By David Horsey (published 5/22/09 in the Seattle-PI newspaper)
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Climate Philosophy 2009
We have eighty-nine months left.
The climate philosophy newsletter is now online.
The Mad Hun will resume posting monthly reviews by January '10. 2009 is a historic year. We are approaching the tipping point now. Reason for a ecosophical revolution is more pressing than ever. According to the print edition of Scientific American Earth 3.0, Summer 2009, "View: The Efficiency Solution," p. 12-13, current U.S. energy flow, in quadrillion Btu, is supplied by the following: petroleum 39.81; natural gas 23.63; coal 22.76; nuclear 8.41; biomass 3.61; hydro 2.46; geothermal 0.35; wind 0.31; solar 0.08. Put differently, of a total US energy production of 101.42 quadrillion Btu, the Sun's power accounts for less than one tenth of a percent.
Later this year, in Copenhagen, the world will find out whether the USA can become enlightened.
Clock's ticking.
The climate philosophy newsletter is now online.
The Mad Hun will resume posting monthly reviews by January '10. 2009 is a historic year. We are approaching the tipping point now. Reason for a ecosophical revolution is more pressing than ever. According to the print edition of Scientific American Earth 3.0, Summer 2009, "View: The Efficiency Solution," p. 12-13, current U.S. energy flow, in quadrillion Btu, is supplied by the following: petroleum 39.81; natural gas 23.63; coal 22.76; nuclear 8.41; biomass 3.61; hydro 2.46; geothermal 0.35; wind 0.31; solar 0.08. Put differently, of a total US energy production of 101.42 quadrillion Btu, the Sun's power accounts for less than one tenth of a percent.
Later this year, in Copenhagen, the world will find out whether the USA can become enlightened.
Clock's ticking.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
climate review May
-- updated 5/28, 5/31, 6.1. --
-- thanks for all your links --
We have ninety months left.
Florida saw record heat in May followed by an early start of the rainy season. The SUV-induced drought continues; rainfall remains below average for the third year in a row, and the past dry season was the second driest on record. Local news mention neither climate change nor amerigenic causes. Ownership people are not permitted to water the lawn. Since poison is dumped in gardens that sprinklers wash off, a toxic brew runs off from suburbs to the ocean, killing things. The sprinkler ban has let sea grass beds in the Bay to recover a bit.
In the US things are moving in the right direction, but too slowly. The American way of life, with happy motoring and fossil emissions, destabilizes the Earth System. Now Mother Nature is waging war on the US. Americans holding on to their lifestyle stand little change of winning. Russia and Canada may find ways to adapt, but most of the US, just like most of China, is too far south for adaption. Within a few decades, the American Southwest will be a desert. Much of the remainder, including a slimmer, shorter Florida, will be steppe. Americans will migrate to Canada just as Chinese will leave for Russia. It appears we will have to give up some land. The uncanny thing is how half-hearted and short-sighted the responses are. Survival demands a Great Leap Forward, not American baby steps! Perhaps the problem is that social environments tune mental attitudes, and that a culture of private property, financial gain, suburban living, and car commutes happens to cloud minds.
The Obama administration issued new vehicle regulations requiring 40% more fuel efficiency of 15 klicks per liter (6.7 l/100 km) by 2016. Reality check: a Toyota Prius gets 23 km per liter (4.2 l/100 km). GM is flirting with bankruptcy. Bullet trains are not in sight.
The Republicans, a party that lives on another planet, failed to defeat the first US climate bill (it passed a House committee), which aims to lower greenhouse emissions by 2020 to 83% of 2005 levels. It's a cap-and-trade bill with lots of capitalistic candy. For the first few years, the bill gives away 85% of permits for free. The bill allows for lots of offsets (polluters can keep polluting and pay others to pollute less), a strategy that has caused problems in Europe. Overall, the climate bill is good vibes but too diluted to make a difference.
Climate change at the poles is disrupting the food web in Antarctica. The South polar ocean is fresher than it was because of ice melt. Permafrost CO2 release has come clearer into view: plant carbon uptake will be overwhelmed in a few decades, making the thawing tundra the largest source of CO2 emissions in the future, and triggering a positive feedback loop. Mt Everest's glaciers are melting. The Amazon basin is seeing climate swings. German cuckoo birds cannot deal with warming. California trees are getting smaller.
I still see no bicycles on the road. A bus stop nearby now is graced with a bench. There are no trains. Everyone still drives big cars. Lots of people have diabetes, heart disease, and weight problems. In a nice reminder of Bavaria in the 1980s, I finally saw a bus on campus with a biodiesel sticker. There are no solar panels and wind farms. The American addiction to Arab oil remains unconditional.
Atmospheric CO2 concentrations are now at 388 ppmv. Pre-industrial levels were 280 ppmv. A 3° C temperature rise this century is likely, and the chance of a 6° C rise has grown to one in three. You don't need a philosopher to tell you that a 6° C rise will end civilization. We need to get down to 350 ppmv, and time is running out.
USF Professor Al Arian is not back in his office and remains in jail.
BEST QUOTES
"This is a challenge that requires imagination, political will and the vision to champion generations to come while meeting the urgent needs of today."
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, "It Doesn't Get Bigger Than This" 5.14.
"We are now in a different kind of war -- a war that we have conducted against the ecosystem and [that] has been conducted by our very own corporate leaders. ... The products built in the factories of GM, Ford and Chrysler are some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming and the melting of our polar icecaps. The things we call 'cars' may have been fun to drive, but they are like a million daggers into the heart of Mother Nature. To continue to build them would only lead to the ruin of our species and much of the planet."
Michael Moore, film-maker, "Goodbye, GM" 6.1.
"It is unfair to expect China to live within constraints that we didn't have to face when our own economy was on its way up. But that unfairness doesn't change the fact that letting China match the West's past profligacy would doom the Earth as we know it."
Paul Krugman, economy Nobel laureate, "Empire of Carbon" 5.14.
"The trouble is, physics and chemistry aren't adjusting their schedule to fit our political and economic convenience."
Bill McKibben, activist, "Can 350.org Save the World?" 5.17.
"It's about whether we're serious about remaining a great nation. We don't act like it."
Bob Herbert, NYT columnist, "Our Crumbling Foundation" 5.25.
CLIMATE PHILOSOPHY
The Climate Philosophy Newsletter is almost ready to be mailed out--give us another week. If any colleague has done any recent climate-related work, please let us know so that we can add the info.
The Aarhus conference's program will be up by July 1.
The Essays in Philosophy's call for papers is October 1. The issue will come out January 2010.
CLIMATE POLITICAL SCIENCE
Mike Grubb (Cambridge, UK) and Rick Loch (Imperial College, London) launched a journal called Climate Policy, published by earthscan journals. The inaugural issue has articles on mitigation in the Copenhagen deal; post-2012 implications of China's emissions; the issue of determining best carbon cuts; alternative money tools for mitigation; cap-and-trade mechanisms; German lessons from the same; climate effective architecture; and more. All of this sounds timely. Check it out at climatepolicy.com .
CLIMATE EVENTS
World: climate change causes 315,000 deaths a year 5.29.
... A Revkin: warming and death 5.29.
Amazon basin braces for 'extreme climate' 5.26.
Nepal's Mt Everest glaciers have started to melt 5.25.
Yosemite's giant trees disappear due to climate 5.22.
drop in CO2 in US and power use in China for now 5.21.
Argentina: tropical storm forms over dry land 5.21.
Florida rains don't end drought 5.20.
Antarctic algae vanish; climate disrupts food chain 5.19.
Florida's rainy season arrives early 5.17.
Alaska's land is rising as glaciers melt 5.17.
Florida's record-setting heat (II) 5.11.
Alaska's salmon disappear with changing climate 5.1.
Florida's record-setting heat (I) 4.7.
Germany's cuckoo cannot adapt to climate change 5.25.
CLIMATE POLICY
US climate legislation advances 5.27.
France in climate row over attempt to appoint skeptic 5.27.
Russia shifts stance on climate-change policy 5.27.
Ontario introduces cap and trade legislation 5.27.
Copenhagen Business Climate Summit hijacked by polluters 5.25.
US climate bill worse than expected 5.21.
US climate bill as good as it gets 5.17.
Obama touts plan for cleaner cars 5.19.
US to toughen rules on emissions and mileage 5.18.
UN chief urges climate action 5.17.
US lawmakers unveil climate bill 5.15.
CLIMATE MITIGATION
jet biofuel ready for takeoff 5.29.
US: despite bad economy no big shift in values 5.21.
Economist: US & climate: cap + trade, handouts & loopholes 5.21.
S Chu's proposal--should we paint everything white? 5.27.
Business Weekly: the great ethanol scam 5.15.
Gainesville Regional Utilities support solar power buy-backs 4.17.
CLIMATOLOGY
E. Schuur, "The effect of permafrost thaw on old carbon release and net carbon exchange from tundra" Nature 459:556-559 5.28.
... editor's summary 5.28.
... study cites 'slow motion' threat from permafrost 5.29.
... Nature Climate feedback: greening vs. gassing in the Arctic 5.28.
R. Morello, "The climate gap: inequalities in how climate change hurts Americans & how to close the gap," University of Southern California PERE Publications 5/09
... climate change hits poor hardest in U.S. SciAm 5.29.
A. Hu, "Transient response of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and climate to potential melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the 21st century" Geophys. Res. Let. 36 5.29.
... Greenland ice could fuel severe US sea level rise 5.27.
Univ of New Hampshire June 09 conference topic: spring agricultural fires have large impact on melting Arctic Science Daily 5.29.
... human-made fires fuel Arctic warming 5.28.
A. Thomas, "Penultimate deglacial sea-level timing from uranium/thorium dating of Tahitian corals" Science 324 5.29.
... coral clues to deglaciation
P. Wignall, "Volcanism, mass extinction, and carbon isotope fluctuations in the Middle Permian of China" Science 324 5.29.
