A Few Things Ill Considered

A layman's take on the science of Global Warming featuring a guide on How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

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Another week of GW news - October 15

Summary of the week's Global Warming headlines compiled by H. E. Taylor


The significant report of the week has to be the estimate of the cost of climate change inaction


  • 2006/10/15: Guardian(UK): Climate change is expensive. Does that help?
    An influential report out this month concludes that it will be cheaper to act on global warming now than to wait, but campaigners doubt whether the government will respond

  • 2006/10/14: PeakEnergy: The Cheaper Option - Doing Something About Global Warming
  • 2006/10/14: TreeHugger: "Climate Change: The Costs Of Inaction"
  • 2006/10/13: Guardian(UK): Warming will cost trillions, says report - Damage forecast to cost 8% of global GDP by 2100 - UK 'faces droughts and floods costing billions'
  • 2006/10/13: Yahoo: Climate change inaction will cost trillions: study
  • 2006/10/13: GristMill: The cost of everything - Will global warming eventually cost the world's economy $12 trillion?
  • 2006/10/13: DeSmogBlog: Climate Inaction Will Cost Trillions of Dollars
  • 2006/10/13: PlanetArk: Climate Change Inaction Will Cost Trillions - Study
  • 2006/10/13: TP: REPORT: The Cost of Ignoring Climate Change Is $20 Trillion A Year
  • 2006/10/13: Reuters: Climate change inaction will cost trillions: study


    The hurricane wars are still chugging along


  • 2006/10/13: THP: An Inconvenient Debate [GW & hurricanes]
  • GSFC:NASA: Current Tropical Sea Surface Temperatures
  • 2006/10/13: JFleck: SST Anomalies
  • 2006/10/13: TerraDaily: NASA Live Tropical Seas Surface Temperature Website Gives Climate, Hurricane Clues
  • 2006/10/12: Eureka: NASA'S live tropical sea surface temperature Web site gives climate, hurricane clues
  • 2006/10/11: SciDaily: Dust May Dampen Hurricane Fury
  • 2006/10/10: PhysOrg: Study: Dust may dampen hurricane fury
  • 2006/10/10: Eureka: Dust may dampen hurricane fury


    Feedbacks, we have feedbacks


  • 2006/10/13: PhysOrg: Rapid Growth of Huge Northern Bog Complex May Have Helped Kick-Start Past Global Warming
  • 2006/10/13: TerraDaily: Northern Bogs May Have Helped Kick-Start Past Global Warming
  • 2006/10/13: PlanetArk: Big Bogs Spurred Ancient Global Warming - Report
  • 2006/10/13: SciDaily: Northern Bogs May Have Helped Kick-start Past Global Warming
  • 2006/10/12: Eureka: Northern bogs may have helped kick-start past global warming



    And here is a feedback you may not have considered


  • 2006/10/13: PhysOrg: Marine life stirs ocean enough to affect climate
  • 2006/10/13: Eureka: Marine life stirs ocean enough to affect climate, says FSU study


    The Arctic is on a lot of people's minds


  • 2006/10/14: CBC:Quirks&Quarks: (mp3/ogg) Quirks in the Arctic, Part 1
  • 2006/10/11: PhysOrg: Global warming may melt caribou 'ice cream' [ACIA]
  • 2006/10/11: TruthOut: Ecological Upheaval on the Edge of the Ice
  • 2006/10/13: TerraDaily: Shrinking Ponds Signal Warmer, Dryer Alaska



    Glaciers are melting


  • 2006/10/12: PhysOrg: Group warns mountains will lose ice caps
  • 2006/10/11: Guardian(UK): Water for millions at risk as glaciers melt away
  • 2006/10/11: CDreams: Guardian(UK): Water for Millions at Risk as Glaciers Melt away



    While in near earth orbit


  • 2006/10/09: TerraDaily: Canadian SCISAT Satellite Explains 2006 Ozone-Layer Depletion
  • 2006/10/09: TerraDaily: NASA Data Captures El Nino Return In The Pacific



    And regarding that El Nino


  • 2006/10/12: PlanetArk: El Nino's Wrath Seen Muted in Asia, Sparing Crops



    The impacts of GW are becoming clearer


  • 2006/10/13: Yahoo: Expert [Jonathan Overpeck]: U.S. West becoming warmer faster
  • 2006/10/16: MSNBC: Why the Frogs Are Dying
    Climate change is no longer merely a matter of numbers from a computer model. With startling swiftness, it is reordering the natural world.

