Climate disruption deniers have been claiming for years now that the global temperature has been cooling down, even though the temperature data clearly shows that it isn’t. Scientists and statisticians have pointed out that, mathematically speaking, the recent reduced warming trend is well within the noise, or put another way, it’s weather, not climate.
A new report by the Associated Press reveals what many of us knew already – the denier’s claims don’t hold water, statistically speaking. The report is intriguing because the AP provided their data to four independent statisticians without telling them what it was, and all four found that the slower warming of the past decade was statistically insignificant with respect to the actual data.
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A study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology has revealed a new and troubling aspect to climate disruption – as glaciers melt, they are releasing persistent organic pollutants like DDT, PCBs, other pesticides, and synthetic musks (chemicals that mask body odor).
The scientists studied the annual sediment layers in a high alpine lake in Switzerland and found that there the annual flux of pollutants varied consistently across all the studied pollutants – the fluxes started low in the 1950s, peaked in the 1960s and 70s, dropped off again in the 1980s, and then rose to a new peak in the late 1990s. But in the case of all the pollutants except for musks, the production of the pollutants ceased by 1986 at the latest, and the musks have been in constant production globally since the late 1980s.
More at the linkClimate disruption deniers have been claiming for years now that the global... more
I found this to be very interesting. This is the only actual comparison of the actual amounts involved that I have ever seen-------and it paints an entirely different picture than the one painted by conservatives who oppose renewable energy because it is subsidized.
My only reservation about the study is that it is not broken down into more speciic groups. I think that some fossil fuels are much worse than others, and not all renewable energy options are good choices either.
Still, I think this is good information to have handy.I found this to be very interesting. This is the only actual comparison of the... more
Excerpts from Rodale Institute CEO Tim La Salle's PowerPoint presentation, "Regenerative 21st Century Farming: A Solution to Global Warming & The Organic Green Revolution."
LaSalle summarizes Rodale research that shows how the combination of organic agriculture, managed grazing and restorative forestry could sequester 100% of global greenhouse gas emissions.Excerpts from Rodale Institute CEO Tim La Salle's PowerPoint presentation,... more
Generating electricity by burning coal is responsible for about half of an estimated $120 billion in yearly costs from early deaths and health damages to thousands of Americans from the use of fossil fuels, a federal advisory group said Monday.
A one-year study by the National Research Council looked at many costs of energy production and the use of fossil fuels that aren't reflected in the price of energy. The $120 billion sum was the cost to human health from U.S. electricity production, transportation and heating in 2005, the latest year with full data.
The report also looks at other hidden costs from climate change, hazardous air pollutants such as mercury, harm to ecosystems and risks to national security, but it doesn't put a dollar value on them.
"We would characterize our estimate as an underestimate," because it didn't include those other costs, said Jared Cohon, the president of Carnegie Mellon University and the chairman of the committee that produced the report.
The report says it's impossible to put a monetary amount on all the hidden costs of energy, in some cases because of a lack of information but also because the study had limited time and resources. It focused on the costs of air pollution on health.
Coal-fired power and motor-vehicle transportation accounted for roughly 99 percent of those costs. The other approximately 1 percent of the estimate was from heating for homes, buildings and industrial purposes, mostly from natural gas.
more at link...Generating electricity by burning coal is responsible for about half of an estimated... more
This is an amazing video on the conversion of water that can burn through a rock! Amazing!This is an amazing video on the conversion of water that can burn through a rock!... more
Eating the Sun by author Oliver Morton explains how, where there is greenery, photosynthesis is working to make oxygen, release energy and create living matter.
Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet is an appreciation of the importance of plants; a history of the earth and the feuds and fantasies of warring scientists; a celebration of how the smallest things, enzymes and pigments, influence the larger things. These include the oceans, the rain forests, and the fossil fuel economy
Henry Ford believed in using Hemp products to make cars. He was green 50 years before GREEN was cool. This article discusses the biofuel future that Henry Ford foresaw and why his plans have been delayed for more than a half century.Henry Ford believed in using Hemp products to make cars. He was green 50 years before... more
Now this is the renewable energy America needs to see more of.
excerpt:
The protest at Chevron was part of a campaign to generate political pressure and “street heat” leading up to the international climate change talks to be held in Copenhagen in December. Other protests will be held later in the year and in other parts of the country.
