Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 9:40 am Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
Good point. The enormous disconnect between the magnitude of the problem and the ignorance (to put it politely) of most politicians was pointed out by Gore long ago.
Do you see a shift starting to happen in the political arena, though? At least all the leading presidential candidates acknowledge that global warming is real, even if they never really talk about it on the campaign trail. What is needed to push political consciousness to the next level?
Joined: Jun 13, 2007 Posts: 3643 Location: Minniesotuh
Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 2:03 pm Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
dohboi wrote:
What is needed to push political consciousness to the next level?
A couple of class 6 Super'canes, just before or after a couple of world-wide pandemics? And, the housekeeper & gardener don't show up for work? _________________ "RRrrruuuunnnn!!!" ~Apocalypto
Last edited by Ferretlover on Sun Aug 31, 2008 6:18 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Apr 05, 2005 Posts: 1628 Location: Springsteen Country (NJ)
Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 10:55 pm Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
Oh, goody. By then it will be Too Late®.
I'm beating the rush and moving my family to the Arctic Circle, a la Lovelock's prediction. Nothing is going to be done except increasing the level of greenhouse gas output. Whoever said man was intelligent was pretty stupid. _________________ Joe P. United Political Debate
"Only when the last tree is cut; only when the last river is polluted; only when the last fish is caught; only then will they realize that you cannot eat money." - Cree Indian Proverb
Joined: Mar 04, 2005 Posts: 2657 Location: New Zealand
Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 9:09 pm Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
Warming climate is changing life on global scale, says new study
Quote:
A vast array of physical and biological systems across the earth are being affected by warming temperatures caused by humans, says a new analysis of information not previously assembled all in one spot. The effects on living things include earlier leafing of trees and plants over many regions; movements of species to higher latitudes and altitudes in the northern hemisphere; changes in bird migrations in Europe, North America and Australia; and shifting of the oceans’ plankton and fish from cold- to warm-adapted communities. The study appears in the May 15 issue of the leading scientific journal Nature.
Rosenzweig and researchers from 10 other institutions across the world analyzed data from published papers on 829 physical systems and some 28,800 plant and animal systems, stretching back to 1970. Their analysis of revealed a picture of changes on continental scales; previous studies had looked mainly at single phenomena, or smaller areas. In physical systems, 95% of observed changes are consistent with warming trends.
physorg _________________ Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells.
Fatih Birol's motto: leave oil before it leaves us.
Joined: Mar 04, 2005 Posts: 2657 Location: New Zealand
Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 1:32 am Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
A $3 trillion climate change battle
Quote:
A climate-change bill that has widespread support as it heads to the Senate floor will create an estimated $150 billion of new assets in the first year it takes effect. Between now and 2050, regulating greenhouse gases could easily generate $3 trillion worth in value in the United States.
Should that value go to utility companies, electricity customers who will face rising rates, government investments in new technology or tax cuts? Or should it be returned to all Americans?
That question is being debated vigorously by energy companies, politicians and environmental groups. Next week, an influential coalition of big companies and green organizations called the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (U.S. CAP) -- its members include GE (GE, Fortune 500), General Motors (GM, Fortune 500), Ford (F, Fortune 500), DuPont (DD, Fortune 500) and Shell (RDS-B), as well as utilities Duke Energy (DUK, Fortune 500), FPL Group (FPL, Fortune 500) and PG&E (PCG, Fortune 500) -- will take up the issue.
Author and activist Peter Barnes has put forward a simple plan called cap-and-dividend (see www.capanddividend.org.) He would auction all of the permits and then return all of the proceeds to the American public, in the form of per capita grants. Among other things, he says, this would keep the government out of the picture and build broad political support for a climate-change bill.
"There's no avoiding the energy price rise, unfortunately," Barnes says. "That is the medicine we need to swallow.
CNN _________________ Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells.
Fatih Birol's motto: leave oil before it leaves us.
Joined: Mar 04, 2005 Posts: 2657 Location: New Zealand
Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 8:59 pm Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
Ice Cores Reveal Fluctuations In Earth's Greenhouse Gases
Quote:
The newest analysis of trace gases trapped in Antarctic ice cores now provide a reasonable view of greenhouse gas concentrations as much as 800,000 years into the past, and are further confirming the link between greenhouse gas levels and global warming, scientists reported May 14 in the journal Nature.
