2.
C Pope drill baby drill -- or whoops, spill baby spill? 4.30.
J Hiskes worst week ever brought to you by the fossil industry 4.30.

THE NATION'S PERSPECTIVE (3 May 2010 issue)

unfortunately no links, since only for subscribers; very well-informed articles, worth reading. titles posted for the record...

Nation editorial "Earth to Congress"

Nation feature "climategate claptrap"
M Hertsgaard "don't believe the spin"
J Hari "demented deniers, welcome to the USA!"
C Parenti "the case for EPA action"
R Eshelman "cracking big coal"
L Salzman "an open letter to Bill McKibben"
H Rogers "carbon offset buyers beware"
S Kaplan "sapping the superfund's strength"
K Paik "US military's plans would devastate Guam's environment"

CLIMATE TEXT REVIEWS

Claude Allegre L'imposture climatique (2010)
Ian McEwan Solar (2010)
...and blast from the past: Michael Crichton State of Fear (2004)

CLIMATE PHILOSOPHY

P Kingsnorth/D Hine the dark mountain manifesto (2010)

.

Climate Happenings

2010-04-25T11:40:00.001-07:00

--text posts are at the blistered orb--

CLIMATE EVENTS

Arctic boreal forests are browning 5.1.
Mississippi hit by 'enormous' tornado 4.25.
US monthly tornado frequency at decadal low 4.23.
Iceland volcano causes fall in CO2 emissions by halting flights 4.19.
Spain and Japan see birds stop migrating due to climate change 4.18.

GAIA TRENDS

Health: climate change intensifies allergies 4.16. and 4.14.
Oceans: a second garbage patch has formed, now in Atlantic 4.15.
... Atlantic garbage patch photos

CLIMATE SCIENCE

Global warming monitoring needs to find missing oceanic heat 4.21.

(comparing old and new pics shows tundra growing bushes)
M. Sturm arctic plants feel the heat
Scientific American May 2010

(prepare for a drier world with infrequent torrential downpours)
G Stephens predictability of climate-related precipitation changes
Env Res Letters 5 (2010): 025209 (7pp)

(how a quiet sun can kink the jet stream)
M Lockwood are cold winters in Europe due to low solar activity?
Env Res Letters 5 (2010): 024001 (7pp)

(monsoons and megadroughts)
E Wahl toward understanding and predicting monsoon patterns
Science 328 (2010): 437-438

(it's time to study the trailing edges of shrinking forests)
C Matyas forecasts needed for retreating forests
Nature 464 (2010) 10.1038/4641271a

(why the poles heat up quickest: blame melting ice)
J Screen role of sea ice in recent Arctic temperature amplification
Nature 464 (2010): 1334-1337

CLIMATE POLICY

US approves nation's first offshore wind farm 4.28.
US key republican senator withdraws support for climate bill 4.25.
US climate rally on Washington mall 4.25.
US Greenpeace: climate bill hijacked by industry lobbyists 4.23.
... M Friedman on climate bill 4.25.
Bolivia Evo Morales opens climate conference: "planet or death" 4.21.
US coal business is booming (Peabody Energy quarterly report) 4.21.
UK climate skeptic wins landmark data victory 4.20.
Canada waits for US to move on cap-n-trade plan 4.16.

CLIMATE MITIGATION

NatureNews: hydrogen vehicles: fuel of the future? 4.28.
US Cape Cod tries to catch up with EU offshore wind projects 4.26.
Germany: hydrogen still in the eco-car race 4.18.
California: solar boom fueled by creative financing 4.16.
Denmark: hotel guest biking electric utilization 4.16.
US solar industry expanding, adds jobs 4.15.
Sweden: body heat electric utilization 4.15.

THE BIG PICTURE

D Jackson wheel dividends: how Europe breaks car dependence 4.27.
J Watts all the tees in China: golf boom threatens rain forest 4.24.
A Goodman Cochabamba, the water wars, and climate change 4.20.
J Sabella Chicago violence and warm weather: the connection 4.20.
T Donovan seven things to do for Earth Day that actually matter 4.19.
D Esty climate change plan B 4.13.