“People, not corporations, should drive the critical climate talks in Copenhagen,” said Ananda Lee Tan, a member of the Mobilization for Climate Justice spokescouncil and the U.S. Campaign Coordinator for the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. “To date, at the United Nation’s climate talks, corporate lobbyists have outnumbered representatives of governments and civil society groups by a ratio of as high as 4 to 1. We want Chevron and all corpor ate lobbyists banned from, and frontline community voices represented at these talks.” ”The MCJ seeks to empower community-based activist groups and networks to lead a global climate justice movement in confronting the root causes of climate change at home,” said Torm Nompraseurt of theAsian Pacific Environmental Network, “while defining community priorities and self-determination pathways for a new energy economy.”
The Mobilization for Climate Justice-West includes more than 35 diverse groups: AFSCME Local 444, Amazon Watch, Art in Action, Asian-Pacific Environmental Network, Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice, Bay Localize, Burmese American Democratic Association, Communities for a Better Environment, Contra Costa Greens, Direct Action to Stop the War, Earth First!, Environmental Justice & Climate Change Initiative, Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity (FACES), Forest Ethics, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Global Exchange, Global Justice Ecology Project, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Greenpeace, Headrush, International Forum on Globalization, International Rivers, Justice in Nigeria Now!, Movement Generation, Pacific Environment, Poor Magazine, Rainforest Action Network, Richmond Mayor’s Task Force on Environmental Justice and Health, Progressive Bengali Network, Richmond Progressive Alliance, Ruckus Society, Rising Tide North America, Solidarity, West County Toxics Coalition, Youth In Focus, 350.orgNow this is the renewable energy America needs to see more of.
excerpt:
The... more
It's been a strange summer around here. We had the wettest, coldest June in memory. July and August weren't much better, and we're still waiting for our first official heat wave. But if you think this tells you anything about global warming, you're looking out the wrong window.
Instead, turn your gaze northward. Climate change is most visible at the extremes, the top and bottom of the earth. And the people who watch the poles most closely are more worried than ever.
That would be the consortium of scientists known as International Polar Year. Its latest findings indicate that some of the dire predictions of climate scientists were off - in the wrong direction. Things are trending worse than the "worst case scenarios" envisioned in the most recent reports of the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The melting of Arctic sea ice has been evident for years in NASA satellite photos and eyewitness accounts. CIA photos, classified under the Bush administration but declassified under President Obama, are even more dramatic, showing slushy ice - or no ice at all - in areas frozen solid not long ago.
The IPY repeated the measurements taken by an Arctic expedition in 1893, finding that the ice cap, which was typically 12 feet thick a century ago, is now between one and three feet thick. Summer sea ice could disappear completely by 2020, researchers say.
That's ahead of the models in the IPCC's 2007 report, mostly because the IPCC assumed the world would have begun to slow the growth of carbon dioxide emissions. No such luck.
There's more bad news coming out of Greenland, where the IPCC low-balled estimates of glacial melting. New, more sophisticated measurements show Greenland is now losing 52 cubic miles of ice every year. Since Greenland is a land mass with ice on top, its melting glaciers cause sea levels to rise, unlike the floating Arctic ice. While the IPCC estimated sea levels would rise 16 inches this century, Sharon Begley reports in Newsweek that IPY scientists now project a rise of at least 39 inches.
Even more disturbing is the news on Arctic permafrost, which is rapidly melting. As it melts, the permafrost releases carbon into the atmosphere, making global warming worse. New calculations project that, at its peak, the melting will put between 1 billion and 2 billion tons a year into the atmosphere, Begley reports - or up to six times as much carbon as generated each year by American cars and light trucks.
Another recalculation triples the estimate of CO2 locked in the permafrost: Experts now say there is two times as much carbon in the permafrost as is currently in the atmosphere.