... "severe disturbance of the ocean-atmosphere carbon cycle"
M. McPhee, "Rapid change in freshwater content of Arctic Ocean" Geophys. Res. Let. 36 5.21.
... Nature research highlight 5.28.
A. Costello, "Managing health effects of climate change"
Lancet 373 5.16.
... making climate change part of global health Lancet 373 5.16.
...global warming biggest health threat this century 5.14.
Accuweather 2009 hurricane forecast 6.1.
...forecast for 2009 Atlantic hurricane season lowered 5.14.
C. Knappenberger, "Climate impacts of Waxman-Markey (the IPCC-based arithmetic of no gain)" Master Resource 5.6.
... Real Climate: the tragedy of climate commons 5.7.
M. Inman, "A sensitive subject: how the planet will respond to rising emissions" Nature Reports Climate Change (2009) 41 4.30.
Scientific American reports: wildfires and climate change 5/09
... wildfires fuel climate change Sci Am 4.23
N. Stern, A Blueprint for a Safer Planet (2009), review, Nature 4.9.
Climate Change: decadal scale coolings not all that unusual 4.7.
GOOD STUFF
car driven society poses health risks for Americans 5.29.
Rolling Stones, Am Winehouse team up for climate charity 5.26.
Japan Times: Nuremberg sets precedent for Bush prosecution 5.26.
Sam Bergen Rescue Earth--Join Us Oxfam video 1:00 min
Netherlands to close prisons for lack of criminals 5.19.
US health care lies about Canada 5.18.
George Carlin (rip): Saving the Planet video 7:39 min
post-Bushist food for thought: thermite? 4.17.
On a personal note, we will be abroad on sabbatical and away from computers until December. It would be nice to see a continuity of monthly climate reviews during this time. Interested volunteers please contact the Mad Hun in South Florida Philosophy.
-- thanks for all your links --
We have ninety months left.
Florida saw record heat in May followed by an early start of the rainy season. The SUV-induced drought continues; rainfall remains below average for the third year in a row, and the past dry season was the second driest on record. Local news mention neither climate change nor amerigenic causes. Ownership people are not permitted to water the lawn. Since poison is dumped in gardens that sprinklers wash off, a toxic brew runs off from suburbs to the ocean, killing things. The sprinkler ban has let sea grass beds in the Bay to recover a bit.
In the US things are moving in the right direction, but too slowly. The American way of life, with happy motoring and fossil emissions, destabilizes the Earth System. Now Mother Nature is waging war on the US. Americans holding on to their lifestyle stand little change of winning. Russia and Canada may find ways to adapt, but most of the US, just like most of China, is too far south for adaption. Within a few decades, the American Southwest will be a desert. Much of the remainder, including a slimmer, shorter Florida, will be steppe. Americans will migrate to Canada just as Chinese will leave for Russia. It appears we will have to give up some land. The uncanny thing is how half-hearted and short-sighted the responses are. Survival demands a Great Leap Forward, not American baby steps! Perhaps the problem is that social environments tune mental attitudes, and that a culture of private property, financial gain, suburban living, and car commutes happens to cloud minds.
The Obama administration issued new vehicle regulations requiring 40% more fuel efficiency of 15 klicks per liter (6.7 l/100 km) by 2016. Reality check: a Toyota Prius gets 23 km per liter (4.2 l/100 km). GM is flirting with bankruptcy. Bullet trains are not in sight.
The Republicans, a party that lives on another planet, failed to defeat the first US climate bill (it passed a House committee), which aims to lower greenhouse emissions by 2020 to 83% of 2005 levels. It's a cap-and-trade bill with lots of capitalistic candy. For the first few years, the bill gives away 85% of permits for free. The bill allows for lots of offsets (polluters can keep polluting and pay others to pollute less), a strategy that has caused problems in Europe. Overall, the climate bill is good vibes but too diluted to make a difference.
Climate change at the poles is disrupting the food web in Antarctica. The South polar ocean is fresher than it was because of ice melt. Permafrost CO2 release has come clearer into view: plant carbon uptake will be overwhelmed in a few decades, making the thawing tundra the largest source of CO2 emissions in the future, and triggering a positive feedback loop. Mt Everest's glaciers are melting. The Amazon basin is seeing climate swings. German cuckoo birds cannot deal with warming. California trees are getting smaller.
I still see no bicycles on the road. A bus stop nearby now is graced with a bench. There are no trains. Everyone still drives big cars. Lots of people have diabetes, heart disease, and weight problems. In a nice reminder of Bavaria in the 1980s, I finally saw a bus on campus with a biodiesel sticker. There are no solar panels and wind farms. The American addiction to Arab oil remains unconditional.
Atmospheric CO2 concentrations are now at 388 ppmv. Pre-industrial levels were 280 ppmv. A 3° C temperature rise this century is likely, and the chance of a 6° C rise has grown to one in three. You don't need a philosopher to tell you that a 6° C rise will end civilization. We need to get down to 350 ppmv, and time is running out.
USF Professor Al Arian is not back in his office and remains in jail.
BEST QUOTES
"This is a challenge that requires imagination, political will and the vision to champion generations to come while meeting the urgent needs of today."
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, "It Doesn't Get Bigger Than This" 5.14.
"We are now in a different kind of war -- a war that we have conducted against the ecosystem and [that] has been conducted by our very own corporate leaders. ... The products built in the factories of GM, Ford and Chrysler are some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming and the melting of our polar icecaps. The things we call 'cars' may have been fun to drive, but they are like a million daggers into the heart of Mother Nature. To continue to build them would only lead to the ruin of our species and much of the planet."
Michael Moore, film-maker, "Goodbye, GM" 6.1.
"It is unfair to expect China to live within constraints that we didn't have to face when our own economy was on its way up. But that unfairness doesn't change the fact that letting China match the West's past profligacy would doom the Earth as we know it."
Paul Krugman, economy Nobel laureate, "Empire of Carbon" 5.14.
"The trouble is, physics and chemistry aren't adjusting their schedule to fit our political and economic convenience."
Bill McKibben, activist, "Can 350.org Save the World?" 5.17.
"It's about whether we're serious about remaining a great nation. We don't act like it."
Bob Herbert, NYT columnist, "Our Crumbling Foundation" 5.25.
CLIMATE PHILOSOPHY
The Climate Philosophy Newsletter is almost ready to be mailed out--give us another week. If any colleague has done any recent climate-related work, please let us know so that we can add the info.
The Aarhus conference's program will be up by July 1.
The Essays in Philosophy's call for papers is October 1. The issue will come out January 2010.
CLIMATE POLITICAL SCIENCE
Mike Grubb (Cambridge, UK) and Rick Loch (Imperial College, London) launched a journal called Climate Policy, published by earthscan journals. The inaugural issue has articles on mitigation in the Copenhagen deal; post-2012 implications of China's emissions; the issue of determining best carbon cuts; alternative money tools for mitigation; cap-and-trade mechanisms; German lessons from the same; climate effective architecture; and more. All of this sounds timely. Check it out at climatepolicy.com .
CLIMATE EVENTS
World: climate change causes 315,000 deaths a year 5.29.
... A Revkin: warming and death 5.29.
Amazon basin braces for 'extreme climate' 5.26.
Nepal's Mt Everest glaciers have started to melt 5.25.
Yosemite's giant trees disappear due to climate 5.22.
drop in CO2 in US and power use in China for now 5.21.
Argentina: tropical storm forms over dry land 5.21.
Florida rains don't end drought 5.20.
Antarctic algae vanish; climate disrupts food chain 5.19.
Florida's rainy season arrives early 5.17.
Alaska's land is rising as glaciers melt 5.17.
Florida's record-setting heat (II) 5.11.
Alaska's salmon disappear with changing climate 5.1.
Florida's record-setting heat (I) 4.7.
Germany's cuckoo cannot adapt to climate change 5.25.
CLIMATE POLICY
US climate legislation advances 5.27.
France in climate row over attempt to appoint skeptic 5.27.
Russia shifts stance on climate-change policy 5.27.
Ontario introduces cap and trade legislation 5.27.
Copenhagen Business Climate Summit hijacked by polluters 5.25.
US climate bill worse than expected 5.21.
US climate bill as good as it gets 5.17.
Obama touts plan for cleaner cars 5.19.
US to toughen rules on emissions and mileage 5.18.
UN chief urges climate action 5.17.
US lawmakers unveil climate bill 5.15.
CLIMATE MITIGATION
jet biofuel ready for takeoff 5.29.
US: despite bad economy no big shift in values 5.21.
Economist: US & climate: cap + trade, handouts & loopholes 5.21.
S Chu's proposal--should we paint everything white? 5.27.
Business Weekly: the great ethanol scam 5.15.
Gainesville Regional Utilities support solar power buy-backs 4.17.
CLIMATOLOGY
E. Schuur, "The effect of permafrost thaw on old carbon release and net carbon exchange from tundra" Nature 459:556-559 5.28.
... editor's summary 5.28.
... study cites 'slow motion' threat from permafrost 5.29.
... Nature Climate feedback: greening vs. gassing in the Arctic 5.28.
R. Morello, "The climate gap: inequalities in how climate change hurts Americans & how to close the gap," University of Southern California PERE Publications 5/09
... climate change hits poor hardest in U.S. SciAm 5.29.
A. Hu, "Transient response of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and climate to potential melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the 21st century" Geophys. Res. Let. 36 5.29.
... Greenland ice could fuel severe US sea level rise 5.27.
Univ of New Hampshire June 09 conference topic: spring agricultural fires have large impact on melting Arctic Science Daily 5.29.
... human-made fires fuel Arctic warming 5.28.
A. Thomas, "Penultimate deglacial sea-level timing from uranium/thorium dating of Tahitian corals" Science 324 5.29.
... coral clues to deglaciation
P. Wignall, "Volcanism, mass extinction, and carbon isotope fluctuations in the Middle Permian of China" Science 324 5.29.