They also show that during that entire period of time, there have never been concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane as high as the current levels, said Edward Brook, an associate professor of geosciences at Oregon State University, and author of a Nature commentary on the new studies.
The concentration of carbon dioxide is now a bit more than 380 parts per million, compared to a range of about 200-300 parts per million during the past 800,000 years. The current concentration of methane is 1,800 parts per billion, compared to a range of about 400-700 parts per billion during that time.
"The temperature curve over the past 800,000 years matches the CO2 curve beautifully -- during glacial periods in which the climate is cold, there is less CO2 in the atmosphere," says Professor Thomas Blunier from the Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen. He explains that when it is cold there is less plant growth, and so there are fewer plants to absorb the CO2 from the air, while more CO2 is absorbed in the oceans, so the final calculation is a low CO2 content in the atmosphere during glacial periods. This produces a lower greenhouse effect, and leads to an even colder climate.
sciencedaily _________________ Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells.
Fatih Birol's motto: leave oil before it leaves us.
Joined: Mar 04, 2005 Posts: 2657 Location: New Zealand
Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 2:22 am Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
Warm winds comfort climate change models: study
Quote:
Over the last two decades, temperature readings from the upper troposphere -- 12 to 16 kilometres (7.5 and 10 miles) above Earth's surface -- based on data gathered by satellites and high-flying weather balloons showed little or no increase.
Oft cited by climate change sceptics, these findings were known to be flawed but still challenged the validity of computer models predicting warming trends at these altitudes, especially over the tropics.
In the new study, climate scientists Robert Allen and Steven Sherwood of Yale University use a more accurate method to show that temperature changes in the upper troposphere since 1970 -- about 0.65 degrees Centigrade per decade -- are in fact clearly in sync with most climate change models.
physorg _________________ Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells.
Fatih Birol's motto: leave oil before it leaves us.
Joined: Mar 04, 2005 Posts: 2657 Location: New Zealand
Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 4:20 am Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
G-8 Pledge to Halve Global Carbon Emissions by 2050
Quote:
Environment ministers of the Group of Eight industrialized nations pledged to cut emissions of gases blamed for global warming by half by 2050 and called on rich countries to lead the way.
``In order to halve global emissions, developed countries should take the lead in achieving a significant reduction,'' the ministers said in a joint statement at the end of a three-day meeting in Kobe, Japan. The statement didn't specify by how much the countries should cut emissions or whether developing nations would be expected to meet targets.
bloomberg _________________ Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells.
Fatih Birol's motto: leave oil before it leaves us.
Joined: Jun 13, 2007 Posts: 3643 Location: Minniesotuh
Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 6:14 pm Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
White House issues climate review 4 years late
'Pretty dramatic picture,' expert says of court-ordered report
WASHINGTON - Under a court order and four years late, the White House Thursday produced what it called a science-based "one-stop shop" of specific threats to the United States from man-made global warming.
While the report has no new science in it, it pulls together different U.S. studies and localizes international reports into one comprehensive document required by law. The 271-page report is notable because it is something the Bush administration has fought in the past.
Andrew Weaver, a Canadian climate scientist who was not involved in the effort called it "a litany of bad news in store for the U.S." …
4 years late _________________ "RRrrruuuunnnn!!!" ~Apocalypto
Joined: Mar 04, 2005 Posts: 2657 Location: New Zealand
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:35 pm Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
Global Warming Could Release Trillions Of Pounds Of Carbon Annually From East Siberia's Vast Frozen Soils
Quote:
East Siberia's permafrost contains about 500 Gigatons (1100 trillion pounds) of frozen carbon deposits that are highly susceptible to disturbances as the climate warms.
Once started, irreversible thawing could release 4.4-6.2 trillion pounds of carbon per year into the atmosphere between the years 2300 and 2400, transforming 74 percent of the initial carbon stock into carbon dioxide and methane.
