Opeds and Editorials
Veterans push for clean energy, safer nation
10/20/2009
Several military veterans — part of Operation Free Veterans for American Power — brought their 21 state bus tour Monday to the American Legion Post 44 in Canton. The group supports cheap, domestic and renewable energy and contends drastic changes in our weather climate increase potential for military conflicts.
Energy chief visits Jefferson Lab: Clean energy is key to ‘prosperity’
10/01/2009
From creating jobs to making Earth safe for future generations, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu made his case Tuesday to overhaul the nation’s energy system.
In Newport News to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Jefferson Lab, Chu said the United States risks falling behind other nations, specifically China, by not responding quickly to climate change.
Boxer, Kerry Launch Campaign to Pass Senate Cap-And-Trade Bill
09/30/2009
Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), John Kerry (D-Mass.) and nine Senate supporters kicked off the autumn global warming debate today with a campaign-style rally releasing their comprehensive climate bill.
Maldives cabinet to hold meeting underwater
09/25/2009
President Mohamed Nasheed is to host an underwater cabinet meeting on October 24 to draw attention to the impact of climate change on the Indian Ocean archipelago, his office told AFP on Friday.
The country boast the world’s lowest highest point, at 2.3 meters, making it extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels.
N.J. environmental groups voice support for federal clean-energy bill
08/13/2009
New Jersey’s environmental groups have come out to support federal legislation aimed at reducing carbon emissions, which they say would create 47,000 clean energy jobs in the state.
Renewable power industry says U.S. moving too slowly
08/11/2009
Executives from wind and solar, and other industries in the expanding world of “cleantech” argued utilities should be required to buy much more renewable energy and warned that unless the federal government closes a hole in climate legislation, the energy can’t reach homes that need it.
Local agriculture should drive the transition to a clean-energy economy
08/11/2009
Science tells us that unmitigated climate change will cause shifts in growing seasons, crop yield reductions, increasingly stressed and unreliable water supplies and decreased livestock growth rates, reproduction and milk productivity. Failing to act on climate change will have a drastic impact on our agriculture industry, the families that depend on farming and consumers’ access to affordable food. This issue cannot be ignored.
In Pa. House, heavy debate over clean-energy bill
08/10/2009
Chu, Markey Make Argument for Clean Energy Bill at Kennedy School Forum
08/07/2009
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu presented a compelling argument for a renewed national energy policy during an appearance Thursday (August 6) at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. Using Power Point charts and extensive data to supplement his address, Chu outlined to an overflow audience both the global warming challenge and potential strategies that could provide solutions.
Global warming threatens American security
08/07/2009
Climate change is an urgent national security issue. So says a recent National
Intelligence Assessment and an influential group of retired military officers
and defense experts at the Center for Naval Analysis, a nonprofit policy
analysis group.
Glacier melt accelerating, federal report concludes
08/07/2009
The federal government Thursday released the most comprehensive study of melting glaciers in North America—and the results show a rapid and accelerating shrinkage over the last half a century because of global warming.
One of the glaciers in the study, the South Cascade Glacier in Washington state, has lost nearly half of its volume and a quarter of its mass since 1958, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey said. The two others in the study, the Wolverine and Gulkana glaciers in Alaska, have both lost nearly 15% of their mass.
In all three cases, the melting has increased over the last two decades. The acceleration is the result of warmer, drier climates in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska caused by global warming, the researchers said.
Shrinking Glaciers Reveal Global Warming in U.S. Northwest
08/07/2009
Three glaciers in different climate zones of the U.S. Northwest have shrunk rapidly since 1989, confirming the impact of global warming on their decline, the government said in a report.
The glaciers in Alaska and the state of Washington have shown a "rapid and sustained" loss of mass over the two decades, according to today’s report from the U.S. Geological Survey. The South Cascade glacier in Washington is shrinking at a rate that may see it disappear in 50 years, said Edward Josberger, the report’s lead author.
Hubris in climate change
07/24/2009
We need to better understand causation and the global systems and then task our uniquely human ability to research, engineer, utilize and benefit from nature in efficient and comprehensive methods.
Avoid hubris. The global climate will change. It has in the past and will continue in the future with or without us. It is a part of our dynamic planet that makes life possible. We learn, understand, adapt and utilize.
EU to ban energy-inefficient fridges, TVs
07/23/2009
The European Union is to ban the sale of inefficient TVs, fridges and electric motors as early as next July in a bid to save energy and fight global warming, the EU’s executive said Wednesday.
The EU is the world’s largest single market, making the new rules crucial for technology producers around the world.
Climate change could put the heat on California crops
07/22/2009
Fruit and nut orchards in the Central Valley rely on winter chilling hours, but those are in decline, according to a UC Davis study.
Hillary Clinton talks climate change in India
07/20/2009
Hillary Clinton, in her first visit to India as secretary of state, said Sunday that the United States and India can work together to combat global warming and at the same time spark economic growth and generate new jobs.