... "severe disturbance of the ocean-atmosphere carbon cycle"
M. McPhee, "Rapid change in freshwater content of Arctic Ocean" Geophys. Res. Let. 36 5.21.
... Nature research highlight 5.28.
A. Costello, "Managing health effects of climate change"
Lancet 373 5.16.
... making climate change part of global health Lancet 373 5.16.
...global warming biggest health threat this century 5.14.
Accuweather 2009 hurricane forecast 6.1.
...forecast for 2009 Atlantic hurricane season lowered 5.14.
C. Knappenberger, "Climate impacts of Waxman-Markey (the IPCC-based arithmetic of no gain)" Master Resource 5.6.
... Real Climate: the tragedy of climate commons 5.7.
M. Inman, "A sensitive subject: how the planet will respond to rising emissions" Nature Reports Climate Change (2009) 41 4.30.
Scientific American reports: wildfires and climate change 5/09
... wildfires fuel climate change Sci Am 4.23
N. Stern, A Blueprint for a Safer Planet (2009), review, Nature 4.9.
Climate Change: decadal scale coolings not all that unusual 4.7.
GOOD STUFF
car driven society poses health risks for Americans 5.29.
Rolling Stones, Am Winehouse team up for climate charity 5.26.
Japan Times: Nuremberg sets precedent for Bush prosecution 5.26.
Sam Bergen Rescue Earth--Join Us Oxfam video 1:00 min
Netherlands to close prisons for lack of criminals 5.19.
US health care lies about Canada 5.18.
George Carlin (rip): Saving the Planet video 7:39 min
post-Bushist food for thought: thermite? 4.17.
On a personal note, we will be abroad on sabbatical and away from computers until December. It would be nice to see a continuity of monthly climate reviews during this time. Interested volunteers please contact the Mad Hun in South Florida Philosophy.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
climate review April
--updated 4.30., 5.1., 5.3.--
--thanks for all your links--
Spring is in the air, and with it, unease on how things will continue. America is becoming less sustainable by the month. Recognition suddenly dawns. A grassroots effort at changing things is converging with initiatives from the top. Green is the new bandwagon of the Global Village, and America is finding itself looking rather Brown.
Considering how wrong the past eight years had been, with the US roll-back of environmental law and sabotage of a climate consensus, the effort at change is totally welcome. But action is so overdue, and so much ground was lost, that whatever is done looks ridiculously small. The problem is not that the past eight years had been a time of inertia that stopped civil evolution; the problem is that the clock had been turned back. We don't start where we had been in 2000. We start where we had been in 1960. So right now we are at this weird place in history where the reversal of Bushism means progress so modest it sounds bizarre. Political headline of the month would be, Americans discover torture is a crime. Green news of the month (on Appalachian coal) would be, Americans reluctant to blow up their own mountains. And climate news of the month would be, tired of being climate crunchers, Americans wanna make nice.
In Florida, the SUV-induced drought deepens. April's new rule is that home owners are not allowed to water lawns anymore until further notice. Problem is that lawns do alright in cool, moist places with four seasons, like Britain, Belgium, or Bavaria, but are completely out of place in a subtropical place with only two seasons, wet and dry, like Florida. Maintaining lawns here requires huge amounts of pesticide and herbicide, and huge amounts of fresh water. Go to any hardware store with a plant annex, and you'll find enormous stacks of toxic chemicals, usually right at the checkout counter. That's the gringo style of gardening: drive with your Hummer to the gardening center to get weed killer for your astro turf. Half the drinking water in the Tampa Bay area is diverted to keep suburban lawns nice and green. Disallowing this, at least for the time being, is a step in the right direction, but it is a step so modest that it would sound bizarre anywhere else. Some companies are advertising their services to spray-paint lawns green. Anthropologists, you must visit Tampa!
Trying to live with a small carbon footprint here is weirdly difficult. For one thing, all the electricity in the grid comes from fossil fuel plants. April's utility bill contained a flyer with another headline that fits the bizarrely modest pattern: "Tampa Electric announces 25-megawatt solar agreement." To put this in perspective, in the Sunshine State, this means (a) they'll start building it in 2011; and (b) that, I cite, the solar photovoltaic array will "serve the electric energy needs of more than 3,400 homes." Yes, that's 3,400. The same mail brought a flyer called "Saver's Digest" with an advertisement about advertising (!) in said flyer, showing how the Tampa Bay area, consisting of Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Hernando counties, divides for marketing purposes into 19 zones consisting of 35,000 households each. With the exception of three nuclear power plants -- Crystal River to the north, Turkey Point to the south, and St Lucie to the west -- Florida is fossil all the way. Windless at a breezy ocean, and no sun in the Sunshine State, baby. Roof solar collectors are unknown here, and there are no wind turbines anywhere. But hey, we've got lotsa gas stations!
And so it goes. Saver's Digest, indeed. Junk mail is a fact of life; US postal workers are required, by federal law, to deliver junk mail to your mailbox. (You can write marketing companies and request your name to be taken off their mailing lists, and good luck with that!) Living here means to attract waste like iron filings go to a magnet. And then you can only throw it away again, or recycle, if you're lucky. Recycling, however, is not encouraged either. There is no pickup; you need to bring your junk to the nearest recycling center. Trashing or recycling exhaust your choices; there is no such thing as reusing. If you purchase a glass bottle, you can't return it to the store for washing and refilling; no, gringos are only allowed to toss it in a recycling container, so that it will be crushed, heated, melted, and made into a new bottle. Smart, eh? Anthropologists, study Tampa!
One good thing I've noticed are new bus stops. But even they are surreal: a bus stop, here, is a stick in the ground. There is no posted schedule, none. The bus comes when the bus comes. If it comes. Apparently you're supposed to just wait and hope for the best. Vladimir and Estragon waiting for Godot. Waiting you're supposed to do standing. In the dirt. There are few sidewalks, after all, and not every stop has a bench. And none are roofed. So taking the bus in Tampa means a sunburn, or a shower. The idea, clearly a Republican design, is to punish you for being Green, poor, and enlightened.
On the campus of the University of South Florida, the student newspaper reports that support grows for planning a mass transit system ... while the Global Village has full-blown transit networks running for decades already. (Here's a link to cool bullet trains.) In the Provost's Office, discussions on a School of Sustainability continue, and faculty voices that judge sustainability "a dumb idea" are being drowned out by a more enlightened emerging consensus. But how many years will go by before such a School would be up and running? Four? Eight? And what's Florida climate going to be like four or eight years down the road? What plants will grow here four or eight years down the road? What bacteria and algae will bloom in the ocean then? How long will it take before sea water breaches the lining of the rapidly depleting Florida aquifer? And then what?
Meanwhile the State legislature is planning more budget cuts, and this time they may well cut to the bone. Furloughs and layoffs are options, since no one knows how to fund education anymore. The war criminal and climate-changer Bush spent all the money; USF Professor Al-Arian is still in jail; and yesterday was commencement.
BEST NEOLOGISM
"climate crunch"
editorial staff, news feature, Nature, vol 458, 30 April 2009
BEST QUOTES
"It is not too late yet--but we may be very close."
BEST QUOTES
"It is not too late yet--but we may be very close."
editorial, "time to act," Nature 458, 1077-1078
"The economic crisis, climate change, the food crisis, and the energy crisis are the results of the decay of capitalism, which threatens to end life on the planet."
"The economic crisis, climate change, the food crisis, and the energy crisis are the results of the decay of capitalism, which threatens to end life on the planet."
Bolivia, Cuba, Venezuela etc.: Declaration of Cumaná, 4.24.
"Wall Street is no longer, in any real sense, part of the private sector."
"Tomorrow it'll be too late do what we should've done a long time ago."
Fidel Castro, speech at 1992 Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro apr 09
CLIMATE PHILOSOPHY
November 3-6, Aarhus University, Denmark
Climate Change as Challenge for Intercultural Inquiry on Values
An international, interdisciplinary research conference; global dialogue conference series, 2009, call for papers deadline May 31 (homepage)
CLIMATE EVENTS
Germany hottest April in 120 years 5.1.
CLIMATE PHILOSOPHY
November 3-6, Aarhus University, Denmark
Climate Change as Challenge for Intercultural Inquiry on Values
An international, interdisciplinary research conference; global dialogue conference series, 2009, call for papers deadline May 31 (homepage)
CLIMATE EVENTS
Germany hottest April in 120 years 5.1.
Antarctica ice chunks break away 4.30.
rising seas threaten renowned French coast 4.26.
China pollution in cities 'extremely severe' 4.23.
US national parks threatened by climate change 4.9.
Earth warming faster, a trigger for 'dangerous' climate change? 4.8.
Arctic sea ice thinnest ever going into spring 4.6.
Antarctica ice bridge ruptures 4.5.
Arctic sea ice melts faster than expected 4.2.
CLIMATE POLICY
Island nations want to fix 1/3 of climate via Ozone Treaty 4.30.
CLIMATE POLICY
Island nations want to fix 1/3 of climate via Ozone Treaty 4.30.
US climate bill may be delayed 4.27.
US seeks reins in new set of climate talks 4.25.
Latin America: declaration of Cumaná 4.24.
US shares common climate purpose at G8 talks 4.23.
Canada supports Bolivia's call for a Mother Earth day 4.22.
Indigenous People's Global Summit on Climate Change 4.21.
US: EPA takes first step towards climate regulations 4.17.
UK climate policy not up to scratch 4.6.
Australia urges new phase for climate talks 4.1.
Europe will suffer despite climate measures 4.1.
California approves carbon reduction in transport fuels 4.24.
air pollution 'helps plants blunt climate change' 4.23.
New York carbon sequestration plan 4.22.
no price hike on 2010 Toyota Prius; cheaper model to come 4.21.
climate chaos predicted by CO2 study 4.30.
... editorial, "time to act," Nature 4.29.
... Allen et al., "warming by cumulative emissions" Nature 4.30.
... Meinshausen et al., "limiting global warming to 2C" Nature 4.30.
... Schneider, "the worst case scenario" Nature 4.29.