  • 2006/10/13: CBC: Warmer ocean damages Madagascar's coral reefs: survey
  • 2006/10/13: TruthOut: Madagascar Coral Reefs Damaged [coral bleaching caused by rising sea temperatures]
  • 2006/10/13: PhysOrg: Survey: Madagascar Coral Reefs Damaged
  • 2006/10/13: SciDaily: Central American Fires Impact U.S. Air Quality And Climate
  • 2006/10/12: PhysOrg: Shrinking ponds signal warmer, dryer Alaska
  • 2006/10/12: UAF: Shrinking ponds signal warmer, dryer Alaska
  • 2006/10/11: PhysOrg: Rising Ocean Temperatures, Pollution Have Oysters in Hot Water
  • 2006/10/10: TerraDaily: Warming Melting Arctic Forces Native Alaskan Village To Move
  • 2006/10/11: PlanetArk: US Faces Warmer-than-Normal Winter - Government
  • 2006/10/11: Eureka: Rising ocean temperatures, pollution have oysters in hot water
  • 2006/10/11: TP: Global warming threatens fall foliage
  • 2006/10/10: TruthOut: Rising Seas Could Leave Millions Homeless in Asia
  • 2006/10/10: TerraDaily: Global Warming Will Alter Character Of The Northeast
  • 2006/10/10: TerraDaily: Asia-Pacific Faces Global Warming Disaster
  • 2006/10/09: BostonGlobe: Climate change may hurt Asian economies [CSIRO]
  • 2006/10/09: Yahoo: Asia-Pacific faces global warming disaster: [CSIRO] scientists
  • 2006/10/09: ABC(Au): Climate change threatens economies, security: report
  • 2006/10/09: TreeHugger: Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast: Migrating Climates



    Speaking of floods & droughts


  • 2006/10/08: JFleck: The "Civil War Drought"
  • 2006/10/08: JFleck: Drought in Kenya



    John Fleck put up a some pointers to drought info


  • 2006/10/14: JFleck: Defining and Measuring Drought
  • Princeton:L.Luo: Drought Monitoring and Hydrologic Forecasting with VIC: Current Forecast
  • UWash: Experimental Surface Water Monitor for the Continental U.S.
  • NOAA: U.S. Palmer Drought Indices
  • WRCC: Standardized Precipitation Index
  • UNL: National Drought Mitigation Center
    LDEO: Persistent drought in North America: a climate modeling and paleoclimate perspective
    UNL: Drought Monitor



    The troubling matter of falling food production is not going away


  • 2006/10/10: GwynneDyer: How Long Can the World Feed Itself?
  • 2006/10/13: BBC: 'Hunger critical' in South Asia
    A report released by a US-based group says South Asia continues to face "critical" levels of hunger. The region has the highest levels of child malnutrition in the world, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute. The report says the current hot spots of hunger and under-nutrition are in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

  • 2006/10/12: FT: Grain stockpiles at lowest for 25 years
    The world's stockpiles of wheat are at their lowest level in more than a quarter century, according to the US Department of Agriculture, which on Thursday slashed its forecasts for global wheat and corn production. The lower forecasts were largely attributable to the severe drought in Australia...

  • 2006/10/11: JFleck: Drought and the Price of Wheat



    Elsewhere on the mitigation front


  • 2006/10/10: ERabett: Mitigation and Adaptation...[another dog who did not bark moment]
  • 2006/10/10: ClimateProgress: The Norwegian Commission on Low Emissions: If They Can Do It...
  • 2006/10/09: SciDaily: Alaska Study Offers Strategies To Mitigate Climate Warming



    As for carbon sequestration


  • 2006/10/12: PhysOrg: U.S. tests CO2 underground storage options
  • 2006/10/13: PlanetArk: Norway to Build World's Biggest CO2 Capture Facility
  • 2006/10/09: PlanetArk: ANALYSIS - Carbon Capture: Climate Saviour?



