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.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

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Another week of GW news - January 14, 2007

Courtesy of H.E.Taylor, here is this week's GW news roundup
(skip to bottom)

Black humour is better than no humour?:

A moment of silence, please:

The big story of the week has to be Europe's proposed new energy plan:

It's official. 2006 was the warmest year on record for USA, Scotland...:

While in the hurricane wars:

Meanwhile on the el Niño front:

The Stern Review is still getting kicked around:

And that Revkin 'middle ground' article caught some afterthoughts:

More GW impacts are being seen:

The Washington State Department of Ecology released a study on the impacts of climate change:

And then there are the tropical rainforests:

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

The Australian drought continues to be formidable:

  • 2007/01/12: HeraldSun: Fires and global warming threaten river
    Global warming and Eucalypt regrowth in the alpine region could drastically reduce mountain water supplies crucial to Australia's biggest river system, new research suggests. Studies from the Australian Greenhouse Office and the CSIRO already predict snow will no longer fall on the Snowy Mountains and bushfires will become more frequent and severe by 2050. The reduced snowmelt run-off will drastically reduce the amount of water flowing into Snowy-Hydro storages and the Murrumbidgee River, cutting flows in the Murray-Darling Basin and affecting water supplies as far as Adelaide. But scientists from the High Country Fuels and Ecosystem Functions (HCFEF) team say an equal, but less understood, threat to water supplies will be eucalypt regrowth after bushfires.
  • 2007/01/12: ClimateArk: Australia: Drought and fire could ruin Murray's future
  • 2007/01/12: HeraldSun: Bushfires' colossal effect
    Victoria's monster bushfires have generated the power of more than 100 atomic bombs and pumped out millions of tonnes of pollution, greenhouse gas and toxic clouds, scientists say.

And speaking of floods & droughts:

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

And the troubling matter of falling food production is not going away:

So how do we deal with this situation?:

Meanwhile in the journals:

Before we get into politics, there was some science done:

The UNFCCC head has been trying to drum up some American cooperation:

Meanwhile on the emissions trading front:

In the international forum:

And on the American political front:

What happens when you put a creationist, An Inconvenient Truth, and a schoolboard together? Idiocy, outrage & laughter:

Downing Street has leaked a climate about face to be announced by GWB in the upcoming State of the Union Address:

The Governator announced a low carbon standard

The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

NASA's Dr. James Hansen is maintaining a profile:

And similar to the "if the feds won't act" theme:

It is a measure of how far America has to go that this is even considered news:

While on the UK political front:

Also in the UK, Blair is leading by example:

So, how's your carbon footprint?:

Meanwhile in China:

  • 2007/01/10: BBC: China fails environment targets
    China is failing to meet new targets on energy efficiency and pollution emissions, officials said. China set the targets in a bid to rein in the environmental costs of the country's rapid economic growth. But only Beijing and five other provinces or municipalities improved efficiency by 4% and cut emissions by 2% in the first six months of 2006. "Nationwide, it is certain that last year's [targets] could not be achieved," official Han Wenke said. Chinese officials did not say how much the targets had been missed by. The new targets are part of the 2006-10 Five Year Plan, and call for energy consumption per unit of GDP to be cut by 20%, while pollution emissions should fall 10%.
  • 2007/01/09: Xinhuanet: Facing climate change
    With a national strategy being developed, the country [China] has taken on the urgent need to map out systematic measures to cope with severe climate change

And Japan:

In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, aka little bush, is having a hard time getting his environmental act together:

While the ostensibly green NDP is having its own problems:

Another one in the "I'll believe it when I see it" category:

The movement toward ecologically based economics is glacial:

As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

Here is something for your library:

Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

Automakers, lawyers and activists argue over the future of the car:

There was a big car show full of hybrid, hydrogen & electric cars in Detroit last week, then this Chrysler economist pipes up...:

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

Meanwhile, as far as the betting meme goes:

The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

Here is an answer to a little PR move you may have noticed:

Exxon comes in for a fair amount of scrutiny:

There is a report Exxon has changed tactics in its climate change war:

Coby Beck is continuing to post his excellent "How to Talk to a Global Warming Sceptic" series on GristMill:

And proving that hope springs eternal:

Bill McKibben is starting a campaign:

Then there was the usual news and commentary:

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

--regards--

-het

PS. You can access the previous postings of this series here

--

"The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment."
-Margaret Atwood

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/

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posted by coby @ 1/16/2007 09:13:00 AM  

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