... staff "climate crunch: a burden beyond bearing" Nature 4. 29.
... staff "climate crunch: sucking it up" Nature 4.29.
... staff "climate crunch: great white hope" Nature 4.29.
Lovelock was right: Earth's climate can suddenly flip over
... cf. Nisbet et al, "shifting gear, quickly" Science 4.24.
wildfires add speed to global warming 4.24.
Grossfeuer heizen Weltklima massiv auf 4.24.
... Bowsman et al., "fire in the Earth System" Science 4.24.
there is going to be more Lyme disease 4.23.
there is going to be more Lyme disease 4.23.
... Gatewood et al., "climate and tick seasonality" AEM April
climate change costly for Illinois agriculture 4.10.
climate change costly for Illinois agriculture 4.10.
... staff, "hotter fields, lower yields," Environm. America 4.9.
GLOBAL VIBES
In honor of 4-20:
Paul Armentano, cannabis slows down cancer 4.24.
GLOBAL VIBES
In honor of 4-20:
Paul Armentano, cannabis slows down cancer 4.24.
... lung cf. A Pree, et al., Nature Oncogene 27: 339-346
... prostate cf. L Ruiz et al. FEBS letters 458: 400-404
... breast cf. S McAllister et al., MCT 6:2921
... pancreas cf. A. Carracedo et al., Cancer Research 66:6748
... brain cf. M. Guzman et al., Br J Cancer 95:197-203
NYT op ed, end the university as we know it 4.27.
UN: US is obligated to prosecute Bush administration 4.24.
US Rasmussen report poll: capitalism or socialism? 4.9.
... 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better
... 27% of American adults are not sure
... 20% of American adults believe socialism is better
Sci Am: China earthquake may have been man-made 2.3.
GOOD STUFF
Michael Moore, bernie madoff, scapegoat 5.1.
GOOD STUFF
Michael Moore, bernie madoff, scapegoat 5.1.
Ian Angus, action on climate change? Cuba si! 4.30.
Bill Scher, at the 100 day mark, climate is losing 4.29.
Chris Hedges, Obama has missed his moment 4.27.
Ralph Nader, where's my change? 4.25.
A Revkin, US industry ignored its scientists on climate 4.23.
MIT: Republicans misusing climate science paper 4.2.
D Kucinich investigate Executive Assassination Ring 3.13.
We have ninety-one months left.
Friday, March 27, 2009
climate review March
-- updated, cleaned 3/30, 4/1, 4/2 --
-- thanks for all your links --
Global weather is being pushed farther out of whack. Atmospheric CO2 continues to rise. N2O and CH4 are joining the greenhouse fray. In climatology, event of the month was the Copenhagen congress. Consensus was that the AR4 is dated; it had been too conservative, too optimistic. The window of 2 C warming has now slammed shut. New best prospects are 3 to 8 C. Droughts are the new fact of life.
In policy, in the world, communities are stating readiness to become carbon neutral. In the US, the Obama admin continues to reverse Bush's criminal acts. Still, the Bushists are not yet on trial. At USF, which still hasn't rehabilitated Professor Sami Al-Arian, my 2008 proposal of a School of Sustainability is being heard in the Provost's office, hopefully not too little, not too late. Tampa remains without trains, subways, wind mills, and solar cells. Everybody drives. Nobody bikes. Florida enters the third year of SUV-induced drought. Roadsigns flash: "conserve water".
Climate tells US philosophers that they've bet on the wrong horses. For one thing, climate change kills off the skepticist paradigm shared by Postmoderns and many late 20th century Analytic thinkers. The climatologist in Nature Geoscience quoted below put it this way: climate change is simply wrong. For the first time since Wolff and the early German Enlightenment, moral absolutes are back, in perfectly rational and secular form.
R.I.P. Postmodern relativism.
For another, climatology kills off the reductionist paradigm shared by Analytics and at least tacitly supported by many Postmoderns. Climatology is science of wholes. Climate is examined as a gestalt. Standard science states what nonstandard philosophy claims: wholes are more than sums of parts; they're functional systems of interplay. The cognitive stance of reductionism, that information is to be deconstructed a la Postmodernity or to be dissected a la Analyticity, turns out to be one-sided. For the first time since Hegelian hippies, emergent systems are back, in perfectly empirical and rigorous form.
R.I.P. Analytic reductionism.
Welcome to the new paradigm.
CLIMATE EVENTS
N Dakota flood 3.27.
Florida drought worsens 3.26.
Colorado drought worsens 3.26.
N Carolina drought eases, continues 3.26.
Texas drought worsens 3.25.
California drought worsens 3.18.
Australia still affected by drought 3.30.
West Australia drought reduces wool clip 3.30.
Argentina/Brazil drought imperils crop 3.26.
Somalia drought imperils humans 3.25.
Namibia flood is catastrophic 3.20.
Antarctica new wind patterns imperil plankton 3.12.
Carbon emissions create acidic oceans not seen since dinosaurs 3.10.
Marine plankton shells are weakening 3.8.
Arctic tundra releases large N2O emissions 2.15.
CLIMATE POLICY
Bonn Climate Change Talks start 3.29.
... 350.org asks for help
China demands carbon pledge from US 3.30.
Boston climate action plan 3.30.
US 'fully committed to UN climate talks' 3.29.
US wants international meetings on energy and climate 3.28.
Florida will get toughest water restrictions in state history 3.27.
Maldives go carbon-neutral 3.23.
Spain's electric car grid (project movele) 3.19.
Sweden goes carbon-neutral 3.11.
US federal money for electric cars 3.19.
US fuel-efficient GenSet trains 3.18.
US public transit reductions 3.18.
US offshore wind farms delayed 3.16.
US poll: more gringos think global warming exaggerated 3.11.
US climate deniers protest 3.9.
... Realclimate's take on skeptics 4.1.
... Desmog's take on skeptics 3.9.
CLIMATE MITIGATION
Nat'l Academies: America's climate choices summit 3.30-31
Nat'l Resarch Council: America unprepared for climate change 3.13.
Greenpeace: forest credits would crash carbon markets 3.30.
black carbon, driving half of Arctic warming, can be mitigated 3.30.
ocean iron fertilization research suspended 3.30.
Earth Hour 2009 3.29.
solar panel maker profits up 3.19.
Baghdad water still undrinkable six years after Bushist invasion 3.18.
biofuels do more harm than good 3.5.
Barcelona bank starts giving out eco-mortgages 3.5.
US workers retrain for wind-energy jobs 3.5.
CLIMATOLOGY NEWS
half of Arctic warming due to soot (black carbon)
... cf. D Shindell, "regional aerosol forcing" Nat Geosci 2:294-300
climatology's issue with tipping points
... cf. A Revkin: dotearth 3.28. and NYT 3.29
climate change will dry up UK's rivers 3.28.
... cf. UK Enviro Agency: Water Resources Strategy 2009
climate change to blame for 1/3 of droughts 3.26.
... cf. Peter Baines, Melbourne U, @ Perth Conference
northeastern US to suffer most from sea rise 3.15.
... cf. J Yin, "rapid sea-level rise on the NE coast" Nat Geosci link
Copenagen climate meeting at dotearth 3.12.
Europe 'will be hit by severe drought'
... cf. Rachel Warren, U East Anglia, @ Copenhagen Conference 3.12.
half world's inhabited areas risk to become unliveable 3.12.
... cf. Steven Sherwood, Yale U, @ Copenhagen Conference
Amazon may be ruined by drought 3.12.
... cf. Met Office/Hadley Centre, @ Copenhagen Conference
Amazon 85 percent at risk of destruction 3.11.
... cf. Met Office/Hadley Centre, @ Copenhagen Conference
sea levels are rising twice as fast as predicted 3.11.
... cf. K Steffen, U Colorado/S Rahmsdorf, PIK Potsdam
sea level rise could bust IPCC estimate 3.10.
... J. Church, Australian Weather Center, via New Scientist
likely source for Eocene blistered orb event identified
... cf. G. Nisbet, "kick-starting warming" Nat Geosci 2:156-159
current plankton shells 50% thinner than in the past,
could affect oceanic uptake of atmospheric CO2
... cf. A. Moy, "reduced plankton calcification" Nat Geosci 2:276-280
more greenhouse gas emissions from melting permafrost
... cf. M. Repo, "N20 emissions from peat" Nat Geosci 2:189-192
CO2 emissions will suffocate oceans for 100,000 years
... cf. G Shaffer, "long-term oxygen depletion" Nat Geosci 2:105-109
BEST QUOTES
"And it is only by investing in environmental techology that we can end the dictatorship of oil, and it is only by tackling climate change that we create the millions of new green jobs we need."
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's speech to US Congress 3.4.
"After all is said and done about the science and the economics of global warming, the issue may come down to a matter of ethics, as Archer suggests by using an analogy to slavery in the US and its abolishment: 'Ultimately it didn't matter whether it was economically beneficial or costly to give up. It was simply wrong.'"
F. Mackenzie, review of Archer, Long Thaw (Princeton 2008), Nat Geoscience 2 (09) 85
"Climate Change has provoked a war between the generations."
Josh Garman, The Guardian, 3.8.
BEST NEOLOGISM
"global weirding"
J Waldman, "with temperatures rising, here comes 'global weirding'" environment360 3.19.
We have ninety-two months left.
-- thanks for all your links --
Global weather is being pushed farther out of whack. Atmospheric CO2 continues to rise. N2O and CH4 are joining the greenhouse fray. In climatology, event of the month was the Copenhagen congress. Consensus was that the AR4 is dated; it had been too conservative, too optimistic. The window of 2 C warming has now slammed shut. New best prospects are 3 to 8 C. Droughts are the new fact of life.
In policy, in the world, communities are stating readiness to become carbon neutral. In the US, the Obama admin continues to reverse Bush's criminal acts. Still, the Bushists are not yet on trial. At USF, which still hasn't rehabilitated Professor Sami Al-Arian, my 2008 proposal of a School of Sustainability is being heard in the Provost's office, hopefully not too little, not too late. Tampa remains without trains, subways, wind mills, and solar cells. Everybody drives. Nobody bikes. Florida enters the third year of SUV-induced drought. Roadsigns flash: "conserve water".