UK interactive carbon calculator
350org at the Bolivia Climate summit (running blog)

CLIMATE TEXT REVIEWS

B McKibben Eaarth and S Brand Ecopragmatist Manifesto

Climate Happenings

2010-04-11T14:36:00.001-07:00

--text posts are at the climate blog--

CLIMATE EVENTS

Rhode Island record high temps help dry up flood 4.8.
US Northeast summer temps shatter records 4.8.
New York record high temperature 4.7.
Philadelphia record high temperature 4.7.
Washington week-long heat wave 4.7.
South Carolina record high temperature 4.6.
Arctic cold snap causes late-season growth spurt 4.6.
Brazil's worst rains on record kill 95 in Rio 4.6.
New York approaches daily high temperature record 4.5.
Arctic sea ice melting season latest start on record 4.5. and 4.6.
Aral See shrunk by ninety percent; is almost dried up 4.5.
Vermont record high temperature 4.3.
N America Monarch butterflies now under siege 4.2.
Florida winter was among coldest ever 4.2.
Rhode Island sewage plants overwhelmed by flooding 4.1.
New England flooding drowns homes 3.31.
Rhode Island battered, watches water rising 3.31.
Germany sees return of winter 3.31.
US East Coast record rain; Mass., R.I., Conn. emergency 3.30.
US East Coast battered by record storms 3.30. and 3.30.
US East Coast gets near-record rains 3.29.
US hit by another cold snap 3.27.
US migrant birds are shrinking due to climate change 3.25.

GAIA TRENDS

Earth's sixth extinction event is now underway 4.9.
China blamed for SE Asian water shortage 4.1.
Arctic changes: the big picture (3 min video) 3.31.
Africa: how food and water are driving the 21st C land grab 3.7.

CLIMATE SCIENCE

US forecasters see increased 2010 hurricane threat 4.7.
US Northeast will see more, fiercer rain storms 4.5.
Arctic thaw frees overlooked greenhouse gas 4.4.
Arctic thaw more warming worries: methane 4.4.
US the future of freezing 4.1.
Nature launches publication of Nature: Climate Change journal 3.31.
Cambodian Angkhor civilization collapsed due to climate 3.30.
UK climategate (sic!) scientist P Jones, East Anglia, exonerated 3.30.
climate & meat eating & driving confusion/connection 3.27.
Gravity matters! Global sea level rise will vary by region 3.25.
CO2 domes over cities increase health risks 3.16.

(climate, biodiversity, nitrogen: quantifiable sustainability limits)
J Foley boundaries for a healthy planet
Scientific American (Apr 2010): 55-60

(wind patterns account for 1/3 of polar cap changes)
M Ogi influence of wind anomalies on summer sea ice extent
Geophysical Research Letters 37 (2010): L07701

(geoengineering insolation reduction won't lower sea level rise)
S Jevrejeva how will sea levels respond to forcings by 2100?
Geophysical Research Letters 37 (2010): L07703

(quiet sun won't cool us down enough--temps will go up anyway)
G Feulner on the climate effect of a new minimum of solar activity
Geophysical Research Letters 37 (2010): L05707

(if abrupt cold 12 kya perhaps due to impact, we'll find nitrates)
A Carlson what caused the younger dryas cold event?
Geology 38 (2010): 383-384

(monster rains are now more frequent)
P Gorman current changes in tropical precipitation
Environmental Research Letters 5 (2010): 025205

(if you think seas will only go up 1-2 meters, dream on)
S Rahmstorf a new view on sea level rise
Nature Reports Climate Change 4.6. doi 10.1038

(S Korea and China, not U.S., are world leaders in green spending)
E Barbier how is the global green new deal going?
Nature 464 (2010): doi: 10.1038/464832a

(if it snows less in E Antarctica, it'll rain more in W Australia e.v.v.)
T van Ommen Antarctica snow increase tied to Australian drought
Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 267-277

CLIMATE POLICY

Mexico: from Copenhagen to Cancun 4.12.
Germany: from Copenhagen to Bonn 4.9.
Bolivia prepares alternative climate conference 4.12.
... 350.org Bolivia summit blog
France scientists ask minister to disavow predecessor's book 4.9.
Canada's do-nothing climate policy 4.6.
US new fuel efficiency standards announced 4.1. and 4.1.
Arab nations lag behind in climate action 4.1.
UN doesn't expect climate deal until 2011 3.31.
US permits offshore drilling Delaware to Florida & Alaska 3.31.
US-French action on climate? 3.30.
US Interior Dept to decide on Alaska offshore drilling 3.30.
US EPA weighs hidden costs of carbon 3.30.
Greenpeace unmasks Koch Industry's funding of climate denial 3.30.
US Obama gives fed agriculture post to corp Monsanto man 3.29.
US Obama high speed rail money allocated too little too late 3.17.