“I am very confident the United States and India can devise a plan that will dramatically change the way we produce, consume and conserve energy, and in the process spark an explosion of new investment and millions of jobs,” she told reporters in New Delhi on the third day of a five-day visit to India.
China Builds High Wall to Guard Energy Industry
07/16/2009
When the United States’ top energy and commerce officials arrive in China on Tuesday, they will land in the middle of a building storm over China’s protectionist tactics to become the world’s leader in renewable energy.
Earth warming faster
04/08/2009
Global warming is likely to overshoot a 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) rise seen by the European Union and many developing nations as a trigger for "dangerous" change, a Reuters poll of scientists showed on Tuesday.
Nine of 11 experts, who were among authors of the final summary by the U.N.‘s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 (IPCC), also said the evidence that mankind was to blame for climate change had grown stronger in the past two years.
An Antarctic ice shelf has disappeared
04/04/2009
One Antarctic ice shelf has quickly vanished, another is disappearing and glaciers are melting faster than anyone thought due to climate change, U.S. and British government researchers reported on Friday.
They said the Wordie Ice Shelf, which had been disintegrating since the 1960s, is gone and the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer exists. More than 3,200 square miles (8,300 square km) have broken off from the Larsen shelf since 1986.
Climate change is to blame, according to the report from the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey
Climate clock is ticking
04/04/2009
For most people, news of the ice melt was little more than a distant curiosity. But for climate scientists it was the scariest thing they had seen yet, and what’s more it had caught them completely by surprise.
In the summer of 2007, a large portion of Arctic Sea ice – about 40 per cent – simply vanished. That wasn’t supposed to happen. At least not yet. As recent as 2004, scientists had predicted it would take another 50 to 100 years for that much ice to melt. Yet here it was happening today.
It raised the question: Had global warming suddenly pressed the gas pedal to the floor?
The Price Is Not Right
04/01/2009
I don’t expect much from the G-20 meeting this week, but if I had my wish, the leaders of the world’s 20 top economies would commit themselves to a new standard of accounting — call it “Market to Mother Nature” accounting. Why? Because it’s now obvious that the reason we’re experiencing a simultaneous meltdown in the financial system and the climate system is because we have been mispricing risk in both arenas — producing a huge excess of both toxic assets and toxic air that now threatens the stability of the whole planet.
Does Global Warming Compromise National Security?
03/30/2009
It was overshadowed by the presidential campaign, but last Dec. 5 a bit of environmental legislative history was made. After repeated failures, and in the face of opposition from the White House, the Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works passed legislation that would mandate greenhouse gas reductions for the American economy, a vital step to implementing a national carbon cap-and-trade program. What changed?
The point of no return
03/30/2009
How is it that, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, there are still some who would deny the dangers of climate change? Not surprisingly, the loudest voices are not scientific, and it is remarkable how many economists, lawyers, journalists and politicians set themselves up as experts on the science. It is absolutely right that those who discuss policy should interrogate the science, because the implications for action are radical. However, they should also take the scientific evidence seriously and recognise the limitations on their own abilities to assess the science.
Contrary to the narrative that some have tried to impose on the debate, climate change is not a theory struggling to maintain itself in the face of problematic evidence.
Focus on global warming
03/28/2009
The Obama administration is trying to show other nations at its first international negotiations on climate change that the United States does care about global warming and wants to help shape a new deal.
After eight years on the sidelines, the United States says it is ready for a central role in developing a new international agreement to slash greenhouse gases. But whether America, the second largest source of heat-trapping pollution, is ready to sign on by year’s end likely depends on Congress.
Earth Hour: World’s Vote for Action against Global Warming
03/28/2009
State Needs Renewable Energy, Not More Coal Plants
03/27/2009
The state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is expected to decide soon if a coal-fired power plant will be constructed in Bay City. Last night, the DEQ listened to the pros and cons of the Consumers Energy proposal to construct the $2-billion plant. Consumers Energy says the facility would not change economic conditions in the Bay City area, but environmental groups disagree.
But, Sierra Club state director Anne Woiwode says, if the Bay City plant - as well as seven others proposed around the state - are approved by the DEQ, they would delay Michigan’s efforts to invest in clean, renewable energy and efficiency.
Obama cites North Dakota floods in call for climate change action
03/25/2009
President Obama says potentially historic flood levels in North Dakota are a clear example of why steps need to be taken to stop global warming. Heavy rain and blizzards have caused eight rivers in the state to swell to flood levels and emergency management officials are warily watching the Red River, which could surpass record levels late this week.
"If you look at the flooding that’s going on right now in North Dakota and you say to yourself, ‘If you see an increase of two degrees, what does that do, in terms of the situation there?’" Obama told reporters at the White House Monday. "That indicates the degree to which we have to take this seriously."
Waters in the Red River were 33 feet this morning, according to CNN. That’s 15 feet above flood stage, and close to the record 41.1 feet set in April 1897, according to the network. The river could exceed those levels by Friday or Saturday, officials say.