Climate tells US philosophers that they've bet on the wrong horses. For one thing, climate change kills off the skepticist paradigm shared by Postmoderns and many late 20th century Analytic thinkers. The climatologist in Nature Geoscience quoted below put it this way: climate change is simply wrong. For the first time since Wolff and the early German Enlightenment, moral absolutes are back, in perfectly rational and secular form.
R.I.P. Postmodern relativism.
For another, climatology kills off the reductionist paradigm shared by Analytics and at least tacitly supported by many Postmoderns. Climatology is science of wholes. Climate is examined as a gestalt. Standard science states what nonstandard philosophy claims: wholes are more than sums of parts; they're functional systems of interplay. The cognitive stance of reductionism, that information is to be deconstructed a la Postmodernity or to be dissected a la Analyticity, turns out to be one-sided. For the first time since Hegelian hippies, emergent systems are back, in perfectly empirical and rigorous form.
R.I.P. Analytic reductionism.
Welcome to the new paradigm.
CLIMATE EVENTS
N Dakota flood 3.27.
Florida drought worsens 3.26.
Colorado drought worsens 3.26.
N Carolina drought eases, continues 3.26.
Texas drought worsens 3.25.
California drought worsens 3.18.
Australia still affected by drought 3.30.
West Australia drought reduces wool clip 3.30.
Argentina/Brazil drought imperils crop 3.26.
Somalia drought imperils humans 3.25.
Namibia flood is catastrophic 3.20.
Antarctica new wind patterns imperil plankton 3.12.
Carbon emissions create acidic oceans not seen since dinosaurs 3.10.
Marine plankton shells are weakening 3.8.
Arctic tundra releases large N2O emissions 2.15.
CLIMATE POLICY
Bonn Climate Change Talks start 3.29.
... 350.org asks for help
China demands carbon pledge from US 3.30.
Boston climate action plan 3.30.
US 'fully committed to UN climate talks' 3.29.
US wants international meetings on energy and climate 3.28.
Florida will get toughest water restrictions in state history 3.27.
Maldives go carbon-neutral 3.23.
Spain's electric car grid (project movele) 3.19.
Sweden goes carbon-neutral 3.11.
US federal money for electric cars 3.19.
US fuel-efficient GenSet trains 3.18.
US public transit reductions 3.18.
US offshore wind farms delayed 3.16.
US poll: more gringos think global warming exaggerated 3.11.
US climate deniers protest 3.9.
... Realclimate's take on skeptics 4.1.
... Desmog's take on skeptics 3.9.
CLIMATE MITIGATION
Nat'l Academies: America's climate choices summit 3.30-31
Nat'l Resarch Council: America unprepared for climate change 3.13.
Greenpeace: forest credits would crash carbon markets 3.30.
black carbon, driving half of Arctic warming, can be mitigated 3.30.
ocean iron fertilization research suspended 3.30.
Earth Hour 2009 3.29.
solar panel maker profits up 3.19.
Baghdad water still undrinkable six years after Bushist invasion 3.18.
biofuels do more harm than good 3.5.
Barcelona bank starts giving out eco-mortgages 3.5.
US workers retrain for wind-energy jobs 3.5.
CLIMATOLOGY NEWS
half of Arctic warming due to soot (black carbon)
... cf. D Shindell, "regional aerosol forcing" Nat Geosci 2:294-300
climatology's issue with tipping points
... cf. A Revkin: dotearth 3.28. and NYT 3.29
climate change will dry up UK's rivers 3.28.
... cf. UK Enviro Agency: Water Resources Strategy 2009
climate change to blame for 1/3 of droughts 3.26.
... cf. Peter Baines, Melbourne U, @ Perth Conference
northeastern US to suffer most from sea rise 3.15.
... cf. J Yin, "rapid sea-level rise on the NE coast" Nat Geosci link
Copenagen climate meeting at dotearth 3.12.
Europe 'will be hit by severe drought'
... cf. Rachel Warren, U East Anglia, @ Copenhagen Conference 3.12.
half world's inhabited areas risk to become unliveable 3.12.
... cf. Steven Sherwood, Yale U, @ Copenhagen Conference
Amazon may be ruined by drought 3.12.
... cf. Met Office/Hadley Centre, @ Copenhagen Conference
Amazon 85 percent at risk of destruction 3.11.
... cf. Met Office/Hadley Centre, @ Copenhagen Conference
sea levels are rising twice as fast as predicted 3.11.
... cf. K Steffen, U Colorado/S Rahmsdorf, PIK Potsdam
sea level rise could bust IPCC estimate 3.10.
... J. Church, Australian Weather Center, via New Scientist
likely source for Eocene blistered orb event identified
... cf. G. Nisbet, "kick-starting warming" Nat Geosci 2:156-159
current plankton shells 50% thinner than in the past,
could affect oceanic uptake of atmospheric CO2
... cf. A. Moy, "reduced plankton calcification" Nat Geosci 2:276-280
more greenhouse gas emissions from melting permafrost
... cf. M. Repo, "N20 emissions from peat" Nat Geosci 2:189-192
CO2 emissions will suffocate oceans for 100,000 years
... cf. G Shaffer, "long-term oxygen depletion" Nat Geosci 2:105-109
BEST QUOTES
"And it is only by investing in environmental techology that we can end the dictatorship of oil, and it is only by tackling climate change that we create the millions of new green jobs we need."
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's speech to US Congress 3.4.
"After all is said and done about the science and the economics of global warming, the issue may come down to a matter of ethics, as Archer suggests by using an analogy to slavery in the US and its abolishment: 'Ultimately it didn't matter whether it was economically beneficial or costly to give up. It was simply wrong.'"
F. Mackenzie, review of Archer, Long Thaw (Princeton 2008), Nat Geoscience 2 (09) 85
"Climate Change has provoked a war between the generations."
Josh Garman, The Guardian, 3.8.
BEST NEOLOGISM
"global weirding"
J Waldman, "with temperatures rising, here comes 'global weirding'" environment360 3.19.
We have ninety-two months left.
Friday, February 27, 2009
climate review February
-- updated, revised 3/4, 3/6 --
February 2009 was encouraging, inspiring, in a bracing sort of way. Obama acts as a Confucian gentleman. He responds to knowledge. He cherishes friends from distant places. He doesn't repay scorn with violence. And as Mencius counsels, he heeds the people.
That cat can dance.
This month's climate review suggests that information clarifies. Boundary conditions are now emerging. For remaining within the limits of a temperature rise of 2 C (bad, but acceptable), it appears we have 93 months left. This is the green revolution timeframe. Beyond this timeline opportunity looms dieback. The way the dieback would unfold has become clearer, too. Policywise, February showed a big change for the better. What follows are first some thoughts, next some quotes, and then the regular link list of climate events, climate policy items, mitigation attempts, and climatology news.
Thanks, as always, for your input -- keep it coming!
THOUGHTS
-- Risky --
So far, it appears the new administration has made all the right moves -- but also a mistake. Obama continues Bush policies. Bush reminds me of Hitler: everything he touches he ruins. Bush, like Hitler, freely started wars with no exit strategy ("kill 'em all" won't do). By sending more troops to Afghanistan, Obama makes Bush's war into his own. Furthermore, Bush, like Hitler, rewarded cronies with booty and transferred wealth from the little people to those in power. And when those in power messed up and the people got hurt, the wealth transfer worsened: the first bailout last fall. By sending a second bailout after the first, without changing the rules much, Obama follows Bush. Over war and bailout, Obama follows a loser.
-- Answers --
Of course the system is collapsing, as unsustainable structures must. Answers, to the question of what to do, stay unchanged. Excellent survival is hippie evolution. A post-consumerist world is our chance. The post-collapse economy will not be based on growth. We will use more Nash than Marx or Smith. Think Star Trek communism with a free market in the green sector.
-- Questions --
Now that the planet is turning hot and dry, and the seas lose their abundance, and the lands lose their fertility, what shall be done with those Americans who've cheated the world's youth out of resources? When will Bush, the climate-changer-in-chief, be brought to justice? What shall be done with the Republican architects of collapse--when will American Denazification begin? And locally, I ask: when will solar, wind, & trains be allowed at the Sun Coast? When will USF Professor Sami Al-Arian, still innocent, still in jail, be rehabilitated?
MANY SO TRUE QUOTES
Alligators basking off the English coast; a vast Brazilian desert; the mythical lost cities of Saigon, New Orleans, Venice, and Mumbai; and 90 percent of humanity vanished. Welcome to the world warmed by 4 C.
G Vince how to survive the coming century New Scientist 2-25
In the face of the impending crisis, people often ask what they can do to protect themselves. 'Buy gold? Stockpile canned goods? Build a fortified compound in a remote area? What should I do?' I would like to suggest a different kind of question: 'What is the most beautiful thing I can do?'
C Eisenstein money & the crisis of civilization RealitySandwich 2-23
Among other things, contraction means that all the activities of everyday life need to be downscaled including standards of living, ranges of commerce, and levels of governance ... The wealth of several future generations has already been spent and there is no equity left there to re-finance.
Jim Kunstler the abyss stares back Clusterfuck Nation 2-23
Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.
Karl Marx, thanks to D Schechter, who will rescue us as economy remains in free fall? common dreams 3-2
President Obama, this is your moment. This is your time to beat Buicks into bullet trains, Suburbans into subways, and Hummers into hybrid buses.
Derrick Z Jackson pull the plug on US automakers Boston Globe 2-21
We head off down Panchsheel Marg, one of New Delhi’s main streets. The ladies want to show me something. The U.S. Embassy and the Chinese Embassy are both located on Panchsheel, directly across from each other. They asked me to check out the rooftops of each embassy. What do I notice? Let’s see ... The U.S. Embassy’s roof is loaded with antennae and listening gear. The Chinese Embassy’s roof is loaded with ... new Chinese-made solar hot-water heaters.