CLIMATE MITIGATION

Europe finds cleaner energy in trash, but US lags 4.12.
US wind energy growing in blue and red states alike 4.12.
US everything you need to know about new fuel economy rules 4.1.
McDonalds scraps composting b/c food won't decompose April 1!
Earth Hour 3.27.

THE BIG PICTURE

editors the clouds of unknowing The Economist 4.13.
leader spin, science, and climate change The Economist 4.13.
B. Chameides much ado about arctic sea ice? 4.12.
A. Lappe diet for a hot planet (review) 4.6.
P. Hawkens commencement address Portland University 4.5.
D. Goldberg do Americans really make the connection? 4.1.
M. Klare is the world's resource map tilting east? 4.1.
M. Gaworecki wanted: climate denial kingpins 3.31.
J. Buell humans, climate change 3.30.
C. Hedges is America yearning for fascism? 3.29.
J. Lovelock humans too stoopid to prevent climate change 3.29.
... at the Guardian link ... more ...
J. Boardman (Amtrak CEO) passenger rail essential for climate 3.29.
T. Dickinson the climate killers 1.6.

new blog/journal site The Daily Green

PSEUDOSCIENCE

A. Bolt, meteorologist, Herald Sun, Melbourne 4.1.

PARADIGM SHIFT

Full comprehension of [the] interconnected [climate science literacy] concepts will require a systems-thinking approach, meaning the ability to understand complex interconnections among all of the components of the climate system.

from entry on climate literacy added to Encyclopedia of Earth

GLOBAL WARMING NEOLOGISMS

"greenhouse extinction"
... from P. D. Ward, Under a Green Sky: global warming, the mass extinctions of the past, and what they tell us about the future (NY: Harper, 2008)
and:
ecocide

.

Climate Happenings

2010-03-28T17:53:00.001-07:00

--text posts are at the blistered orb --

CLIMATE EVENTS

Ocean currents remain unchanged 3.24.
Soils worldwide emit more CO2, may make it all worse 3.24.
Beijing hit by second sandstorm; Hong Kong gets scary air 3.24.
China's sandstorms blast Beijing 3.22. and 3.20.
Greenland ice melt is accelerating GRL 3.19.
North Dakota gets hit by floods 3.18.
Cyclone Tomas hits Fiji 3.16.
New York blasted by flood, storms 3.15.
US Northeast storm power outage 3.14.

GAIA TRENDS

EU Red List shows climate change kills off butterflies 3.17.
Pacific Trash Vortex world's greatest garbage dump 3.16.
US FWS List shows climate change kills off birds 3.11.

CLIMATE SCIENCE

(ocean currents seem to keep chugging along)
J. Willis, Can floats & altimeters detect changes in overturning?
Geophysical Research Letters 37 (2010): LO6602

(Lovelock was right on--we're losing forests to climate change)
C. Allen et al., Emerging climate change risks for forests
Forest Ecology and Management 259 (2010): 660-684

(the Amazon rainforest isn't as tough as we've hoped)
A. Samanta et al., Amazon forests did not green up in 2005 drought
Geophysical Research Letters 37 (2010) L05401

(ditto)
O. Phillips et al., Drought sensitivity of the Amazon rain forest
Science 323 (2009): 1344-47

(modeling causal flows in spreading ocean dead zones)
M. Pena et al., Modeling dissolved oxygen dynamics and hypoxia
Biogeosciences 7 (2010): 933-57

(if we're lucky, souring seas blessed by negative feedback loop)
E. Breitbarth et al, Ocean acidification affects coastal iron speciation
Biogeosciences 7 (2010): 1065-73

(oceans won't turn to deserts yet, but they're getting there)
M. Steinacher et al., Projected decrease in marine productivity
Biogeosciences 7 (2010): 979-1005

(repost: the window of opportunity is still open!)
D. Matthews et al, Committed climate warming
Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 142-143

(hurricanes will get stronger 2-11 percent)
T. Knutson et al, Tropical cyclones and climate change
Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 157-163

(Greenland melt gets serious)
S. A. Khan, Spread of ice mass loss in northwest Greenland observed
Geophysical Research Letters 37 (2010) L06501

CLIMATE POLICY

State of the Planet climate conference at Columbia U 3.25.
US policymakers distance themselves from cap & trade 3.25.
UN FAO to look at meat and climate link 3.24.
California report shows climate bill won't hurt business 3.24.
Hong Kong-Shenzhen-Guangzhou world's first megacity 3.23.
US democrat coalition urges Senate climate vote 3.22.
US state governors for Wind Energy Coalition 3.17.