EPA Raises Heat on Emissions Debate
03/24/2009
The Environmental Protection Agency has sent the White House a proposed finding that carbon dioxide is a danger to public health, a step that could trigger a clampdown on emissions of greenhouse gases across a wide swath of the economy.
If approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the endangerment finding could clear the way for the EPA to use the Clean Air Act to control emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases believed to contribute to climate change. In effect, the government would treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant.
Warmer temperatures threaten Colorado’s farm water
03/23/2009
My great-grandfather moved to Kiowa County from Illinois and began our family’s ties to rural Colorado in the late 1800s. Modern technology has changed our lives and most certainly how we work the land.
That earlier snow melt, increased evaporation and drier soils will reduce runoff for most of the Colorado’s water basins, with a 5 percent to 20 percent loss just in the Colorado River Basin by 2050 alone.
One thing that hasn’t changed is how critical water is to making a living for farmers and ranchers.
Climate Change Myths and Facts
03/21/2009
A recent controversy over claims about climate science by Post op-ed columnist George F. Will raises a critical question: Can we ever know, on any contentious or politicized topic, how to recognize the real conclusions of science and how to distinguish them from scientific-sounding spin or misinformation?
Congress will soon consider global-warming legislation, and the debate comes as contradictory claims about climate science abound. Partisans of this issue often wield vastly different facts and sometimes seem to even live in different realities.
Remember the other crisis
03/20/2009
Threats to the stability of the economic world are now getting most of the attention, but threats to the stability of the whole world, by way of climate change, are still very much with us.
Two reminders of that fact presented themselves last week.
On March 12 the research arm of the National Academies, which includes the National Academy of Sciences, released a report reiterating that climate change is real, happening now and accelerating rapidly because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
In Search of the Climate’s Tipping Point
03/18/2009
When asked to quantify the impact of climate change, scientists come up with a lot of interesting answers, no two of them quite the same. For the lay person, then, perhaps the simplest way to understand it is to imagine a distant asteroid, somewhere out in space, on a collision course with Earth. It’s not clear when or where the asteroid will hit, or exactly how severe the consequences will be. But it is clear that when it happens, the consequences will be far worse — and last far longer — than any natural disaster humanity has ever known.
That is the threat to the planet that many scientists can agree is posed by climate change.
States With Most Dangerous Coal Ash
03/17/2009
In the wake of the December 22 disastrous spill of toxic coal ash into a Tennessee River—into and over houses, leaving sludge behind that the Tennessee Valley Authority simultaneously said wasn’t dangerous and that should be avoided at all costs, we wondered where else we should be worried about coal ash sitting around, waiting to be dumped on neighbors.
The Natural Resource Defense Council is thinking further ahead, coming up with a state-by-state threat report, based on where new coal plants and coal ash storage is planned.
Global Warming Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
03/12/2009
The Cold War shaped world politics for half a century. But global warming may shape the patterns of global conflict for much longer than that—and help spark clashes that will be, in every sense of the word, hot wars.
We’re used to thinking of climate change as an environmental problem, not a military one, but it’s long past time to alter that mindset.
EPA May Require Factories to Report Warming Emissions
03/10/2009
Chemical, steel, automobile and other energy-intensive factories would have to submit annual reports to the federal government on their greenhouse gas emissions under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposal that lays a foundation for fighting global warming.
About 13,000 facilities that account for as much as 90 percent of greenhouse gas emissions would have to comply, the EPA said in a statement today.
Climate Urgency Stressed as 2,000 Researchers Meet
03/10/2009
Two thousand researchers called to Copenhagen this week to discuss the latest global-warming science will stress a growing urgency to tackle climate change, Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard said.
The scientists and officials from governments and private industry around the world who study rising temperatures started three days of meetings today to discuss evidence of warming.
Planning for damage from climate change
03/10/2009
European Commision’s Inspiring Agenda
03/04/2009
The great environmental challenge of our generation is climate change. And if we continue to emit greenhouse gases at current rates then it is certain that global warming will reach dangerous levels during the course of this century with catastrophic changes to our planet.
The other great global challenge is the loss of biodiversity and the magnitude of the problem is almost impossible to comprehend. Research was recently published showing that since 1970 some 25% of biodiversity on the planet had been lost. In other words human activity is eliminating about 1% of all other species each and every year.
Looking at climate change and biodiversity it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that we are still a long way from meeting our most basic environmental objectives. And it is important to understand that climate change and the loss of ecosystems are symptoms of a deeper underlying problem – which is the unsustainable way that we are using up the world’s resources.
A Promising New International Climate Pact
03/02/2009
Within weeks of taking office, President Obama has radically shifted the global equation, placing the United States at the forefront of the international climate effort and raising hopes that an effective international accord might be possible. Mr. Obama’s chief climate negotiator, Todd Stern, said last week that the United States would be involved in the negotiation of a new treaty — to be signed in Copenhagen in December — “in a robust way.”
