Europe considers cutting carbon emissions by 20%
Europe weighing 40 percent 2030 carbon-cutting goal: EU sources By Barbara Lewis BRUSSELS | Thu Sep 19, 2013 (Reuters) – European Union regulators are considering doubling the bloc’s target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and setting a tougher binding goal for renewable energy use, EU sources said…… If agreed, the new European goals would be more ambitious than other nations have managed…..http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/19/us-eu-climate-idUSBRE98I0RP20130919
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confronts anti science campaign
IPCC chairman dismisses climate report spoiler campaign Rajendra K Pachauri says ‘rational people’ will be convinced by the science of the forthcoming blockbuster climate report Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent the guardian.com, Friday 20 September 2013 The chairman of the United Nations‘ climate panel has dismissed a contrarian spoiler campaign targeting next week’s blockbuster report, saying “rational people” will be convinced by the science.
In his first public comments on the organised effort to discredit the major climate change report ahead of its release on 27 September, Rajendra K Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said he was confident the high standards of the science in the report would make the case for climate action.
“There will be enough information provided so that rational people across the globe will see that action is needed on climate change,” Pachauri told a conference call.
“I really wouldn’t want to say anything about any perceived effort for a pushback,” he went on. “We are doing our job and we are reasonably confident that rational people in government and all over the world will see the merit of the work that has been done.” Continue reading
Climate denialism in 5 easy stages, and with Rupert Murdoch’s blessing
The 5 stages of climate denial are on display ahead of the IPCC report, The Guardian, by Dana Nuccitelli Monday 16 September Climate contrarians appear to be running damage control in the media before the next IPCC report is published The fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is due out on September 27th, and is expected to reaffirm with growing confidence that humans are driving global warming and climate change. In anticipation of the widespread news coverage of this esteemed report, climate contrarians appear to be in damage control mode, trying to build up skeptical spin in media climate stories. Just in the past week we’ve seen:
- The David Rose Mail on Sunday piece that treated scientific evidence in much the way bakers treat pretzel dough.
- Dr. John Christy interviewed by the Daily Mail;
- Christy’s colleague Dr. Roy Spencer in The Christian Post;
- Andrew Montford in Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian;
- Matt Ridley in Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal; and
- Bjorn Lomborg in The Washington Post.
Interestingly, these pieces spanned nearly the full spectrum of the 5 stages of global warming denial.
Stage 1: Deny the Problem Exists.……..Most climate contrarians have come to accept that the planet has warmed significantly. Unfortunately many have regressed back into Stage 1 denial through the new myth that global warming magically stopped 15 years ago (most recently exemplified by David Rose in the Mail on Sunday). The error in that argument involves ignoring about 98 percent of the warming of the planet, most of which goes into heating the oceans. When we account for all of the data, global warming actually appears to be accelerating………
Stage 2: Deny We’re the Cause Continue reading
“Dealing in Doubt” – new book exposes the climate scepticism industry
Report offers field guide to the climate change denial industry, Guardian, Graham Readfearn, 13 Sept 13, Greenpeace report documents the who, what, when and how of a long-running campaign to block action on climate change It writes boilerplate legislation, runs extensive PR campaigns, puffs CVs with fake credibility, facilitates or promotes the intimidation of climate scientists and advocates, publishes books, organises speaking tours and conferences, gets on the telly and radio a lot, uses Freedom of Information laws as a surveillance tool, pays scientists to speak and – crucially – it manufactures doubt and confusion among policy makers, politicians and the public about climate change.
To get this work done, it has accepted many millions of dollars from fossil fuel interests or ideologically-driven conservative donors who funnel their cash through anonymous trust funds because they are too cowardly to put their mouths and their money in the same place.
We’re talking about the international climate science denial industry. Now it has a field guide, of sorts, courtesy of researchers at environment group Greenpeace.
Published this week, Dealing in Doubt: The Climate Denial Machine Vs Climate Science recounts the history of efforts to underplay the risks of human-caused climate change, to deny the scientific evidence and to misrepresent the state of the collective knowledge of genuine scientists on the issue.
Oh, and it comes with fun little caricatures of some of the key characters in the denial industry.
The title of the report “Dealing in Doubt” comes from a tactic employed and articulated by tobacco industry executives in a 1969 memo, which read: Continue reading
Pacific Islands Forum supports Marshall Islanders call for justice about climate change, and nuclear bomb tests
VIDEO Marshall Islands gains Pacific Islands Forum support for US nuclear legacy http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-06/an-marshall-islands-gains-pacific-islands-forum-support-for-us-/4942154 By Pacific correspondent Sean Dorney 6 Sep 2013, The annual Pacific Islands Forum has wrapped up in the Marshall Islands with relations between the host nation and two of its largest aid donors, the US and Taiwan, under some strain.