You couldn’t make this up.
Tom Friedman yes they could. so they did New York Times 2-15
Admittedly, Nome is a long way from Australia, but last summer my wife and i saw there a number of moored, well-rigged but unexceptional yachts that had come through the Northwest Passage. That is, they had made without drama a journey that defeated Cook in the 18th century and killed Sir John Franklin and all his expedition in the 19th century.
T Keneally after the inferno Guardian 2-20
The effects we're seeing now are largely the results of gases pumped into the air during the Kennedy administration.
Stephan Faris, Forecast New York: Henry Holt 2009, p.222
CLIMATE EVENTS
Alabama blanketed by rare snow 2.28.
California declares drought emergency 2.27.
Spain loses 90 percent of its glaciers 2.23.
Australia worst fires on record 2-12
North American birds alter migrations 2-10
Britain gets one month's rainfall in one day 2-10
US cold January was actually warm 2-10
NOAA January US temperatures 2.9.
China declares emergency: worst drought in fifty years 2-5
Chicago coldest temps in ten years 2-4
Kentucky deadly ice storm 2-2
World heads for 'water bankruptcy' 1-30
CLIMATE POLICY
California mulls water rationing 2.27.
Washington climate protest planned 2.26.
NYC Times Square to be turned into pedestrian mall 2.26.
US explosive growth of climate change lobby 2.25.
Chicago launches climate initiative 2.24.
Florida dying Everglades restoration in jeopardy 2.24.
Obama's address to congress (text) 2.24.
Australia: charged for toilet flushing -- rational water tax 2.16.
UN, EU: US 'sea change' on climate talks 2.13.
GLOBAL VIBES
global general strike March 13-19 info
ASEAN leaders urged to discuss climate change 2.27.
US/UK blamed for rapid increase in China's CO2 2.23.
US universities advise to avoid spring breaks in Mexico 2.23.
Latvia government collapses 2.20.
stock decline hits depression levels 2.17.
US living standard changes permanently 2.17.
Ireland might be next 2.16.
International jurists bewail damage done by US war on terror 2.16.
is America ready to quit coal? 2.14.
US fed obligations exceed world GDP 2.13.
Dubai spirals down 2.12.
Iraq prez declares end of US dominance 2.10.
US actual unemployment 14 percent 2.6.
Florida from boom to bread lines 2.8.
Krygyzstan closes US military base 2.6.
US anti-torture activists sentenced to US prison (Spanish) 1.30.
Europe's welfare system a model for the 21st century 1.27.
CLIMATE MITIGATION
Boston airport parking carbon fee proposed 3.2.
new outlook in US raises hopes on climate treaty 3.1.
NASA's chief climatologist calls for civil disobedience 2.27.
France builds nuclear power plants for Italy (German) 2.24.
Japan utilities may buy domestic solar power at twice the price 2.24.
California cuts off water to farms 2.20.
China Chery Automobile Co. launches hybrid 2.20.
World Bank steps up climate fight in Latin America 2.17.
wind turbines on household roofs 2.15.
Center for Biodiversity declares legal war on climate change 2.13.
to slow climate change, tax carbon 2.13.
California solar firm announces big contract 2.12.
Oil industry ready to work on global warming 2.12.
US ethanol is struggling 2.11.
... compare: Cohen: bring on the right biofuels '08
... contrast: Monbiot: biofuels do more harm than good '09
UK mulls rationing air travel 2.9.
US renewable energy grid expenses 2.8.
Obama reverses Bush pollution policies 2.6.
Sweden turns to nuclear energy 2.5.
ENLIGHTENMENT
Truth Commission for the Bush era? 3.2.
America's stupid health care debate 3.1.
Total says oil output near peak 2.15.
Truth Commission to investigate Bush/Cheney abuses? 2.12.
Latin American panel calls US drug war a failure 2.12.
call for Bush Administration trials 2.3.
smallest house in the world '08
LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE
George F. Will
CLIMATOLOGY
how to survive the coming century 2.25.
... link to interactive map 4 C warmer (be patient, slow upload)
Risks of global warming have been underestimated 2.24.
Arctic summers predicted to be ice-free by 2013 2.21.
Andean glaciers 'could disappear': World Bank 2.18.
positive loop: melt-pools accelerate Arctic ice loss 2.18.
UN: food production may fall 25 percent by 2050 2.17.
South American glaciers gone by 2030? 2.17.
a world without water 2.16.
climate change worst-case scenarios: not worst enough 2.14.
Gore: level of climate change 'without precedent' 2.14.
IPCC: climate change likely to be more devastating as thought 2.14.
IPCC: climate change even worse than predicted 2.14.
five top myths about 'clean' (sic) coal 2.14.
UK should prepare for massive loss of landmass 2.12.
new climatology-ecology synergies 2.6.
climate change could wipe out California farming 2.5.
icemelt could shift Earth's rotation 2.5.
The perspicacious surfer may have noticed that no peer-reviewed links appear this month. Indeed. Starting next month, I will post technical stuff in periodic updates on the climate blistered data bank, at least as long the klimasofia site is not yet up & running.
Ninety-three months left ... clock's ticking.
February 2009 was encouraging, inspiring, in a bracing sort of way. Obama acts as a Confucian gentleman. He responds to knowledge. He cherishes friends from distant places. He doesn't repay scorn with violence. And as Mencius counsels, he heeds the people.
That cat can dance.
This month's climate review suggests that information clarifies. Boundary conditions are now emerging. For remaining within the limits of a temperature rise of 2 C (bad, but acceptable), it appears we have 93 months left. This is the green revolution timeframe. Beyond this timeline opportunity looms dieback. The way the dieback would unfold has become clearer, too. Policywise, February showed a big change for the better. What follows are first some thoughts, next some quotes, and then the regular link list of climate events, climate policy items, mitigation attempts, and climatology news.
Thanks, as always, for your input -- keep it coming!
THOUGHTS
-- Risky --
So far, it appears the new administration has made all the right moves -- but also a mistake. Obama continues Bush policies. Bush reminds me of Hitler: everything he touches he ruins. Bush, like Hitler, freely started wars with no exit strategy ("kill 'em all" won't do). By sending more troops to Afghanistan, Obama makes Bush's war into his own. Furthermore, Bush, like Hitler, rewarded cronies with booty and transferred wealth from the little people to those in power. And when those in power messed up and the people got hurt, the wealth transfer worsened: the first bailout last fall. By sending a second bailout after the first, without changing the rules much, Obama follows Bush. Over war and bailout, Obama follows a loser.
-- Answers --
Of course the system is collapsing, as unsustainable structures must. Answers, to the question of what to do, stay unchanged. Excellent survival is hippie evolution. A post-consumerist world is our chance. The post-collapse economy will not be based on growth. We will use more Nash than Marx or Smith. Think Star Trek communism with a free market in the green sector.
-- Questions --
Now that the planet is turning hot and dry, and the seas lose their abundance, and the lands lose their fertility, what shall be done with those Americans who've cheated the world's youth out of resources? When will Bush, the climate-changer-in-chief, be brought to justice? What shall be done with the Republican architects of collapse--when will American Denazification begin? And locally, I ask: when will solar, wind, & trains be allowed at the Sun Coast? When will USF Professor Sami Al-Arian, still innocent, still in jail, be rehabilitated?
MANY SO TRUE QUOTES
Alligators basking off the English coast; a vast Brazilian desert; the mythical lost cities of Saigon, New Orleans, Venice, and Mumbai; and 90 percent of humanity vanished. Welcome to the world warmed by 4 C.
G Vince how to survive the coming century New Scientist 2-25
In the face of the impending crisis, people often ask what they can do to protect themselves. 'Buy gold? Stockpile canned goods? Build a fortified compound in a remote area? What should I do?' I would like to suggest a different kind of question: 'What is the most beautiful thing I can do?'
C Eisenstein money & the crisis of civilization RealitySandwich 2-23
Among other things, contraction means that all the activities of everyday life need to be downscaled including standards of living, ranges of commerce, and levels of governance ... The wealth of several future generations has already been spent and there is no equity left there to re-finance.
Jim Kunstler the abyss stares back Clusterfuck Nation 2-23
Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.
Karl Marx, thanks to D Schechter, who will rescue us as economy remains in free fall? common dreams 3-2
President Obama, this is your moment. This is your time to beat Buicks into bullet trains, Suburbans into subways, and Hummers into hybrid buses.
Derrick Z Jackson pull the plug on US automakers Boston Globe 2-21
We head off down Panchsheel Marg, one of New Delhi’s main streets. The ladies want to show me something. The U.S. Embassy and the Chinese Embassy are both located on Panchsheel, directly across from each other. They asked me to check out the rooftops of each embassy. What do I notice? Let’s see ... The U.S. Embassy’s roof is loaded with antennae and listening gear. The Chinese Embassy’s roof is loaded with ... new Chinese-made solar hot-water heaters.
You couldn’t make this up.
Tom Friedman yes they could. so they did New York Times 2-15
Admittedly, Nome is a long way from Australia, but last summer my wife and i saw there a number of moored, well-rigged but unexceptional yachts that had come through the Northwest Passage. That is, they had made without drama a journey that defeated Cook in the 18th century and killed Sir John Franklin and all his expedition in the 19th century.
T Keneally after the inferno Guardian 2-20
The effects we're seeing now are largely the results of gases pumped into the air during the Kennedy administration.
Stephan Faris, Forecast New York: Henry Holt 2009, p.222
CLIMATE EVENTS
Alabama blanketed by rare snow 2.28.
California declares drought emergency 2.27.
Spain loses 90 percent of its glaciers 2.23.
Australia worst fires on record 2-12
North American birds alter migrations 2-10
Britain gets one month's rainfall in one day 2-10
US cold January was actually warm 2-10
NOAA January US temperatures 2.9.