Permafrost threatened by rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice, study finds
Quote:
The rate of climate warming over northern Alaska, Canada, and Russia could more than triple during periods of rapid sea ice loss, according to a new study led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The findings raise concerns about the thawing of permafrost, or permanently frozen soil, and the potential consequences for sensitive ecosystems, human infrastructure, and the release of additional greenhouse gases.
The team found that during episodes of rapid sea-ice loss, the rate of Arctic land warming is 3.5 times greater than the average 21st century warming rates predicted in global climate models. While this warming is largest over the ocean, the simulations suggest that it can penetrate as far as 900 miles inland. The simulations also indicate that the warming acceleration during such events is especially pronounced in autumn. The decade during which a rapid sea-ice loss event occurs could see autumn temperatures warm by as much as 9 degrees F (5 degrees C) along the Arctic coasts of Russia, Alaska, and Canada.
physorg _________________ Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells.
Fatih Birol's motto: leave oil before it leaves us.
Joined: Mar 04, 2005 Posts: 2657 Location: New Zealand
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 2:18 am Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
Climate chaos is inevitable. We can only avert oblivion
Quote:
Sometimes we need to think the unthinkable, particularly when dealing with a problem as dangerous as climate change - there is no room for dogma when considering the future habitability of our planet. It was in this spirit that I and a panel of other specialists in climate, economics and policy-making met under the aegis of the Stockholm Network thinktank to map out future scenarios for how international policy might evolve - and what the eventual impact might be on the earth's climate. We came up with three alternative visions of the future, and asked experts at the Met Office Hadley Centre to run them through its climate models to give each a projected temperature rise. The results were both surprising, and profoundly disturbing.
guardian _________________ Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells.
Fatih Birol's motto: leave oil before it leaves us.
Joined: Sep 25, 2005 Posts: 1989 Location: Waiuku, New Zealand
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:17 am Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
Good catch, Graeme. A frighteningly depressing article.
No doubt, it will be completely ignored by our leaders. Sadly, our best hope appears to be climatic catastrophes in the near future to wake up both our leaders and our populace.
Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:31 am Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
Yeah, that was a keeper. May I also recommend Lynas's excellent book, Six Degrees? It spells out the likely consequences of each degree of increase in global temperatures--not for the faint of heart.
As Gore said long ago, what the physical realities require is a very long distance from what the political realities seem to allow. Changeable beings that humans are, "political realities" should in principle be potentially subject to sudden, dramatic change--note the many revolutions of the last century.
What is needed here, though, is an immediate global revolution on every level--personal, local, national, corporate...; cultural, economic, industrial....
I say "needed," but no amount of change at this point is likely to avert extreme damage, probably twice as bad as any extinction event that has occurred in the entire history of life--given the run-away GW that other news items posted here and elsewhere show is now underway.
And in spite of (marginally) comforting bromides to the contrary, we simply cannot know to what extent complex life on earth will be able to recover before life becomes impossible on the planet because of an enlarged sun.
Joined: Mar 04, 2005 Posts: 2657 Location: New Zealand
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 1:38 am Post subject: Re: Global Warming News links
TonyPrep wrote:
Good catch, Graeme. A frighteningly depressing article. No doubt, it will be completely ignored by our leaders. Sadly, our best hope appears to be climatic catastrophes in the near future to wake up both our leaders and our populace.
Here is the American equivalent:
Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?
Quote:
Paleoclimate data show that climate sensitivity is ~3°C for doubled CO2, including only fast feedback processes. Equilibrium sensitivity, including slower surface albedo feedbacks, is ~6°C for doubled CO2 for the range of climate states between glacial conditions and icefree Antarctica. Decreasing CO2 was the main cause of a cooling trend that began 50 million years ago, large scale glaciation occurring when CO2 fell to 425±75 ppm, a level that will be exceeded within decades, barring prompt policy changes. If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm. The largest uncertainty in the target arises from possible changes of non-CO2 forcings. An initial 350 ppm CO2 target may be achievable by phasing out coal use except where CO2 is captured and adopting agricultural and forestry practices that sequester carbon. If the present overshoot of this target CO2 is not brief, there is a possibility of seeding irreversible catastrophic effects.
columbia _________________ Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells.
Fatih Birol's motto: leave oil before it leaves us.
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