Along with keynote support for the Majuro Declaration for Climate Leadership which commits the countries to increasing their efforts to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions by turning to alternative, sustainable energy resources, the US announced a new aid injection for the region.
“We’re announcing today a new Pacific American Climate Fund that’s going to be administered through the USAid where support will be provided to the Small Island Developing States with a focus on adaptation,” said Sally Jewell, the United States Secretary for the Interior. Meanwhile, the official forum communique stated its support for the Marshall Islands in its dispute with the United States over more compensation for nuclear contamination.
In a joint news conference with the US interior secretary, Marshall Islands’ President Christopher Loeak restated the sensitivities around the issue.
“The Republic of the Marshall Islands and the United States have a unique and deep friendship even though we may have our differences including on high sensitive, highly sensitive issues,” he said.
So highly sensitive, the interior secretary referred the nuclear contamination issue to the US Ambassador to the Marshall Islands, Tom Armbruster…….. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-06/an-marshall-islands-gains-pacific-islands-forum-support-for-us-/4942154
“Earthmasters”- new book on geo-engineering
CLIVE HAMILTON: – One thing I noticed while doing this research and looking at scientists involved was the density of the linkages with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. So I investigated further and thought it’s really quite astonishing the extent to which many, if not most, prominent scientific researchers in geoengineering in the U.S. worked at Livermore or have close links with people there now or those who used to work there.
Then when I read Hugh Gusterson’s book on Livermore and it’s role in the cold war and nuclear weapons development, I started to think much more carefully about the type of mindset that is especially drawn to geoengineering as a technological response to global warming. I think it’s quite alarming in its implications.
Climate Change’s Silver Bullet? Our Interview With One Of The World’s Top Geoengineering ScholarsBY ARI PHILLIPS ON SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — SINCE COMING TO AUSTRALIA ALMOST TWO MONTHS AGO I’VE HEARD ABOUT CLIVE HAMILTON IN THE PROCESS OF REPORTING JUST ABOUT EVERY STORY I’VE DONE. THEN I PICKED UP HIS NEW BOOK EARTHMASTERS: THE DAWN OF THE AGE OF CLIMATE ENGINEERINGAND NOW I SEE WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT.
In all of the debates over how to address climate change, climate engineering — or geoengineering — is among the most contentious. It involves large-scale manipulation of the Earth’s climate using grand technological interventions, such as fertilizing the oceans with iron to absorb carbon dioxide or releasing sulfur into the atmosphere to reduce radiation. While its proponents call geoengineering a silver bullet for our climate woes, its skeptics are far more critical. Joe Romm, for one, likens geoengineering to a dangerous course of chemotherapy and radiation to treat a condition curable through diet and exercise — or, in this case, emissions reduction.
According to the cover of Hamilton’s new book, “The potential risks are enormous. It is messing with nature on a scale we’ve never seen before, and it’s attracting a flood of interest from scientists, venture capitalists and oil companies.” Continue reading
New report on the extent of human influence on climate change
Climate Change May Have Impacted Half of 2012′s Extreme Weather WIRED< BY CAROLYN GRAMLING, SCIENCENOW 09.06.13 2012 was a rough year around the globe, and not for any of the Planet X/Mayan calendar doomsday reasons people feared. Instead, it was a year of extreme weather: drought and heat waves in the United States; record rainfall in the United Kingdom; unusually heavy rains in Kenya, Somalia, Japan, and Australia; drought in Spain; floods in China. And of course there was Superstorm Sandy.
One of the first questions asked in the wake of such an extreme weather event is: “Is this due to climate change?” In recent years, a brand of research called “climate attribution science” has sprouted from this question, examining the impact of extreme events to determine how much—often in fractional terms—is related to human-induced climate change, and how much to natural variability (whether in climate patterns such as the El Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation, sea-surface temperatures, changes in incoming solar radiation, or a host of other possible factors).
In a report published online today in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (PDF), scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tackled this question head-on. The report—the second such annual report—analyzes the findings from about 20 scientific studies of a dozen or so extreme weather events that occurred around the world last year, seeking to parse the relative influence of anthropogenic climate change. The overall message of the report: It varies.