That treaty, officials and climate experts involved in the negotiations say, will significantly differ from the agreement of a decade ago, reaching beyond reducing greenhouse gas emissions and including financial mechanisms and making good on longstanding promises to provide money and technical assistance to help developing countries cope with climate change.
“In Kyoto we made a lot of promises to each other, but we hadn’t done the domestic politics,” Mr. Ashton said, “and that is why Kyoto — though a valuable step forward — has ultimately been so fragile.” The talks on the new treaty, said Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “provides an opportunity to fill this gap that we’ve seen, and this time perform up to expectations.”
Antarctic glaciers melting faster than thought
02/25/2009
Researchers once believed that the melting was limited to the Antarctic Peninsula, a narrow tongue of land pointing toward South America. But satellite data and automated weather stations now indicate it is more widespread.
By the end of the century, the accelerated melting could cause sea levels to climb by 3 to 5 feet — levels substantially higher than predicted by a major scientific group just two years ago.
New research published this month in the journal Geophysical Research Letters found that melting glaciers will add at least 7 inches to the world’s sea level — and that’s if carbon dioxide pollution is quickly capped and then reduced.
Far more likely is an increase of at least 15 inches and probably more just from melting glaciers, the journal said.
Is global warming confusing pelicans?
02/24/2009
Climate change might have fooled thousands of California brown pelicans, who stayed north later than usual last year and encountered harsh winter storms on their trip south, researchers now believe.
That theory has emerged following tests and observation of dozens of sick, disoriented and frost-bitten adult pelicans that turned up in December and January, researchers said.
MIT Scientists Increase Global Warming Projections
02/23/2009
New research from MIT scientists shows that in the absence of stringent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, 21st century climate change may be far more significant than some previous climate assessments had indicated.
The results also showed that even if nations were to act quickly to reduce emissions, it is more likely that warming would be greater than previous studies had shown. However, the increase in projected temperatures under the "policy scenario" was not as large as for the no policy scenario.
Global Warming Satellite to Launch Tuesday
02/23/2009
After a five-year absence, the Taurus XL rocket will return to Vandenberg Air Force Base for a NASA mission to measure the chief culprit of global warming.
“This experimental NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder Program mission will measure atmospheric carbon dioxide from space, mapping the globe once every 16 days for at least two years,” NASA said.
From Fly Ash to “Clean” Coal
02/21/2009
Both the American and Canadian press took a ‘Well, we’ll see,’ attitude toward the announcement yesterday that President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper will collaborate on clean-energy efforts.
Obama, however, made a very important point (and one that was largely overlooked in the press accounts) when he noted that before meaningful change is possible the U.S. must “complete our domestic debate and discussion around these issues.”
And we have not done that. Obama suggested an excellent case in point: What to do about the U.S.’s dependence on cheap, but dirty, coal, which generates more than half the country’s electricity and is one of the largest sources of greenhouse-gas emissions.
Reid pushing for climate change bill
02/20/2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — Saying it’s time to "take a whack" at climate change, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he plans to push for Senate action on global warming by the end of summer.
The Nevada Democrat in an interview with The Associated Press said the Senate will take up energy legislation in a couple of weeks "and then later this year, hopefully late this summer do the global warming part of it."
Climate legislation will be among the most complex and contentious issues facing Congress.
Temperatures threaten farm water
02/20/2009
My great-grandfather moved to Kiowa County from Illinois and began our family’s ties to rural Colorado in the late 1800s. Modern technology has changed our lives and most certainly how we work the land.
One thing that hasn’t changed is how critical water is to making a living for farmers and ranchers. Our crops and livestock need water in order to survive. Without a reliable source of water, our farms and ranches fail, as do our rural communities.
Montana experiencing warming trend
02/19/2009
A former climatologist and professor at Montana State says in a recent study that late winter, early spring and parts of summer are getting warmer in Montana.
Joseph Caprio, who led the study published in the January edition of the international journal "Climate Change," found that the coldest nighttime temperatures in Bozeman and Coldstream, British Columbia, have occurred less often over the past several decades.
Coal-fired power stations are death factories. Close them
02/19/2009
A year ago, I wrote to Gordon Brown asking him to place a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants in Britain. I have asked the same of Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd and other leaders. The reason is this - coal is the single greatest threat to civilisation and all life on our planet.
The climate is nearing tipping points. Changes are beginning to appear and there is a potential for explosive changes, effects that would be irreversible, if we do not rapidly slow fossil-fuel emissions over the next few decades.
Climate Change Erodes Marine Reserves
02/16/2009
Climate change has undermined fundamental assumptions about oceanic conservation, challenging the notion that today’s sanctuaries will protect tomorrow’s fish.
Conservationists have long assumed fish harvested at a sustainable rate will forever be available for future generations.
Instead, scientists now find that a warming ocean is mobilizing fish populations, sending them to the poles with little regard for marine preserve boundaries.
TAFOYA: Address global warming crisis now
02/15/2009
Our land, the Earth, provides us with sustenance - food, shelter and beauty to inspire us - it is a lifeline to our physical existence. The Earth is a gift from God and yet we fail to take care of this most precious resource.