These new findings are a reminder that climate change is a moving target, that scientists can get things wrong, and that projections can be off - on either the good side or the bad side. While many have hoped the doom and gloom projections would prove exaggerations, new data shows they were over-optimistic.
end of excerptIt's been a strange summer around here. We had the wettest, coldest June in memory.... more
"Waxman-Markey... gives away 85% of the pollution credits in the first years of the program and provides many avenues potentially to evade compliance. While in theory the bill relies on the market to find the most efficient alternatives to greenhouse-gas emitting energy sources, in practice its subsidies, regulations and exemptions could skew the outcome in costly ways... [Passed in the House] is just a first step. With... fierce battles to come in the Senate, the debate over how to design this fundamental shift in the American economy remains wide open. It's not too late to hope for a cleaner cap-and-trade bill -- such proposals are circulating on Capitol Hill -- or a properly designed carbon tax that would send the right market signal to spur green-energy innovation while also leading to vital changes in behavior. We're not ignorant of political realities, and we don't believe the perfect should become the enemy of the good. Congress should deliver a bill to Mr. Obama this year. But given that congressional action could set a template for years or decades, we think it's too soon to settle for something that falls so far short of ideal.""Waxman-Markey... gives away 85% of the pollution credits in the first years of the... more
Congress is poised to squander a historic opportunity to move closer to a clean energy future. The energy and climate bill moving through the U.S. House is based on a proposal from a group that includes Shell Oil, the coal-burning utility Duke Energy, and other corporate polluters. This should be a red flag for progressives. This bill fails to get the job done. Congress must do better.
Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder had the following statement:
"Corporate polluters including Shell and Duke Energy helped write this bill, and the result is that we're left with legislation that fails to come anywhere close to solving the climate crisis. Worse, the bill eliminates preexisting EPA authority to address global warming-that means it's actually a step backward.
"Last November, the American people voted for change. Unfortunately, while the party in power may have changed, the process through which this bill was negotiated makes it clear that the overwhelming influence of corporate special interests has not. This exercise in politics as usual is a wholly unacceptable response to one of the greatest challenges of our time, and it endangers the welfare of current and future generations. Speaker Pelosi and congressional Democrats simply must do better. We are calling on them to vote against this bill unless it is substantially strengthened. If the 'political reality' at present cannot accommodate stronger legislation, their first task must be to expand what is politically possible-not to pass a counterproductive bill. This is the message carried by the ad campaign we are launching today."
While it's still too early to say whether the 2009 melt will exceed the record 2007 melt -- the annual low-point isn't reached until September -- the trend line for 2009 for the first time has dipped below 2007, according to the latest data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Another record would be startling, but not surprising. Just 30% of the sea ice in the Arctic at the height of the winter freeze was thicker multi-year ice, leaving 70% susceptible to rapid melting. The amount of ice in the Arctic as of February 2009 -- the height of the annual freeze -- was the lowest on record. Most arctic scientists now say they expect an ice-free Arctic in summer within the next three decades -- far ahead of the projections in the last comprehensive United Nations report on global warming.
The melting of Arctic sea ice is one of the clearest signals of global warming, and a leading indicator of what is to come. The melting is also an example -- one of many -- of a positive feedback loop that scientists expect will accelerate global warming: As sea ice melts, the darker water that is exposed absorbs more of the sun's energy, which leads to warmer waters and more melting ice.
end of excerptWhile it's still too early to say whether the 2009 melt will exceed the record 2007... more
To raise awareness about the environmental impact of meat production, we've teamed up with YourDailyThread to bring you our Meatless in May campaign. World meat production is one of the largest contributors to global warming—more than cars! In this video Tracy and Lauren invite you to show your support for a low-carbon diet by going meatless this May!To raise awareness about the environmental impact of meat production, we've teamed up... more
A world record breaking expedition from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Ushuaia, Argentina using a hydrogen powered vehicle. Upon completion of this journey I will be the first single person to drive the length of the Globe without fossil fuels.