    Meanwhile in the journals


  • 2006/10/14: CP: Equatorial insolation: from precession harmonics to eccentricity frequencies by A. Berger et al.
  • 2006/10/11: CPD: The modern and glacial overturning circulation in the Atlantic ocean in PMIP coupled model simulations by S. L. Weber et al.
  • 2006/10/12: CPD: Linking glacial and future climates through an ensemble of GCM simulations by J. C. Hargreaves et al.
  • 2006/10/04: AGU: ($$$) Mass balance of glaciers and ice caps: Consensus estimates for 1961-2004 by G. Kaser et al.
  • 2006/10/10: CP: Social vulnerability to climate in the "Little Ice Age": an example from Central Europe in the early 1770s by C. Pfister and R. Braizdil



    Before we get into politics, there was some science done


  • 2006/10/12: SciDaily: Rapid Sea Level Rise In The Arctic Ocean May Alter Views Of Human Migration
  • 2006/10/11: PhysOrg: Natural climate change periodically wipes out mammal species: study
  • 2006/10/11: PhysOrg: Rapid Sea Level Rise in the Arctic Ocean May Alter Views of Human Migration
  • 2006/10/11: WHOI: Rapid Sea Level Rise in the Arctic Ocean May Alter Views of Human Migration
  • 2006/10/09: Eureka: 'Trapped wave' caused unexpected Dennis surge, scientists say FSU
  • 2006/10/09: SciDaily: Evidence From Ice Age That Climate Change Can Have A Rapid Effect On Ocean Circulation



    While on the Kyoto front


  • 2006/10/15: ClimateArk: Kyoto emissions targets prove difficult to meet
  • 2006/10/12: PlanetArk: Post-Kyoto Climate Talks May Last to 2010 - Expert



    And on the emissions trading front


  • 2006/10/14: PRWatch: Faulty [carbon] Accounting [in Scotland]



    Then there's the American political front


  • 2006/10/13: FramingScience: What Does the Public Think of Bush on Global Warming?
    For Republicans, the Issue Polls Way Behind Flag Burning and the Inheritance Tax in Importance; But Overall, the Public Rates the President's Job Performance on Global Warming as Miserable

  • 2006/10/10: CSW: House Science Committee ranking member seeks answers on Commerce Dept. cover-up of hurricane report
  • 2006/10/09: CSW: Briefly Noted -- Climate science and government accountability
  • 2006/10/08: CSW: The "Vanishing" National Climate Change Assessment, Part 1: The Administration
  • 2006/10/08: JFleck: Brooks on Climate, Society and "Progress"



    And on the theme of religion and the environment


  • 2006/10/13: GristMill: U.S. Catholic Bishops on global warming
  • 2006/10/10: MSNBC: Bill Moyers Q&A on religion, environment ['Is God Green?']



    More than a few eyebrows raised over this


  • 2006/10/11: US Senate: Nuremberg-style trials proposed for global warming skeptics



    The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along


  • 2006/10/11: Oikos: A Convenient Truth
  • 2006/10/11: TruthOut: "Our Mode of Development Is Neither Sustainable Nor Replicable." [says Al Gore]
  • 2006/10/12: BBC: Former US presidential candidate Al Gore has won a prestigious Quill literary award for his book An Inconvenient Truth.
  • 2006/10/11: CDreams: Reuters: Al Gore Wins Quill Book Prize
  • 2006/10/10: GristMill: An Inconvenient Truth in Dutch: Thanks Maurits!



