January 2009
Welcome to America's hall of shame →
Michael Tomasky @ Guardian ~ From Sarah Palin to AIG’s pamper-hungry sales reps, the following 20 characters have made us less than proud
5) Michele Bachmann
4) Rod Blagojevich
3) George Bush
2) Sarah Palin
1) Bernard Madoff
…Who can argue?
2009 brings hard choices over the future of... →
Timothy Garton Ash @ Guardian ~ Either a large part of humankind has to be excluded from the happy benefits of growth or our way of life has to change
Happy new year? You must be joking. 2009 will begin with a wail, and then get worse… To celebrate his Nobel prize in economics, Paul Krugman promises us months of “economic hell”. Thank you, Paul, and a happy new year to you...
December 2008
2009 to be one of warmest years on record →
LONDON (Reuters) - Next year is set to be one of the top-five warmest on record, British climate scientists said on Tuesday. The average global temperature for 2009 is expected to be more than 0.4 degrees celsius above the long-term average, despite the continued cooling of huge areas of the Pacific Ocean, a phenomenon known as La Nina.
Stern hope over US climate deal →
Economist Lord Stern has said he is optimistic that a global deal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions will be struck under the US presidency of Barak Obama.
Lord Stern told the BBC’s Today programme’s guest editor Jarvis Cocker:
“He’s night and day on this issue relative to his prehistoric predecessor George Bush.”
Lord Stern is a former World Bank economist,...
Climate change threatening turtles →
A report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says that some species are more threatened by climate change than others sea turtles, already an endangered species, are under serious threat.
Sierra snowpack below normal, surveyors find →
San Fransisco Chronicle ~ Despite recent storms, state surveyors reported today that snow levels in the Sierra Nevada are below average for this time of year, making water rationing almost certain in 2009 with California’s water supply in crisis.
Greenpeace Intl's photostream →
WatchTennessee Coal Ash Spill
MSNBC reports on the cleanup and asks the rhetorical question: once the muck is gone, does that mean the problem is gone?
Canada's Top Ten Weather Stories for 2008 →
Environment Canada ~ The following top Canadian weather stories for 2008 are rated from one to ten based on factors that include the impact they had on Canada and Canadians, the extent of the area affected, economic effects and longevity as a top news story. 1) The East’s Big Summer Soak 2) The Great Arctic Thaw Continues 3) A Never-Ending Winter 4) Saint John River Floods From Top to Bottom...
'Huge year for natural disasters' →
BBC ~ Munich Re said the impact of the disasters was greater than in 2007 in both human and economic terms. The company suggested climate change was boosting the destructive power of disasters like hurricanes and flooding.
German Scientist Warns Climate Change Accelerating →
Climate change is happening more rapidly than anyone though possible, the German government’s expert, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, warned in an interview.
Climate Change Could Dramatically Affect Water... →
ScienceDaily — It’s no simple matter to figure out how regional changes in precipitation, expected to result from global climate change, may affect water supplies. Now, a new analysis led by MIT researchers has found that the changes in groundwater may actually be much greater than the precipitation changes themselves.
AGU 2008: Evidence that Antarctica has warmed... →
New research presented at the AGU today suggests that the entire Antarctic continent may have warmed significantly over the past 50 years. The study, led by Eric Steig of the University of Washington in Seattle and soon to be published in Nature, calls into question existing lines of evidence that show the region has mostly cooled over the past half-century.
Tough climate goals may be easier than feared →
Yet another report on Climate Change. The lead author of the study is Michiel Schaeffer of Wageningen University. According to the report:
“there is a 90% change that global temperature increases can be held to 2°C above 19th century levels, if average annual global investment in greenhouse gas emission reductions is 2% of GDP between now and 2100.”
The bad news is that smaller...
Met Office warn of 'catastrophic' rise in... →
A new study by the Met Office warns that the world could warm by more than 5C in the next 90 years, if emissions keep on rising. This would be catastrophic for the environment and for humanity. Dr Vicky Pope, Head of Climate Change Advice at the Met Office’s Hadley Centre explains the science!
Obama's revolution on climate change →
Guardian ~ Barack Obama ushered in a revolution in America’s response to global warming yesterday when he appointed one of the world’s leading climate change experts as his administration’s chief scientist.
Obama cranks up the green revolution →
The Independent ~ The next US president is reversing Republican policy on global warming by putting leading scientists in key posts. Geoffrey Lean reports
Barack Obama yesterday promised to end George Bush’s “twisting” of science to suit “politics or ideology” in an extraordinarily outspoken address to the nation, and announced that he was putting top climate...
Barack Obama Nominates 2 More Scientists
Barack Obama will have two more top notch scientists who have advocated for strong limits on GHG emissions on his team:
1) Oregon State University marine biologist Jane Lubchenco to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She has said:
“I am one of those who believes that any reasonably comprehensive and up-to-date look at the evidence makes clear that civilization has...
Climate change: 'We need to unleash the power of... →
We need to engage everyone, not just the campaigners, in our battle against global warming.
Ed Miliband is right to call for a popular mobilisation on climate change. There is undoubtedly “an opportunity and a need” for this mass mobilisation in order to provide elected decision makers with a mandate to act decisively.
Read Richard Wilson @ Guardian!
Richard Wilson is the director...
Point of No Return for the Arctic Climate? →
Temperatures in the Arctic are rising much faster than elsewhere in the world. Researchers now say it may be the result of a dramatic shift in global climate patterns. If they are right, ice at the North Pole may soon be a thing of the past.
Read article by Volker Mrasek @ Der Spiegel!
Melting Arctic Ocean Raises Threat of ‘Methane... →
Scientists have long believed that thawing permafrost in Arctic soils could release huge amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Now they are watching with increasing concern as methane begins to bubble up from the bottom of the fast-melting Arctic Ocean.
Read report by Susan Q. Stranahan @ YALE e360!
