Hot on the trails of a KGB-like move by the White House to control its scientific agencies, today was the beginning of Senate hearings into alleged manipulations of science reports by the Bush Administration. Shocking, really. And this is supposed to be the most civilized, free, and democratic country in the world? Mass delusion is more like it. WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. scientists felt pressured to tailor their writings on global warming to fit...
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Monthly Archives: January 2007
Arctic Sea Ice decline in the 21st Century
Last month, Marika M. Holland, Cecilia M. Bitz, and Bruno Tremblay published a paper entitled “Future abrupt reductions in the summer Arctic sea ice” which generated a lot of press. In this article published on RealClimate, Cecilia Bitz explains the science behind the paper and gives her answers to the most common questions being asked. Read the article here.
The human hand in climate change
This is a rather long but very well written and very interesting essay. Well worth reading. By Kerry Emanuel, Boston Review Two strands of environmental philosophy run through the course of human history. The first holds that the natural state of the universe is one of infinite stability, with an unchanging earth anchoring the predictable revolutions of the sun, moon, and stars. Every scientific revolution that challenged this notion, from Copernicus’ heliocentricity to Hubble’s expanding...
Another Species of Denial
The Bush administration will do anything except cut the consumption of fuel. By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 30th January 2007. George Bush proposes to deal with climate change by means of smoke and mirrors. So what’s new? Only that it is no longer just a metaphor. After six years of obfuscation and denial, the US government now insists that we find ways to block some of the sunlight reaching the earth. This means...
New climate report too rosy, experts say
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Sun Jan 28, 10:41 PM ET WASHINGTON – Later this week in Paris, climate scientists will issue a dire forecast for the planet that warns of slowly rising sea levels and higher temperatures. But that may be the sugarcoated version. Early and changeable drafts of their upcoming authoritative report on climate change foresee smaller sea level rises than were projected in 2001 in the last report. Many top...
MIT-led panel backs ‘heat mining’ as key U.S. energy source
A comprehensive new MIT-led study of the potential for geothermal energy within the United States has found that mining the huge amounts of heat that reside as stored thermal energy in the Earth’s hard rock crust could supply a substantial portion of the electricity the United States will need in the future, probably at competitive prices and with minimal environmental impact. An 18-member panel led by MIT prepared the 400-plus page study, titled “The...
Organic Farming to Reduce Global Warming?
According to this article by Stephen Leahy, organic farming can greatly reduce green house gas emissions, and it creates crops that are more resistent to the impact of global warming. Sounds like a win-win situation to me!
More refreshing news from the USA
The State of Virginia just released a report on climate change and the threats it poses for the State. It even calls fo the creation of a commission to study the problem. It is even more suprising that the report was created by a group of 10 scientists, industry representatives, and environmentalists. Sounds like the US may finally be coming around on the issue of Global Warming. Better late then never.
United States Climate Action Partnership
The United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) is a group of American companies who decided to do something about climate change. They put forward the following six principles that they would like the US Government to embrace (good luck): Account for the global dimensions of climate change; Create incentives for technology innovation; Be environmentally effective; Create economic opportunity and advantage; Be fair to sectors disproportionately impacted; and Reward early action. They have also published a report...
The Weather Channel
I just discovered that The Weather Channel has a pretty good blog on climate change, and they are not afraid of a little political controversy as demonstratred by this entry.