CLIMATE MITIGATION

could tiny mirror-bubbles in the seas cool the planet? 3.26.
cleaner, cheaper diesel engines developed 3.25.
California screws up: less trains & buses 3.24.
physicists name power saving unit the "Rosenfeld" 3.9.

THE BIG PICTURE

M. Hulme mapping climate change knowledge
S Thill, 10 ways Mother Earth will strike back 3.21.
T Norris why America needs an energy education strategy 3.18.
NASA site: global climate change
NASA video (25 sec): annual sea ice minimum 1997-2007
AlterNet on the paradigm shift
John Cook's anti-skepticism blog
W. Lin, Asian test-score culture thwarts creativity Science 327: 1576

GAIA CONSENSUS

It is thus important to initiate further research in the natural and social sciences to better understand and communicate whether alternative strategies to moderate future climate change are, or are not, viable, appropriate, and ethical. Further discussions [on geoengineering] must involve government and civil society.

Asilomar 2 geoengineering conference statement
March 2010, Pacific Grove, Cal

GLOBAL WARMING NEOLOGISMS

cleantech
megacity and ...
fart apocalypse

.

Climate Happenings

2010-03-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

-- text posts are at the blistered orb --

CLIMATE EVENTS

China in severe drought 3.12.
US some bird species pushed to extinction 3.11.
Arctic shelf belches methane 3.9.
World oceans: growing low-oxygen zones 3.7.
Europe: again another blizzard 3.6.
Arctic ocean: the methane leak 3.5. and AFP and 3.4.
Europe: a new blizzard 2.28. and 2.27.

GAIA TRENDS

M. Steinacher: projected 21st c decrease in marine productivity
Biogeoscience 7 (2010): 979-1005

CLIMATE DENIERS / AMERICAN DISENLIGHTENMENT

US belief in climatology lowest since polling began 13 ys ago 3.12.
Gallup poll: gringo global warming concerns continue to drop Mar 10
Pew poll: more US Americans doubt climate change Nov 09

Realclimate: a warming pause? Oct 09

CLIMATE SCIENCE

H.D. Matthews, A. J. Weaver committed climate warming
Nature Geoscience 3 (2010): 142-143

M. Heimann how stable is the methane cycle?
Science 327 (2010): 1211-1212

S. Solomon stratospheric water vapor & global warming
Science 327 (2010): 1219-1223

M. Lomas carbon uptake in Sargasso Sea & negative feedback loop
Biogeosciences 7 (2010): 57-70

D. Dissard impact of seawater pCO2 on calcification
Biogeosciences 7 (2010): 81-93

N. Shakhova extensive methane venting from siberian arctic shelf
Science 327 (2010): 1246-1250

UN reviews IPCC Himalayan melt warnings 3.10.
fresh evidence for anthropogenic warming 3.5.
settling the science on Himalayan glaciers 3.2.
glacier melting a clue to tracking climate change 3.4.
sea orbiter drifting research station 2.27.

CLIMATE POLICY

China alleges diplomatic snub at Copenhagen 3.14.
US ocean acidification another path to EPA rules? 3.12.
climategate inquiry consultant claims global warming is religion 3.4.
US Darwin foes add global warming to their targets 3.4.
scientists take steps to defend work on climate 3.2.

CLIMATE MITIGATION

European polluters use offsets to avoid carbon cuts 3.11.
European industries are hoarding GHG emissions permits 3.11.
France boosts nuclear energy 3.8.
Florida solar-gas hybrid power plant 3.4.
Japan Toyota Prius tops sales 3.4.
US carbon fee for oil industry? 3.3.
Calif. Owens Valley vs. solar panels 3.2.
green fuels cause more harm 3.1.
China vetoes US Hummer purchase 2.24.
is ethanol bad for climate? 2.12.

THE BIG PICTURE

D. Darewitz: more research makes the controversy worse 3.10.
T. Athanasiou: how to move forward after Copenhagen 3.4.
C. Hedges: the zero point of systemic collapse 2.12.
World Resources Institute: climate analysis indicators tool

T. Athanasiu, the emissions emergency is a crisis of justice,
Earth Island J (Spring 2010)

W. Alvarez: the Copernican revolution & understanding Earth
Geology 38 (2010): 231-234

M. Hijma twice the sea-level jump prior to 8.2 ka cooling event
Geology 38 (2010): 275-278

GLOBAL WARMING NEOLOGISM

America's locust years

.