“About half of the events … reveal compelling evidence that human-caused change was a [contributing] factor,” said NOAA National Climatic Data Center Director Thomas Karl today at a press conference accompanying the release of the report. In addition, noted climate scientist Peter Stott of the U.K. Met Office, these studies show that in many cases, human influence on climate has increased the risks associated with extreme events.
Below, some highlights from the report:……. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/09/climate-change-extreme-weather/
AUDIO: Ocean acidification a factor in global warming
AUDIO: Researchers identify new factor in global warming http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-26/researchers-identify-new-factor-in-global-warming/4912664 26 Aug 2013, 2:26pm AEST Researchers at the Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany have studied a factor in climate change which has not been included in previous climate change projections. They say that as the oceans take in more CO2, they will produce less of a sulphur compound which blocks radiation from the sun.
Source: The World Today | Duration: 4min 21sec
Topics: climate-change, earth-sciences, research-organisations, germany
SCOTT BEVAN: A scientific study released today highlights a factor in global warming which has not previously been taken into account – and the news is not good.
It shows that, as the acid levels in sea water change, oceans will release less of a gas which protects against climate change.
It comes as another study on ocean acidification warns that ocean ecosystems will be in for substantial change as climate change strengthens its hold. Continue reading
Record heat brings wildfires, and floods, in Alaska
Heat records tumble as Alaska bakes, burns SMH, August 19, 2013 Alaska residents have been enjoying an unusually warm, sunny summer, but the pleasant weather has come at a cost: choking smoke from an extended wildfire season, flooding rivers due to fast-melting snow and glacial ice, and fish covered in algae.
Wildfires have burned 1.25 million acres (500,000 hectares) across Alaska this summer, according to the state’s fire-management center, the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center. Seventy fires were active on Friday, including a 57,870-acre (23,400-hectare) blaze near Delta Junction, about 95 miles (153 km) southeast of Fairbanks.
The fire season usually winds down in late June or early July, but not this year, said Jim Schwarber, a spokesman for the centre……
Heat brings more problems than just wildfires, Thoman and other experts said. Hot and dry conditions are stunting spruce tree growth in interior Alaska, and adding to stress for nearly all species of trees in the northern forest, he said.
Ocean fish have been found covered with algae, possibly a result of hotter sea-surface temperatures, Thoman said. Streams and rivers fed by glaciers and snowpack have been gorged by meltwater, causing sporadic flooding, while rain-fed waterways in parched areas have been running dry, he said. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/heat-records-tumble-as-alaska-bakes-burns-20130819-2s5oi.html#ixzz2cYqMCssq
Climate change effects are stopping nuclear reactors from functioning
Nuclear Reactors Can’t Handle Global Warming , Progressive, By Harvey Wasserman, August 5, 2013 An overheated world now threatens the ability of nuclear reactors to operate at all.
Just as the sales pitch that atomic energy could help with global warming gets its biggest hype, the reactors themselves go very wrong.
And as a “renaissance” turns into a rout, a “new generation” of reactors fades ever-deeper into the realm of expensive fantasy.
The bad news on nuclear power and global warming comes most recently from Cape Cod Bay. All commercial reactors spew huge quantities of waste heat into the rivers, lakes and oceans they use for coolant.
The worst instance (so far) is Fukushima, where hot radioactive effluent still pours into the Pacific Ocean after three explosions the industry claimed could never happen.
Reactors in Alabama, France, Germany, and elsewhere have already been forced to shut because of excess heat.
At Entergy’s Pilgrim, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, a global-warmed summer has heated Cape Cod’s waters beyond the legal limit for cooling a “normal” reactor. So in mid-July Entergy was forced to take Pilgrim down to 85 percent power. Entergy may ask regulators to let it operate at full power with overheated water anyway. Such requests–still under official consideration–have been made repeatedly at Connecticut’s Millstone 2, where the Long Island Sound has soared over 75 degrees.
Meanwhile, Nebraska’s Cooper and Ft. Calhoun reactors were shut in 2011 by massive global-warmed flooding. As many as three dozen U.S. reactors are at risk from dam breaks and the flooding unleashed by climate chaos. Ft. Calhoun may never reopen.
The irony of reactors closed by the global warming they’re supposed to cure seems lost on their pushers….. http://www.progressive.org/nuclear-reactors-global-warming
AUDIO: Runaway global warming as Arctic permafrost thaws
AUDIO Arctic melt damage bill could hit $65 trillion: study http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-25/arctic-melt-damage-bill-could-hit-65-trillion-study/4844416
Release of methane gas from Arctic permafrost could devastate global economy: study http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-25/arctic-methane-could-devastate-economy3a-study/4842994 By David Mack and Stuart Gray
European scientists say the release of large amounts of methane gas from thawing Arctic permafrost could devastate the global economy.