    These covers make it clear what Ross Gelbspan meant when he said "the 'globalwarming controversy' stops at the American border"


  • 2006/10/10: DeSmogBlog: Newsweek Alerts (Almost) the Whole World to Global Warming



    While on the UK political front


  • 2006/10/13: Guardian(UK): [UK] Government plans climate change law
  • 2006/10/13: Reuters: UK government plans bill on climate change
  • 2006/10/13: DeSmogBlog: Britain To Enact Climate Legislation -- With Fingers Crossed Behind Its Back
  • 2006/10/12: BBC: A climate change bill which could see regular targets put in place to cut UK carbon dioxide emissions is being considered by the government.
  • 2006/10/09: ABC(Au): Climate change report backs Labor strategy, says [Labor environment spokesman, Anthony] Albanese



    Meanwhile in Europe


  • 2006/10/12: TruthOut: A Report Deems France Can Divide Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Four
  • 2006/10/13: PlanetArk: EU Warns 8 States Over Late CO2 Emissions Plans
  • 2006/10/12: BBC: EU takes action over carbon plans
    The European Commission has begun action against eight nations that have so far failed to submit details on how they plan to cut carbon emissions. The plans are a key part of a Europe-wide carbon trading scheme. The eight nations that have failed to submit their "National Allocation Plans" are: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.

  • 2006/10/11: PlanetArk: EU to Start Legal Action over Late Emission Plans



    Meanwhile in Australia


  • 2006/10/15: TheAge: The excuses have dried up - we must sign the Kyoto pact
    [Australian PM] John Howard has little choice but to review his sceptical outlook as the harsh reality of global warming makes itself clear.

  • 2006/10/15: ABC(Au): Melbourne faces stage two water restrictions
  • 2006/10/14: Independent(UK): Fires and worst drought in 100 years wake Australia up to the reality of climate change
  • 2006/10/13: ABC(Au): [Victorian city of] Sale hears push for climate change strategy
  • 2006/10/13: ABC(Au): CSIRO warns of increasing bushfire threat
  • 2006/10/13: ABC(Au): Kyoto Protocol won't solve drought crisis: Campbell
  • 2006/10/13: BBC: Australian PM warns on drought - Australian Prime Minister John Howard has warned that the country's worsening drought could hit economic growth.
  • 2006/10/10: ABC(Au): Climate change overshadows state election: coal miners



    Also in an Australian vein, I couldn't pass up this little rant


  • 2006/10/09: CarbonSink: Howard's new policy on climate change: Adaptation
    Minster for Hypocrisy Ian Campbell today signalled what could be the Howard government's new policy on climate change: Adaptation.
    Denial is no longer credible, prevention and mitigation are too hard, so we'll adapt. Easy! Ok, so we'll have to say ta ta to coral in the Great Barrier Reef, snow in the Snowies, water in the Murray-Darling, agriculture in the Riverina, wheat in the wheat belt, food, water that kind of thing ... but hey, we're a resourceful lot us Aussies, I'm sure we'll think of something!




    • In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper continued doing nothing by announcing he was going to make an announcement


  • 2006/10/11: PlanetArk: Canada's Harper Says Environment Plan in Works
  • 2006/10/10: CBC: Harper set to impose 'strict' regulations on smog producers - Conservative government will introduce a new Clean Air Act next week
  • 2006/10/11: CBC: Ambrose defends smog plan in face of criticism
  • 2006/10/12: PlanetArk: Canada's Harper Under Fire for Clean Air Plan
  • 2006/10/11: DeSmogBlog: Canadian Environment Minister Bungles Carbon Credit Issue



    A leak and much speculation is surrounding the forthcoming act


  • 2006/10/14: CanWest: Leaked draft suggests gaping holes in Clean Air Act
    Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plan to crack down on smog and fight climate change would weaken federal powers to regulate greenhouse gases and toxic substances such asmercury, a leaked draft of the government's Clean Air Act suggests.

  • 2006/10/12: CanWest: Clash with gassy culprits inevitable - Tory-blue Alberta is No. 1 emitter
    Critics of the Tories' Clean Air Act say it fails to set industry targets for reducing greenhouse gases.