Reliance on old energy sources and our thirst to consume all of the Earth’s natural resources at any price has led us to a crisis, both spiritual and environmental.
Climate change could be even worse than feared
02/14/2009
It seems the dire warnings about future devastation sparked by global warming have not been dire enough, top climate scientists warned Saturday.
It has been just over a year since the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a landmark report warning of rising sea levels, expanding deserts, more intense storms and the extinction of up to 30 percent of plant and animal species.
But recent climate studies suggest that report significantly underestimates the potential severity of global warming over the next 100 years, a senior member of the panel warned.
Model sees severe climate change impact by 2050
02/13/2009
Current efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions will do little to ease damaging climate change, according to a report issued Friday that predicts Greenland’s ice sheets will start melting by 2050.
A computer model calculated that if carbon dioxide emissions continue to grow at the current rate over the next 40 years, global temperatures will still rise 2 degrees Centigrade compared with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
Virginia, U.K. Sign Climate Change Agreement
02/13/2009
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., and Nigel Sheinwald, U.K. ambassador to the U.S., have signed a bilateral climate change action agreement that commits the Virginia and U.K. governments to the common goals of combating the effects of climate change and developing a more climate-friendly economy.
Virginia is the fifth state to enter a bilateral Climate Change Action Agreement with the U.K., joining California, Florida, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Audubon analysis: Wintering birds shift north
02/10/2009
In the debate over global warming, birds have started voting with their wings.
Observations by Montana Audubon Society bird counters match national data showing that migratory birds are shifting their nesting and wintering grounds in response to climate changes. .
Climate Change Strategy
02/06/2009
The Center for Climate Strategies, a conservative think-tank based in Pennsylvania, has been hired by the Department of Environmental Conservation to serve as the state’s climate commission management team, facilitating the meeting of the governor’s panel.
Yesterday’s meeting dealt with climate change mitigation, which is finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
A Tough Week for Coal
02/04/2009
The coal industry — which suffers from an image problem to begin with — has had a particularly rough few days. Without additional interpretation, we present a selection of articles, published over just the last 48 hours, from around the Web:
Analysts Warn Emissions Are Growing
01/26/2009
Planet-warming emissions from industry are on track to grow faster than previous estimates, and delaying reduction measures beyond 2010 would risk triggering dangerous levels of climate change, according to McKinsey & Company, a leading consultancy.
The findings by McKinsey, which are expected to be unveiled on Monday afternoon in Brussels, appear to reinforce the view of some leading scientists and economists that failing to take action now to reduce emissions could badly hobble economic growth in the future.
Report: Warming cuts trees’ life in half
01/23/2009
The life span of trees in the western
has more than doubled since 1955 as warmer temperatures have led to less moisture and severe drought, according to a paper published today in the journal Science.
Montgomery County fights climate change
01/16/2009
In a time of deepening recessions and spiraling budget deficits, a Montgomery County working group unveiled on Thursday a 58-point climate protection plan that it said will help save the county money in the long run.
The recommendations, made by a group of business, government and civic leaders, includes such immediate actions as purchasing power from alternative sources and installing solar panels, as well as developing a low-cost loan program for residential energy-efficiency upgrades
Energy pick ardent about climate change
01/14/2009
In an autobiography for the Nobel committee, atomic physicist Steven Chu called himself "the academic black sheep" of his family.
He goofed off in high school. Several Ivy League schools rejected him when he applied to college. His father discouraged him from following his older brother into physics, telling him, "You’ll never be successful," recalled younger brother Morgan.
That prediction would turn out to be wildly incorrect.
Hundreds of Coal Ash Dumps Lack Regulation
01/07/2009
The coal ash pond that ruptured and sent a billion gallons of toxic sludge across 300 acres of East Tennessee last month was only one of more than 1,300 similar dumps across the United States — most of them unregulated and unmonitored — that contain billions more gallons of fly ash and other byproducts of burning coal.
Like the one in Tennessee, most of these dumps, which reach up to 1,500 acres, contain heavy metals like arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium, which are considered by the Environmental Protection Agency to be a threat to water supplies and human health. Yet they are not subject to any federal regulation
Think Again: Climate Change
01/07/2009
Act now, we’re told, if we want to save the planet from a climate catastrophe. Trouble is, it might be too late. The science is settled, and the damage has already begun. The only question now is whether we will stop playing political games and embrace the few imperfect options we have left.
No, they’re not. In the early years of the global warming debate, there was great controversy over whether the planet was warming, whether humans were the cause, and whether it would be a significant problem. That debate is long since over.
The Warming Earth Blows Hot, Cold and Chaotic
01/02/2009
Three independent research groups have concluded that 2008 was a comparatively cool year on planet Earth—a feverish chill on our warming world.
The year’s average global temperature was the 9th or 10th warmest since reliable record-keeping began in 1850, and the coldest since the turn of the 21st century, according to separate surveys by the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization, NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies, and the U.S. National Climatic Data Center. Each used slightly different methods to rank 2008 based on world-wide land and sea-surface temperatures through November.