Permafrost, or soil below the freezing point, has been thawing under rising global temperatures for many years.
The thawing is releasing the powerful greenhouse gas methane, which is concentrated in the Arctic tundra and is also found as semi-solid gas hydrates in the sea. A study in the science journal Nature says the release of 50-gigatonnes of methane over a decade will result in flooding, sea-level rise, agriculture damage and health impacts amounting to $60 trillion – which was roughly the size of the entire global economy last year.
The researchers say the impacts will be particularly devastating in developing countries..
Separate research also shows permafrost melting at alarming rates in the Antarctic.
Devastating effect of methane, as Arctic permafrost thaws
Release of methane gas from Arctic permafrost could devastate global economy: study http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-25/arctic-methane-could-devastate-economy3a-study/4842994 By David Mack and Stuart Gray
European scientists say the release of large amounts of methane gas from thawing Arctic permafrost could devastate the global economy.
Permafrost, or soil below the freezing point, has been thawing under rising global temperatures for many years.
The thawing is releasing the powerful greenhouse gas methane, which is concentrated in the Arctic tundra and is also found as semi-solid gas hydrates in the sea. A study in the science journal Nature says the release of 50-gigatonnes of methane over a decade will result in flooding, sea-level rise, agriculture damage and health impacts amounting to $60 trillion – which was roughly the size of the entire global economy last year.
The researchers say the impacts will be particularly devastating in developing countries..
Separate research also shows permafrost melting at alarming rates in the Antarctic.
Rapid climate change, global starvation – a nuclear war would do it
STUMBLING IN THE DARK, REACHING FOR THE LIGHT, Right Now By Tilman
Ruff , 26 july 13, “……….Just 100 Hiroshima-sized nuclear bombs, less than one per cent of the global nuclear arsenal, would generate more than five million tons of soot and smoke if targeted at cities. In addition to local devastation and widespread radioactive contamination, the climate impact would be catastrophic.
Global cooling would be twice as large as following the Tambora explosion, and would persist not a
couple of years but for over a decade, decimating global agriculture. On top of that would come the effects of price hikes; hoarding of food; food riots; intrastate and potential interstate conflicts over
food supplies; the disease epidemics that inevitably spread through malnourished populations; disruption to trade and the complex international supply chains for agricultural inputs – seed, fertiliser, pesticides, fuel and machinery. Continue reading
Immediate climate change: nuclear war can do this
STUMBLING IN THE DARK, REACHING FOR THE LIGHT, Right Now By Tilman
Ruff 25 July 13 “……….Just 100 Hiroshima-sized nuclear bombs, less than one per cent of the global nuclear arsenal, would generate more than five million tons of soot and smoke if targeted at cities. In addition to
local devastation and widespread radioactive contamination, the climate impact would be catastrophic. Global cooling would be twice as large as following the Tambora explosion, and would persist not a couple of years but for over a decade, decimating global agriculture. Continue reading
Global warming- heating cooling water- stopping nukes?
Seawater temps too high for Pilgrim cooling By CHRISTINE LEGERE clegere@capecodonline.com July 18, 2013 PLYMOUTH — The ongoing heat wave could force Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station to shut down, as soaring temperatures continue to warm the Cape Cod Bay waters that the plant relies on to cool key safety
systems. Pilgrim’s license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires the water being drawn from the bay to be no warmer than 75 degrees. On Tuesday night, the temperature in the saltwater system reached 75.3 degrees and remained above the 75-degree limit for about 90 minutes.
If water temperatures rise and show no sign of lowering, the plant has 24 hours to completely shut down.
“The water temperature will be closely monitored as the heat wave persists,” NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan wrote in an email.
The temperature of seawater being drawn from the bay must be low enough to cool the water circulating around the reactor and transform steam from the system back to liquid water.
Although the seawater is warmer when it is discharged back into the bay, it must not be so warm it affects the ecosystem……Mary Lampert, chairwoman of the Duxbury Nuclear Advisory Committee and director of the anti-nuclear group Pilgrim Watch, fired off a letter to NRC officials Wednesday, urging the agency to shut down the Pilgrim plant until the cause of the alarm system failure is found.
“Until that is done, we fail to see how the NRC can provide reasonable assurance for public health and safety,” Lampert wrote.http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130718/NEWS/307180318
1 This Month
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
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