China declares emergency: worst drought in fifty years 2-5
Chicago coldest temps in ten years 2-4
Kentucky deadly ice storm 2-2
World heads for 'water bankruptcy' 1-30
CLIMATE POLICY
California mulls water rationing 2.27.
Washington climate protest planned 2.26.
NYC Times Square to be turned into pedestrian mall 2.26.
US explosive growth of climate change lobby 2.25.
Chicago launches climate initiative 2.24.
Florida dying Everglades restoration in jeopardy 2.24.
Obama's address to congress (text) 2.24.
Australia: charged for toilet flushing -- rational water tax 2.16.
UN, EU: US 'sea change' on climate talks 2.13.
GLOBAL VIBES
global general strike March 13-19 info
ASEAN leaders urged to discuss climate change 2.27.
US/UK blamed for rapid increase in China's CO2 2.23.
US universities advise to avoid spring breaks in Mexico 2.23.
Latvia government collapses 2.20.
stock decline hits depression levels 2.17.
US living standard changes permanently 2.17.
Ireland might be next 2.16.
International jurists bewail damage done by US war on terror 2.16.
is America ready to quit coal? 2.14.
US fed obligations exceed world GDP 2.13.
Dubai spirals down 2.12.
Iraq prez declares end of US dominance 2.10.
US actual unemployment 14 percent 2.6.
Florida from boom to bread lines 2.8.
Krygyzstan closes US military base 2.6.
US anti-torture activists sentenced to US prison (Spanish) 1.30.
Europe's welfare system a model for the 21st century 1.27.
CLIMATE MITIGATION
Boston airport parking carbon fee proposed 3.2.
new outlook in US raises hopes on climate treaty 3.1.
NASA's chief climatologist calls for civil disobedience 2.27.
France builds nuclear power plants for Italy (German) 2.24.
Japan utilities may buy domestic solar power at twice the price 2.24.
California cuts off water to farms 2.20.
China Chery Automobile Co. launches hybrid 2.20.
World Bank steps up climate fight in Latin America 2.17.
wind turbines on household roofs 2.15.
Center for Biodiversity declares legal war on climate change 2.13.
to slow climate change, tax carbon 2.13.
California solar firm announces big contract 2.12.
Oil industry ready to work on global warming 2.12.
US ethanol is struggling 2.11.
... compare: Cohen: bring on the right biofuels '08
... contrast: Monbiot: biofuels do more harm than good '09
UK mulls rationing air travel 2.9.
US renewable energy grid expenses 2.8.
Obama reverses Bush pollution policies 2.6.
Sweden turns to nuclear energy 2.5.
ENLIGHTENMENT
Truth Commission for the Bush era? 3.2.
America's stupid health care debate 3.1.
Total says oil output near peak 2.15.
Truth Commission to investigate Bush/Cheney abuses? 2.12.
Latin American panel calls US drug war a failure 2.12.
call for Bush Administration trials 2.3.
smallest house in the world '08
LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE
George F. Will
CLIMATOLOGY
how to survive the coming century 2.25.
... link to interactive map 4 C warmer (be patient, slow upload)
Risks of global warming have been underestimated 2.24.
Arctic summers predicted to be ice-free by 2013 2.21.
Andean glaciers 'could disappear': World Bank 2.18.
positive loop: melt-pools accelerate Arctic ice loss 2.18.
UN: food production may fall 25 percent by 2050 2.17.
South American glaciers gone by 2030? 2.17.
a world without water 2.16.
climate change worst-case scenarios: not worst enough 2.14.
Gore: level of climate change 'without precedent' 2.14.
IPCC: climate change likely to be more devastating as thought 2.14.
IPCC: climate change even worse than predicted 2.14.
five top myths about 'clean' (sic) coal 2.14.
UK should prepare for massive loss of landmass 2.12.
new climatology-ecology synergies 2.6.
climate change could wipe out California farming 2.5.
icemelt could shift Earth's rotation 2.5.
The perspicacious surfer may have noticed that no peer-reviewed links appear this month. Indeed. Starting next month, I will post technical stuff in periodic updates on the climate blistered data bank, at least as long the klimasofia site is not yet up & running.
Ninety-three months left ... clock's ticking.
Monday, February 02, 2009
climate review January (B)
January 2009 was a mind-blowing month. There's a chance that great wrongs will be set right. Yet, after all the good people celebrated the inauguration, I found myself choked up with anger. As I first emailed Scott Schneider, part of me had been hoping, until January 19, for at least a tiny sign that Bush, the climate-changer-in-chief, would be impeached. But it never happened. No impeachment for torture? For a concentration camp? For special rendition? For black sites? For suspending habeas corpus? For invading two sovereign nations? For more than a million deaths in Iraq alone? For all this fishiness with 9-11? For flying Bin Laden relatives out of the country and out of reach of the FBI after 9-11, from Tampa no less, when all other flights were grounded? For wasting a decade, and all the tax money, on worsening fossil addictions instead of investing in a post-carbon future? For sabotaging the worldwide fight against climate change? Nope, none of this merits impeachment. And the other guy had been nearly impeached for lying about oral sex?
I salute those of my colleagues who boldly opposed the American Disenlightenment in the past eight years. I am proud that you insisted on human universals. I am proud that you argued for environmental constants. I am proud that you defended, in your classes and works, the idea of progress. Kudos to your wisdom!
Those other colleagues, though, who, during the Rule of Unreason, preferred to deconstruct truth, justice, humanism, and progress, and who indulged in skepticism, relativism, and ambiguities instead, I can only say, with Bush you had the Postmodern Government you deserved. Bush grew on your intellectual soil. You must be proud.
In the US, the political problem now is what to do with the Bushists. The risk is to repeat Clinton's mistake. The Clinton administration 1992 failed to prosecute the Republicans responsible for the Nicaraguan war and the Iran-Contra affair. Thus, in 2001, the same camarilla returned to power. Crimes against humanity, boundless corruption, and the Great American Crash have been the result. Just like Germany after Hitler, the US after Bush needs Denazification. For the sake of justice, the US must conduct new Nuremberg Trials.
Climatewise, at least, Americans are joining in with the planetary enlightenment. It's about frigging time.
BEST QUOTE
"People generally think that President Bush's greatest mistake was the invasion of Iraq. But to the international community, the greatest error of Bush's eight years was his inattention to climate change - the gravest threat to mankind's existence - impeding the international community's efforts to control CO2 emissions, achieve consensus, and lead the way toward solutions. Because of the American government, the world lost eight precious years."
Pei Minyan, "Bush's Foreign Legacy," Caijing 1.24. (China; here)
CLIMATE PHILOSOPHY
RIP Arne Naess (1912-2009) 1.12. (U Oslo) (AP)
The University of Central Florida hosted a terrific conference on Evolution, the Environment, and Responsible Knowledge; the third in its annual Information Fluency meetings. It had good vibes, was a smooth success, and I learned a lot. I'm grateful for the invitation. Climate change was the predictable gravity-well of many talks on information fluency now.
PANTS ON FIRE
the last holdouts in 2009: 53 percent of corporate petroleum geologists and 36 percent of U.S. meteorologists dismiss anthropogenic climate change.
BEST PICTURE
Bush cries.
CLIMATE EVENTS
UK: record snow 2.2.
Australia: record-breaking heat 1.30.
Oceans: acidity rising 1.30.
California: historic drought 1.29.
France/Spain: deadly storms 1.24.
Greenland: Galloping glaciers slow down 1.23.
US: accelerated waldsterben 1.23.
US Northwest: confused pelican migration 1.23.
Bangladesh: coping with climate change 1.22.
North America: waldsterben speed doubles 1.22.
North America: waldsterben & global warming 1.22.
Antarctica: new evidence on warming 1.21.
US Northeast record cold wave 1.14.
US Midwest record cold wave I 1.13.
US Midwest record cold wave II 1.13.
Sea of Japan absorbs less CO2 1.12.
CLIMATE POLICY
NATO security risks through arctic thaw 1.29.
White House lost its solar panels 1.27.
Obama blocks Bush's midnight rules 1.23.
Obama reverses Bush's Mexico City policy 1.22.
Bush, a look back: anti-enviro timeline 1.16.
Rep Waxman (D-Calif) promises quick climate action 1.15.
Wisconsin Madison climate ordinances 1.14. (pdf)
arctic policy adjusts to ice retreat 1.13.
climate czar Carol Browner 1.12.
B McKibben et al. greening the stimulus 1.14.
CLIMATE EVOLUTION
Latin America: jungles grow, rainforest debate 1.30.
Texas plans more wind energy 1.29.
US: lawsuit filed in carbon trading scheme 1.29.
EU: flagship fusion reactor doubles in cost 1.29.
Ethanolsprit aus Brasilien: Blut im Tank 1.23.
Cooling crops 1.22.
Biofuels: an open letter on its problems 1.20.
prices plummet on carbon market 1.20.
environmental utopia in Abu Dhabi 1.19.
fish 'an ally' against climate change 1.16.
Europe in continuing gas crisis 1.15.
Germany/South Africa: "climate fix" iron-dumping ship stopped 1.14.
EU plasma screen TVs will probably be banned 1.12.
electric auto fleet a step closer 1.12.
new Honda Hybrid 1.11.
GLOBAL VIBES
Chris Hedges: it's not going to be OK. 2.2.
US/UK: 25 people at the heart of global meltdown 1.26.
Japan launches greenhouse gas satellite 1.23.
30 % Americans rate climate as priority 1.22.
Asian economic data worse than expected 1.22.
UK national bankruptcy possible 1.21.
California home prices fall 38 percent in 2008 1.21.
US losses may reach $ 3.6 trillion 1.21.
palm oil demand kills orang utans 1.19.
editorials worldwide pillory Bush 1.19.
Bushs klammheimliches Vermaechtnis 1.18.
2008: the year of the food crisis 1.18.
Climate change to stifle developing nations 1.17.
China xinhua: blame America 1.16.
The Economist: the Bush legacy 1.15.
Toronto Star: goodbye to worst president ever 1.15.
Oil at $ 34 1.15.