Climate Happenings

2010-02-28T12:45:00.000-08:00

-- text posts are at the blistered orb --

CLIMATE EVENTS

France hit by unusual storm 2.28.
Germany hit by unusual storm 2.28.
New England storms continue 2.28.
Florida spring break ruined by storms 2.28.
Antarctica calves giant icebergs 2.26.
World ocean hypoxic zones spread 2.23.
Russia record snow 2.22.
World oceans now more acidic than past 800,000 years 2.22.

GAIA TRENDS

WMO discusses Climate Action Plan 2.26.

CLIMATE SCIENCE

A quiet sun won’t help 2.28.
tropical cyclone wind speed predicted to increase 2.23.
pleistocene sea level spike 2.15.
marine plankton vulnerability to souring seas 2.14.
sea level rise predicted now at seven feet 2.12.
desertification threatens now 38% of surface 2.10.
tropical cyclone prediction: fewer but stronger 2.7.
cretaceous ocean anoxic event carbon sequestration 2.7.
predator-prey cycles increasingly out of step 1.7.

CLIMATE POLICY

UN to create science panel to review IPCC 2.26.
UK backlash against climate policy 2.26.
Univ East Anglia rejects climategate accusations 2.25.
UK sharp decline in public’s belief in climate threat 2.23.
UN climate chief resigns 2.18.
US Obama disappoints 2.17.
US backlash against climate policy 2.17.
climategate scientist answers critics 2.15.
UK secretary Miliband declares war on skeptics 1.31.

CLIMATE MITIGATION

China vetoes purchase: GM to shut down Hummer 2.24.
Germany discusses hydrogen transit infrastructure 2.18.
World’s top firms do $ 2.2. trillion of enviro damage 2.18.

THE BIG PICTURE

Al Gore: we can't wish away climate change 2.27.
Bill McKibben: the attack on climate science 2.25.
Bill Gates’ climate equation: CO2 = P x S x E x C 2.16.
Michael T. Klare: Avatar—the prequel 2.14.

GLOBAL WARMING NEOLOGISMS

the grasshopper generation
the bottleneck century

.

Climate Happenings

2010-02-14T11:51:00.000-08:00

-- text posts are at the blistered orb --

CLIMATE EVENTS

Brazil heat wave record 2.10.
US midatlantic snow record 2.10.
Tibet temps highest ever 2.6.
US mega snow storms 2.6.
US whiteout paralyzes society 2.6.
California violent storms, floods 2.6.
Mexico violent storms, floods 2.5.
Chad Lake dries out 1.29.
Arctic record methane outgassing 1.15.
Iraq's drought crisis 12.15.

GAIA TRENDS

2010 Environmental Performance Ranking Index 2.1.
... go to EPI homepage
Data are in: Germany meets 2008 climate goals 2.1.
2010 food shortages forecast 12.24.

CLIMATE SCIENCE

2007 AR 4 melting glaciers error 2.9.
IPCC attacked by skeptics 2.8.
2008 record glacier melt 1.26.
Australia 408 km/h wind 1996 2.3.
first proof of ocean basin acidification 1.10.
greater systems sensitivity found 12.20.

CLIMATE POLICY

US climate committee postponed due to bad weather 2.9.
US climate monitoring gets federal go ahead 2.8.
US climate trial against innocent activists 2.8.
Dim prospects for US climate bill 2.5.
Dim prospects for Mexico climate summit 2.1.
IPCC in crisis 2.1.
Climate Accord gets boost, but ... 2.1.
US Pentagon ranks climate change 1.31.
US prez suggests emissions targets 1.29.
Bin Laden blasts US for climate change 1.29.
US State of Union 2010 climate on backseat 1.28.
US campaign finance ruling and climate 1.21.
... Ronald Dworkin on finance ruling 1.21.

CLIMATE MITIGATION

Florida highspeed on track 2.10.
US Iraqi Oil conundrum 2.3.
Germany CO2 basalt sequestration 2.2.
US pushes nuclear energy 1.31.
China boosts electric bikes 1.31.
China leads clean energy race 1.30.

THE BIG PICTURE

M Barlow: climate change and water 1.29

CLIMATE PHILOSOPHY

M Schonfeld "Introduction" climate ethics issue Jan 2010
H Wilson "Divine Sovereignty and Climate" Jan 2010
R Irwin "Climate Change and Heidegger" Jan 2010
P Cafaro "Ethical Choice of Climate Change" Jan 2010
C Rentmeester "Kantian Look at Climate Change" Jan 2010

.