    • It seems that the 'shrub' aka a little bush is planning to use 'emmission intensity'


  • 2006/10/11: DeSmogBlog: Harper Follows Bush In Adopting Sham Emissions Measurement
  • 2006/10/11: Globe&Mail: PM plans 'intensity' alternative to Kyoto - Blueprint wouldn't necessarily reduce emissions; critics react with scorn



    And then there are the oil sands


  • 2006/10/15: TSun: Dramatic threat of global warming
  • 2006/10/12: CBC: Sask., Alberta worst greenhouse gas offenders: report
  • 2006/10/13: CanWest: Study finds oilsands could mitigate climate change
  • 2006/10/12: DeSmogBlog: A Realpolitik Review of Canadian Climate Policy Roadblocks



    The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around


  • 2006/10/14: ClimateArk: New growth climate change theory [carbon tax arguments]



    The movement toward ecologically based economics is glacial


  • 2006/10/09: EnergyBulletin: Today is World Overshoot Day



    As for how the media handles the science of climatology


  • 2006/10/10: ClimateProgress: The New York Times and A.P. Can Do Better



    The Canadian media is as partisan as any


  • 2006/10/12: DeSmogBlog: Harper Deserves Credit for Clean Air Act?



    Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated


  • 2006/10/15: TheAge: PM backs nuclear power
  • 2006/10/12: TruthOut: In Ontario, Making "Clean Energy" Pay [with Net Metering with payout]
  • 2006/10/13: ABC(Au): Work starts on nation's 'biggest' wind farm
  • 2006/10/13: PlanetArk: PG&E in Deal for Cow Gas to Fuel Power Plants



    The reaction of business to climate change will be critical


  • 2006/10/13: DeSmogBlog: Climate Change a Business Opportunity
  • 2006/10/12: PlanetArk: Investors Urge More Company Action on Warming



    Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat


  • 2006/10/13: CSM: New combatant against global warming: insurance industry
    The world's second-largest industry, worried about losses related to climate change, offers incentives to 'go green.'

  • 2006/10/11: ClimateProgress: Insuring Against Climate Change
  • 2006/10/11: PlanetArk: Global Warming Seen Pushing up Insurance Costs



    The carbon lobby are up to the usual


  • 2006/10/13: ERabett: Svensmark stumbles into a smog chamber...
  • 2006/10/13: DeSmogBlog: Tim Ball vs Dan Johnson Lawsuit - Documents
  • 2006/10/14: Deltoid: Johnson's statement of defence against Ball
  • 2006/10/13: ClimateProgress: Cheers and Jeers to the San Francisco Chronicle
  • 2006/10/12: GristMill: They write emails [Morano & ilk]
  • 2006/10/13: DeSmogBlog: New York Times Nails Inhofe's "hysteria" mongering
  • 2006/10/13: DeSmogBlog: NRSP: Not Really Science People
  • 2006/10/13: DeSmogBlog: And It You Believe This: Buy My Exercise Machine ...
  • 2006/10/13: DeSmogBlog: Discredited Friends of Science Re-emerge as the Natural Resources Stewardship Project
  • 2006/10/13: Deltoid: New Canadian Astroturf Group
  • 2006/10/13: Stoat: Inhofe's NYT refs
  • 2006/10/12: GristMill: On climate denialists and Nuremberg
  • 2006/10/12: DeSmogBlog: Inhofe's Mini-Me [Marc Morano] to Face Off Among Enviromental Journalists
  • 2006/10/12: DeSmogBlog: "Ambiguous scientific statements about climate are hyped by those with a vested interest in alarm"
  • 2006/10/12: DeSmogBlog: Climate Change Denier of the Week
  • 2006/10/12: Stoat: Global cooling: Inhofe talking sh*t* again
  • 2006/10/11: GristMill: Attacked by Inhofe, finally
  • 2006/10/11: DeSmogBlog: John Ibbitson, Who May or May Not Have a Clue
  • 2006/10/11: DeSmogBlog: Tim Ball: Finding New Ways to Fudge His Credentials
  • 2006/10/11: DeSmogBlog: Heartland Institute: Don't Rely on Us for Significant Decisions
  • 2006/10/10: DeSmogBlog: Monbiot, TASSC and the tobacco, climate change cover-up
  • 2006/10/10: DeSmogBlog: Province: In Staunch Defence of the Right to be Wrong
  • 2006/10/09: DeSmogBlog: Tim Ball: the Last Skeptic Standing
  • 2006/10/09: SPGCC: The build-up of CO2 in our atmosphere will be good!