On this record breaking 30,000 mile expedition to be the first single person to drive the length of North and South America without using any fossil fuels, I will document with stories and photos the effects that resource development policies and industries (namely the fossil fuels industry) have had on the indigenous cultures and ecosystems of the Americas.
This story is a very personal one to me for many reasons, one being that I am an enrolled member of the Caddo Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, which resides smack dab in the middle of United States oil country. My own family history can illustrate some of the results of the long and rocky relationship between resource development and indigenous culture. I see this relationship as exemplary of the kind of detriment that these industries can have on all of us, not just indigenous cultures.
I will cover topics such as the changing migration patterns of the Caribou in Inuit territory due to global warming and oil exploration; the long-term effects that the Exxon Valdez disaster has had on the coastal tribes and ecosystems of Alaska and Canada; the dying springs and rivers on the Navajo Reservation where a coal slurry line sucks over 9 billion gallons of water a year from the only aquifer in that region; what is known as the Chernobyl of South America, where for years Chevron Corporation left oil sludge and chemical waste in tribal drinking waters, causing devastating mutations and disease among the Native people of Equador. These are just a few examples of the kinds of issues I will highlight in this documentary project.
There are dozens upon dozens of stories throughout the Americas of tribal people being dislocated, threatened, abused and even killed, as well as inundated with disease causing pollution and waste by resource development industries and the government policies that support them. For over a hundred years now indigenous cultures have paid the major share of the price for Civilization's insatiable appetite for fossil fuels. But now that all of society is having to pay tribute in the form of health, environment, war, and economy to that addiction, I believe the people as a whole are finally ready to listen and force a long overdue change for the betterment of us all. I feel that the plight of Native Peoples in this struggle for resources such as oil, or just plain clean air and drinking water, illustrates the bigger picture of the plight of us all and the price that we, our children, and their children, are paying and will pay to feed this pointless addiction.
I hope to show the world with this project that if one man can drive from the top to the bottom of the planet without using ANY fossil fuels, then certainly the rest of us can drive 5-10 miles to work every morning without harming ourselves and our future! The only reason we're still stuck in this rut is greed, pure and simple. The powers that be have no intention of releasing new and less harmful products to us until they have 'cleared their inventory' so to speak. Unless we force them to! Like so many of us, I love the freedom of the road, but I don't believe it has to come at the cost of our health, our children's future, or our lives!
For more information on this project, and to vote for it in the Name Your Dream Assignment Contest, click or paste this url :
Global warming/climate change is not only moving at an excelerated pace in Australia but on every other continent including the Arctic. To continue to dispute its presence is to be ignorant of the facts. Scientists around the world have been warning us of the repercussions of denial and apathy for years. These warnings can no longer be ignored. The cost of doing so is too great for the planet as a whole regarding the survival of our species and all others.
So this thread is not to once again rehash the same BS about whether it is manmade or not to push a partisan political agenda or grudge. I am SO DONE with that. This thread is for serious people who understand the urgency of this crisis and its effects on this planet and our species who actually want to do something about it.
The recent tragedy in Australia regarding wildfires that were the worst ever there and may not be over, had the ground work for their ferocity and tragedy laid out by years of severe drying and drought resulting from climate change. Climate change one spark made into a hell on Earth. The Murray-Darling River basin is also a stark example of those severe effects. For anyone to look at that dwindling river that was declared dead just a few months ago and still deny that there is something more to this than just a 'usual dry summer' is someone who clearly cannot or will not understand the changing face of this planet due to our neglect and greed.
We cannot claim to be an evolving species if we continue to deny the consequences of our actions and not work to adjust those actions to the perceived outcome. Therefore, if you truly do care for what climate change is doing to this planet and want to do something about it, please respond here and tell Current what it is you plan to do this year to wake up politicians to the urgency of this crisis and demand action.
This is not just some topic people who care cavalierly put here simply to have something to talk about to kill some online time. This is about the world our children will inherit. There is nothing more important than that. We have nothing else without a sustainable planet and there is no more time to waste in that goal.Global warming/climate change is not only moving at an excelerated pace in Australia... more
We are talking about climate trends here and the other variables that are factored into those trends over years.This is not just about one colder winter. We need to drastically reduce the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (especially in light of methane emissions increasing caused by melting permafrost which is caused by Co2 emissions) if we are to preserve the climate balance of this planet before seeing a tipping point.