F
Climate change policies failing, Nasa scientist warns Obama
01/01/2009
Current approaches to deal with climate change are ineffectual, one of the world’s top climate scientists said today in a personal new year appeal to Barack Obama and his wife Michelle on the urgent need to tackle global warming.
With less than three weeks to go until Obama’s inauguration, Prof James Hansen, head of Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, asked the recently appointed White House science adviser Prof John Holdren to pass the missive directly to the president-elect.
Carbon capture bill bubbling up in Senate
12/30/2008
HELENA - On its face, carbon capture doesn’t sound particularly complicated: Collect the carbon dioxide emitted by power plants and other coal-burning industries and pump it deep underground, where it can’t cause global warming.
But that simplicity comes with a host of questions
Greenhouse gases warming North America unevenly
12/28/2008
Climate change caused by greenhouse gases is warming the United States, though unevenly, government researchers said.
“The continent as a whole is warming, mostly as a result of the energy sources we are using,” William J. Brennan, acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said at a briefing on the nation’s climate since 1951.
CAP report: Where’s the (coal) money?
12/22/2008
A major coal industry group has spent an estimated $45 million on an ongoing advertising campaign promoting the clean energy potential of coal, but its members are spending relatively little on the research that would make the technology a viable solution, a report by the Center for American Progress finds.
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity’s 48 member companies have only invested $3.5 billion in carbon capture research over the past several years, a fraction of the investment scientists say is needed to meet global warming reduction targets, the study by the progressive think tank finds.
N.C. needs to prepare for changing climate, ECU report states
12/20/2008
Climate change is a reality that North Carolina needs to prepare for, according to a recent report produced at East Carolina University.
“Global Warming and Coastal North Carolina,” which includes the work of more than 25 faculty members, describes how climate change is affecting the coast, how it may continue to affect the coast and what the state can do to get ready for it.
Commentary: It’s still the right time to combat global warming
12/19/2008
(CNN)—Global warming data is released constantly these days—and all of it shows that our planet is in peril. We know that pollution taints our air, water and land, and global warming threatens humans and wildlife in all corners of the globe.
Just this week, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that based on records dating back to 1880, 2008 is on track to be one of the 10 warmest years globally, even though it was the coolest year since the turn of the century.
We are at a tipping point when it comes to battling global warming -
Coal should be warming concern: scientists say
12/19/2008
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Researchers and officials concerned about global warming have focused on oil usage, but scientists on Wednesday said liquefied coal could have a greater affect on global climate change.
Global warming scenarios are based on oil reserves, but those reserves will have less impact on global climate than the extent to which liquefied coal replaces oil and gas, scientists said at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
Sound the alarm on climate change
12/19/2008
Environmental scientists who have been watching Earth’s climate change dramatically in recent decades recognize an immediate need for comprehensive, coordinated action to address the threats of climate change.
From ground and from space, we see an Arctic in the midst of rapid change: The blanket of sea ice that once covered much of the Arctic Ocean in summer is disappearing.
Shuler to attend NC climate change discussion today
12/19/2008
At 2 p.m. today, elected officials, tree farmers, and agriculture/forestry experts and academics will host a press conference calling on Congress to deal with the climate change/global warming issue in the new 111th Congress convening in January.
The press conference will take place at the Asheville Farmers Market (Truck Sheds 4&5), 570 Brevard Road, Asheville.
Report warns climate change could cost Ohio
12/18/2008
A report released Wednesday warns that ignoring climate change could cost Ohio billions in revenue and almost 2 million jobs.
"If carbon pollution across the world continues to rise, Ohio will be a different place in 100 years, with greater extremes of rainfall and drought, shifts in agricultural production, higher levels of smog pollution, a falling waterline on Lake Erie, and more," said Micah Vieux, director of climate change and sustainability programs for the Ohio League of Conservation Voters.
Science Must Evolve to Tackle Global Warming
12/16/2008
Forest Service ramps up climate-change information
12/14/2008
Climate-change specialists are visiting Forest Service offices in the agency’s Northern Region to educate employees about shifting climatic conditions and their ramifications.
The Forest Service is looking at how best to manage its vast and varied natural resources, while reducing the agency’s environmental footprint.
Reid sees giant leaps for green energy
12/03/2008
WASHINGTON—Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said at a renewable energy forum on Tuesday that Congress is poised to take "giant leaps forward" to build a green economy after having taken "baby steps" in recent years.
"We need to move to renewable energy big time," Reid said while pledging to continue leadership on what has become a signature issue of his Senate career.
FACTBOX: U.N. panel’s findings on climate change
11/26/2008
Reuters
Following are findings of the U.N.‘s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in a 2007 report. The scientific findings are meant as a guide for government delegates who will meet in Poznan, Poland, from December 1-12:
* OBSERVED CHANGES
"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level."