    Andrew Dessler pulled an old chestnut from the PR fire


  • 2006/10/12: SPGCC: Climate models vs weather models
  • 2006/10/14: JFleck: Climate Forecasts vs. Weather Forecasts



    There are a couple of older stories still reverberating through the media echo chamber


  • 2006/10/10: SPGCC: Report from the G8 meeting on climate



    Then there was the usual news and commentary


  • 2006/10/14: ERabett: The virtue of unintended Lomborgianism
  • 2006/10/13: TomPaine: Carbon Blindness
  • 2006/10/13: THP: Titanic nipples
  • 2006/10/11: Guardian(UK): Closer to the brink
  • 2006/10/: SocRev: Feeling the Heat? [Monbiot interview]
  • 2006/10/10: ERabett: Uncertainties and risk...
  • 2006/09/26: TheLoom: Historical Heat [Hansen ref]
  • 2006/10/11: THP: Coming Up at the Bottom of the Hour: Global Warming
  • 2006/10/10: Grist: On Your Mark, Offset, Go! A guide to offsetting your carbon emissions
  • 2006/10/11: ABC(Au): Warmer weather 'sign of climate change'
  • 2006/10/09: PlanetArk: All Can Play Part in Beating Global Warming - Expert
  • 2006/10/10: RealClimate: How not to attribute climate change
  • 2006/10/09: RealClimate: Con Allagre, ma non troppo
  • 2006/10/09: TreeHugger: The Weather Channels Launches One Degree
  • 2006/10/09: TreeHugger: The TH Interview: Laurie David

  • 2006/10/10: AFTIC: 1000 Pictures



    And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful


  • CAN: Climate Action Network - Canada
  • Global Warming Art
  • GCC06: Global Climate Campaign2006
  • CaCC: Campaign against Climate Change
  • CCA: Climate Change Action
  • LiveScience
  • Radio Ecoshock - Green Radio.
  • GCI: Global Commons Institute
  • EDGAR: Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research
  • Kyoto USA
  • Sierra: Petition - Global Warming
  • Climate Audit [M&M]
  • CTW: Carbon Trade Watch
  • Plausible Futures
  • PNT: Post-Normal Times
  • NODC: Publication summary of the NODC Ocean Climate Laboratory, 1990-2005

    --regards--
    -het

    PS.You can access the previous postings of this series here
    --
    "Who ever heard a theologian preface his creed, or a politician conclude his speech with an estimate of the probable error of his opinion?"
    -Bertrand Russell

    Global Warming: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/enviro/globalwarming.html
    GW News: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/enviro/gwnews.html
    GW News Archive: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/enviro/gwna.html
    H.E. Taylor http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/

    • Labels:

    posted by coby @ 10/15/2006 11:29:00 AM  

    4 Comments:

    • At October 15, 2006 8:33 PM, Blogger M.J. S. - (Wacki) said…

      holy crap threadbot.

       

    • At October 15, 2006 8:41 PM, Blogger coby said…

      I take that as you wish there were a few more links there...? ;-)

       

    • At November 02, 2006 3:27 PM, Blogger David said…

      I'm trying to run a simple blog for a wildlife conservation group here in Somerset UK and it takes me all my time to make two posts a week. What you are doing is amazing.
      I have a link on my blog to part of your output and probably should update that to cover more.
      To see your coverage of recent developments is especially remarkable.
      Thanks isnt enough!
      Here is my blog address: http://heartofthelevels.blogspot.com/

       

    • At November 02, 2006 3:38 PM, Blogger coby said…

      Thanks, David!

      I'm accepting the praise, but have to say on this post the credit isn't for me, this is HE Taylor's fine work.

       

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