We may well have reached a tipping point in glacier melt in the Arctic and are close to it in other parts of the world (namely the Himalayas) and will reach one regarding our oceans if we do not act aggressively now to reign in manmade greenhouse gas emissions. That is not a partisan political argument, it is a fact.We are talking about climate trends here and the other variables that are factored... more
As the Earth heats up at a dangerous rate and fossil fuels become scarcer, ordinary citizens and businesses are bypassing the federal government to lead the way in exploring a clean, renewable source of power: the sun. In this report, NOVA shines a light on how and why people across America and the world are "going solar," using radiant energy of the sun to power homes, businesses, and even entire communities. But can everyday people really make a difference by using solar power? And can solar technologies, with their high cost and logistical challenges, truly play a bigger role in powering the future of humanity? The grand hopes, latest innovations, roiling controversies, and practical realities of solar power all come to the fore in this program.
In the 1970s, at the height of an earlier energy crisis, solar power looked like the trend of the future—President Jimmy Carter even installed solar panels on the White House. But in the ensuing decades, as the price of gas and oil dropped, solar power lost favor and failed to make a significant contribution to the nation's power grid. Now, with rising energy needs and wars in the Middle East pushing energy prices higher, the world has been forced to take another look. Could it be time to take solar energy seriously again?As the Earth heats up at a dangerous rate and fossil fuels become scarcer, ordinary... more
I'm posting this video clip because of another post I saw here on current about a train that can go 300 MPH... are you kidding me 300 MPH isn't anything! We have the technology to build transportation that would completely change the world we live in and save the environment but the greedy corporations are doing everything they can to keep the current fossil fuel infrastructure in place, killing our environment, wallets and human progress!
Please watch this 10 minute video courtesy of the Zeitgeist Addendum on transportation, if you haven't viewed this already you're in for a surprise.
Responses welcome so please chime in.
Peace,
~ Mind ControlI'm posting this video clip because of another post I saw here on current about a... more
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr delivers his opening statement during the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing, "Approaching Midnight: Oversight of the Bush Administration's Last-Minute Rulemakings" on December 11, 2008.
While this intervention is crucial; his speach at LIVE EARTH 2008 was the most explicit & aggressive as for the responsibility we all share in this...
Here's an excerpt...
The most important thing you can do is to get involved in the political process and get rid of all these rotten politicians that we have in Washington D. C. Who are nothing more than corporate toadies for companies like Exxon and Southern Company, these villainous companies that consistently put their private financial interest ahead of American interests and ahead of the interests of all of humanity.
This is treason and we need to start treating them now as traitors.
And they have their slick public relations firms and their phony think tanks in Washington D. C. and their crooked scientists who are lying to the American People day after day after day.
And we have a press that has completely let down American democracy.
That's giving us Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton instead of the issues that we need to understand to make rational decisions in a democracy.
Like global warming.
And so I got to tell you this that the next time you see John Stossel or Glen Beck or Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, these flat-earthers, these corporate toadies, lying to you, lying to the American public and telling you that global warming doesn't exist.
You send an email to their advertisers and tell them you're not going to buy their products any more.
And I want you to remember this; that we are not protecting the environment for the sake of the fishes and the birds, we're protecting it because Nature is the infrastructure of our communities.
And if we want to meet our obligation as a generation, as a civilization, as a nation, which is to create communities for our children.
That provide them with the same opportunities for dignity and enrichment and good health and prosperity and stability as the communities that our parents gave us, we've got to start by protecting our environmental infrastructure.
The air we breathe, the water we drink, the wildlife the public lands the things that connect us to our past to our history that provide context to our communities and that are the source ultimately of our values and our virtues and our character as people and the future of our children and I will see all of you on the barricades.Robert F. Kennedy, Jr delivers his opening statement during the Select Committee on... more