Climate change makes economic meltdown look like picnic
11/26/2008
Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Green party Leader Elizabeth May says the threat of climate change makes the global economic meltdown look like a "Sunday school picnic."
May plans to attend United Nations meetings next week in Poland which will plan for next year’s major climate-change conference in Copenhagen.
May says a new pact to cover the post-Kyoto period is needed quickly because the world will be "past the point of no return" if greenhouse gas levels keep rising beyond 2015.
Agriculture, Forestry Poised to Take Large Role in Low Carbon Economy
11/25/2008
The election is over and Democratic candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has been declared the winner, while Democrats also have made significant gains in securing control of Congress. And while there may have been an element of uncertainty leading up to those election results Nov. 4th, what has never been in doubt for much of the past year, regardless of electoral winners, is federal action aimed at reducing the magnitude of climate change. That agriculture and forestry will play a role in any strategy aimed at reducing the emissions that contribute to global warming is also a certainty.
Nike, Starbucks, others form clean-energy coalition BICEP
11/20/2008
With an environmentally-friendly Obama administration coming to power, a new green business coalition — led by Nike, (NKE) Starbucks,(SBUX) Levi Strauss, Sun Microsystems (JAVA) and Timberland (TBL) — is calling for stronger policies to slash global warming and to create a clean-energy economy.
Water vapor a ‘major player’ in global warming
11/20/2008
Researchers at Texas A&M used NASA satellite data to confirm the heat-amplifying effect of water vapor. Lead researcher Andrew Dessler of Texas A&M reports that "we now think the water vapor feedback is extraordinarily strong, capable of doubling the warming due to carbon dioxide alone."
Two studies from last year linked global warming with a rise in humidity in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Since the new study jibes with current estimates of water vapor’s impact, scientists say they’re more certain than ever that Earth’s leading greenhouse gas will contribute to a temperature rise of a few degrees by the end of this century.
Global Warming Legislation Necessary Despite Economic Downturn, Activists Say
11/20/2008
A federal cap-and-trade bill is the best way to protect America’s economic interests and environmental health, according to corporate leaders and environmental activists with the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP).
By raising the cost of carbon emissions, cap-and-trade policies would discourage the use of carbon-based energy sources in exchange for “green technologies” that will create new jobs, advocates say.
But with the U.S. economy in a sharp downturn, some lawmakers on Capitol Hill may be reticent to enact new regulations, USCAP members acknowledged at the National Press Club on Tuesday.
U.N. negotiators expect to complete the successor to Kyoto by December 2009.
UN says greenhouse gas emissions rose in 2000-06
11/19/2008
Greenhouse gas emissions by 40 industrialized nations that signed the Kyoto Protocol climate treaty have dropped an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels, U.N. officials reported Monday.
The 1997 treaty required the industrialized nations that signed it to collectively reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other warming gases by about 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012 — the amount now reached.
Experts say a new deal should be signed at the 2009 climate conference in Copenhagen so it can be ratified in time to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.
Repower America
11/18/2008
Recently, you’ve begun seeing them. Ads run by disparate groups concerning the push for energy independence and clean energy. Ads by men such as T. Boone Pickens who encourages the use of wind energy and running vehicles on natural gas are suddenly everywhere. It doesn’t take a genius, a business tycoon, or a former vice president of the United States to see that on many levels we are in serious trouble.
UN sees new peril in Asia’s huge brown cloud cover
11/13/2008
TINI TRAN
AP News
Thick brown clouds of soot, particles and chemicals stretching from the Persian Gulf to Asia threatens health and food supplies in the world, the U.N. reported Thursday, citing what it called the newest threat to the global environment.
The regional haze, known as atmospheric brown clouds, contributes to glacial melting, reduces sunlight, and helps create extreme weather conditions that impact agricultural production
Report: Greenhouse gases imperil oceans’ web of life
11/11/2008
American evangelical takes climate change crusade to Canberra
11/11/2008
ABC News
Climate change is not an issue normally associated with evangelical Christians but a visiting American religious leader has taken up the mantle of climate change crusader.
Environmental and Christian groups have combined to host the Rev Richard Cizek from the National Association of Evangelicals, who is in Australia this week to lobby the Federal Government on climate change.
He is expected to meet Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today and will meet the Opposition’s environment spokesman Greg Hunt.
VIMS researcher watching impact of climate change on Hampton Roads
11/06/2008
Climate change is a hot topic globally and Hampton Roads is dealing with its impact.
Dr. Roger Mann with Virginia Institute of Marine Science is on the governor’s commission to study the problem. He hopes to shed light on the threats to our region.
"I’m hoping it will get to the front page so that everyone can see that nobody is going to be unaffected here," he states. "The one (concern) that everyone should worry about is sea level rise."
Around Hampton Roads, land is sinking and that compounds the issue.
Global warming could hurt bay restoration efforts
10/29/2008
Global climate change could undermine efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay by flooding coastal areas and washing more pollution into the water, a new scientific report warns.
The report, issued yesterday by the federal bay program office in Annapolis, notes that scientists have detected significant increases in sea level and bay water temperature over the past century.
Blacks targeted in climate campaign
10/29/2008
The growing movement to fight global warming includes entertainers and evangelical ministers, scientists and suburban moms. Even both presidential candidates have called for fewer emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gasses that contribute to climate change.
What it doesn’t have a lot of is African-Americans. So environmental activists and like-minded politicians are intensifying outreach to blacks by framing their cause as a new frontier in civil rights.
Diverse coalition launches ‘Stop the Buckeye’ effort
10/29/2008
DEARBORN - A month before the respective football teams from the University of Michigan and Ohio State University clash on Nov. 22 at the "Horseshoe" in Columbus, Ohio, a group of concerned parties converged on the University of Michigan-Dearborn to discuss a problem affecting our neighbors to the south that could affect our state soon.
"Global warming could bring more of the Ohio State University mascot here to Michigan," said Mark Neisler, global climate change specialist for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.
NASA’s Climate Guru: No More Coal
10/28/2008
NASA’s top climatologist and the director of the Goddard Institute, Dr. James Hansen, weighed in this August on state-owned power utility Santee-Cooper’s efforts to construct a new coal-fired power plant near Florence, penning a letter to CEO Lonnie Carter that called the plant “a terrible, foreseeable, waste of money.”
Carter replied in September, reiterating his position that some scientists still don’t acknowledge a human affect on climate change, and he welcomed the chance to discuss the issue with Hansen. Last week, Hansen traveled to South Carolina to meet with Carter and the utility’s board, also participating in press conferences and a public event at the College of Charleston.
Betting on climate change
10/27/2008
With markets whipsawing day to day, and former blue chip companies in tatters, what investors want is a safe haven for their money. Ironically, climate change, that global environmental trend that could bring about the end of not just the stock market but civilization as we know it, may be that haven, suggests a just-released report by Deutsche Asset Management, the asset management arm of Deutsche Bank.
The Public’s Dangerous Misunderstanding of Climate Change
10/27/2008
As I report on climate change, I come across a lot of scary facts, like the possibility that thawing permafrost in Siberia could release gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, or the risk that Greenland could pass a tipping point and begin to melt rapidly. But one of the most frightening studies I’ve read recently had nothing to do with icebergs or megadroughts.
In a paper that came out Oct. 23 in Science, John Sterman — a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Sloan School of Management — wrote about asking 212 MIT grad students to give a rough idea how much governments need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to eventually stop the increase in the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere.
Dynegy agrees to make climate change disclosures
10/26/2008
Dynegy Inc., owner of power plants in 11 states, must disclose significant financial risks associated with climate change stemming from its operations under an accord announced by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
“Investors have a right to know all the material financial risks faced by coal-fired power plants associated with global warming,” Cuomo said today in a statement. Gore said the deal “is a key step in the effort to solve the climate crisis.”
The great green swindle
10/26/2008
Back in the days of no-holds-barred advertising by Madison Avenue’s finest, anything went. Drinking alcohol made you sexy, smoking cigarettes was good for your lungs and every washing powder contained a magic ingredient that made your whites super-white.
And guess what? Those days are back, at least for green advertising.
As more and more customers demand environmental responsibility from companies, few large corporations with any sort of public profile now dare to enter the marketplace without a blizzard of sustainability audits and low-carbon-emissions targets. But that being so, the risk of being conned by slick corporate "greenwash" has never been greater, as the volume of complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) testifies.
Alike on problem, split on fix
10/24/2008
By ANDREW C. REVKIN New York Times
Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama part company on many issues, but they agree that the Bush administration’s policies on global warming were far too weak.
Both candidates say that human-caused climate change is real and urgent, and that they would sharply divert from President Bush’s course by proposing legislation requiring sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury.
Global Warming Commission approves final revisions to report
10/24/2008
By John Lyon
THE MORNING NEWS
LITTLE ROCK—The Arkansas Governor’s Commission on Global Warming on Thursday approved final revisions to its report containing 54 recommendations for reducing the state’s contributions to climate change.
The 21-member commission was created by an act of the Legislature last year and is required to present its final report to Gov. Mike Beebe and legislators no later than Nov. 1.
The commission’s report recommends that Arkansas adopt goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions below 2000 levels by 20 percent by 2020, 35 percent by 2025 and 50 percent by 2035.
“Stop the Buckeye warns of global warming impact”
10/24/2008
Detroit Free Press
The Buck-eye stops here.
That’s the tongue-in-cheek message delivered by a group of Michigan environmentalists and public health advocates concerned about potential dangers if global warming is allowed to continue to go unchecked.
Poll: Majority of Virginians worried about climate change
10/23/2008
HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
Three out of four Virginians think global warming is real and most want government at all levels - federal, state and local - to take actions to fight it, according to a statewide opinion poll released Tuesday.
Authors described the poll of 660 state residents as one of the first and most comprehensive snapshots of how Virginians of all ages, backgrounds and political sympathies feel about one of the great environmental issues of the era.