US foreclosure filings up 81% 1.15.
USA's second concentration camp 1.13.
EU Russia broken gas promises 1.13.
US deficit new records in just three months 1.13.
US Bush Economy 2001-2008 weakest in decades 1.12.
California net loss 144,000 economic migrants 1.12.
US: drastic times 1.8.
ENLIGHTENMENT
Iceland: first openly gay PM 1.31.
NYT Editorial: the next step on warming 1.30.
M Klare: repudiate the Carter doctrine 1.23.
B Cesca: Obama's rejection of American cowardice 1.21.
G Monbiot: consider monetary strategy of 1920s Bavaria 1.20.
CLIMATOLOGY
Lovelock interview: last chance New Scientist 1.23.
J Lovelock -- comments to interview on boingboing 1.23.
phase changes of the annual surface temps cycle Nature
2008 a record year Nature Reports Climate Change
African CO emissions 2000-06 Biogeosciences
climate sensitivity, carbon cycle, ocean chemistry Nat Geoscience
debate over rainforest fate -- with a climate twist Science
Earth's degassing--a missing ethane and propane source Science
western US forests suffer death by degrees Science
the many dangers of greenhouse acid AGU
shifting North Atlantic carbon sink Nature Reports CC
successful sim of two real tropical cyclones GRL
14% of global warming 1956-2002 due to solar activity ERL
sudden reduction in CO2 uptake in Japan sea GRL
climate change could choke oceans for 100,000 yrs Wired
devastated forests replantable from air New Scientist
good luck to everybody!
I salute those of my colleagues who boldly opposed the American Disenlightenment in the past eight years. I am proud that you insisted on human universals. I am proud that you argued for environmental constants. I am proud that you defended, in your classes and works, the idea of progress. Kudos to your wisdom!
Those other colleagues, though, who, during the Rule of Unreason, preferred to deconstruct truth, justice, humanism, and progress, and who indulged in skepticism, relativism, and ambiguities instead, I can only say, with Bush you had the Postmodern Government you deserved. Bush grew on your intellectual soil. You must be proud.
In the US, the political problem now is what to do with the Bushists. The risk is to repeat Clinton's mistake. The Clinton administration 1992 failed to prosecute the Republicans responsible for the Nicaraguan war and the Iran-Contra affair. Thus, in 2001, the same camarilla returned to power. Crimes against humanity, boundless corruption, and the Great American Crash have been the result. Just like Germany after Hitler, the US after Bush needs Denazification. For the sake of justice, the US must conduct new Nuremberg Trials.
Climatewise, at least, Americans are joining in with the planetary enlightenment. It's about frigging time.
BEST QUOTE
"People generally think that President Bush's greatest mistake was the invasion of Iraq. But to the international community, the greatest error of Bush's eight years was his inattention to climate change - the gravest threat to mankind's existence - impeding the international community's efforts to control CO2 emissions, achieve consensus, and lead the way toward solutions. Because of the American government, the world lost eight precious years."
Pei Minyan, "Bush's Foreign Legacy," Caijing 1.24. (China; here)
CLIMATE PHILOSOPHY
RIP Arne Naess (1912-2009) 1.12. (U Oslo) (AP)
The University of Central Florida hosted a terrific conference on Evolution, the Environment, and Responsible Knowledge; the third in its annual Information Fluency meetings. It had good vibes, was a smooth success, and I learned a lot. I'm grateful for the invitation. Climate change was the predictable gravity-well of many talks on information fluency now.
PANTS ON FIRE
the last holdouts in 2009: 53 percent of corporate petroleum geologists and 36 percent of U.S. meteorologists dismiss anthropogenic climate change.
BEST PICTURE
Bush cries.
CLIMATE EVENTS
UK: record snow 2.2.
Australia: record-breaking heat 1.30.
Oceans: acidity rising 1.30.
California: historic drought 1.29.
France/Spain: deadly storms 1.24.
Greenland: Galloping glaciers slow down 1.23.
US: accelerated waldsterben 1.23.
US Northwest: confused pelican migration 1.23.
Bangladesh: coping with climate change 1.22.
North America: waldsterben speed doubles 1.22.
North America: waldsterben & global warming 1.22.
Antarctica: new evidence on warming 1.21.
US Northeast record cold wave 1.14.
US Midwest record cold wave I 1.13.
US Midwest record cold wave II 1.13.
Sea of Japan absorbs less CO2 1.12.
CLIMATE POLICY
NATO security risks through arctic thaw 1.29.
White House lost its solar panels 1.27.
Obama blocks Bush's midnight rules 1.23.
Obama reverses Bush's Mexico City policy 1.22.
Bush, a look back: anti-enviro timeline 1.16.
Rep Waxman (D-Calif) promises quick climate action 1.15.
Wisconsin Madison climate ordinances 1.14. (pdf)
arctic policy adjusts to ice retreat 1.13.
climate czar Carol Browner 1.12.
B McKibben et al. greening the stimulus 1.14.
CLIMATE EVOLUTION
Latin America: jungles grow, rainforest debate 1.30.
Texas plans more wind energy 1.29.
US: lawsuit filed in carbon trading scheme 1.29.
EU: flagship fusion reactor doubles in cost 1.29.
Ethanolsprit aus Brasilien: Blut im Tank 1.23.
Cooling crops 1.22.
Biofuels: an open letter on its problems 1.20.
prices plummet on carbon market 1.20.
environmental utopia in Abu Dhabi 1.19.
fish 'an ally' against climate change 1.16.
Europe in continuing gas crisis 1.15.
Germany/South Africa: "climate fix" iron-dumping ship stopped 1.14.
EU plasma screen TVs will probably be banned 1.12.
electric auto fleet a step closer 1.12.
new Honda Hybrid 1.11.
GLOBAL VIBES
Chris Hedges: it's not going to be OK. 2.2.
US/UK: 25 people at the heart of global meltdown 1.26.
Japan launches greenhouse gas satellite 1.23.
30 % Americans rate climate as priority 1.22.
Asian economic data worse than expected 1.22.
UK national bankruptcy possible 1.21.
California home prices fall 38 percent in 2008 1.21.
US losses may reach $ 3.6 trillion 1.21.
palm oil demand kills orang utans 1.19.
editorials worldwide pillory Bush 1.19.
Bushs klammheimliches Vermaechtnis 1.18.
2008: the year of the food crisis 1.18.
Climate change to stifle developing nations 1.17.
China xinhua: blame America 1.16.
The Economist: the Bush legacy 1.15.
Toronto Star: goodbye to worst president ever 1.15.
Oil at $ 34 1.15.
US foreclosure filings up 81% 1.15.
USA's second concentration camp 1.13.
EU Russia broken gas promises 1.13.
US deficit new records in just three months 1.13.
US Bush Economy 2001-2008 weakest in decades 1.12.
California net loss 144,000 economic migrants 1.12.
US: drastic times 1.8.
ENLIGHTENMENT
Iceland: first openly gay PM 1.31.
NYT Editorial: the next step on warming 1.30.
M Klare: repudiate the Carter doctrine 1.23.
B Cesca: Obama's rejection of American cowardice 1.21.
G Monbiot: consider monetary strategy of 1920s Bavaria 1.20.
CLIMATOLOGY
Lovelock interview: last chance New Scientist 1.23.
J Lovelock -- comments to interview on boingboing 1.23.
phase changes of the annual surface temps cycle Nature
2008 a record year Nature Reports Climate Change
African CO emissions 2000-06 Biogeosciences
climate sensitivity, carbon cycle, ocean chemistry Nat Geoscience
debate over rainforest fate -- with a climate twist Science
Earth's degassing--a missing ethane and propane source Science
western US forests suffer death by degrees Science
the many dangers of greenhouse acid AGU
shifting North Atlantic carbon sink Nature Reports CC
successful sim of two real tropical cyclones GRL
14% of global warming 1956-2002 due to solar activity ERL
sudden reduction in CO2 uptake in Japan sea GRL
climate change could choke oceans for 100,000 yrs Wired
devastated forests replantable from air New Scientist
good luck to everybody!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
climate review January (A)
The United Nations released the Human Development Report (HDR). There is the usual time lag from data collection (through 2006) to published interpretation (Dec '08). The last report, over a year ago, was Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world. The new one is On the Move. The focus is migration. It reflects the fact that global distributions of resources and cababilities are now quite unequal. That climate change and mass migration follow one another is fitting, for the former, in practice, implies the latter.
The HDR contains the Human Development Index (HDI). This index is a summary of data on literacy, educational attainment, per capita gross domestic product (GDP), and life expectancy. A year ago, the US held rank 12 on the HDI (2007 pdf p. 229). Eight years ago, at the start of Bushism, the US had been on rank 6 (HDR 2001 pdf p. 141). In the 2008 HDR released a few weeks ago, the decline continues. This time the Bushist US has fallen to rank 15.
Top political entity overall, according to this quantification of flourishing, is the European Union. Top ten nations are Iceland, Norway, Canada, Australia (down 1), Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. The US is flanked by Austria (14) and Spain (16). What the ranking does not tell us is the nature of the average. In Austria or Spain, the average, say over per capita GDP, reflects a sound Gaussian curve, with a broad social bulge in the middle. In the US, such averages refer to sickly bipolar distributions, illustrated by a dwindling middle class.
Criticisms concern the HDI's failure to account for sustainability. The annual HDI analysis is terrific and valuable info, but rests on a flawed premise--the assumption that human well-being is isolated from environmental impact. When the UN changes this, presumably in one of the future HDR's, odds are the results will be surprising. Chances are the US will plummet like a led zeppelin in the ranking. After all, the systems structure of the US at present is unsustainable.
Right now, an alternative analysis, which involves conventional HDI synthesis plus sustainability data, is done by the New Economics Foundation (NEF). NEF publishes the Happy Planet Index, which has a nice acronym: HPI (say it loud!). The happiest states are island nations and some Latin countries. They are followed by China (# 33), East Asian countries, and more places in Latin America. Next come European nations (Netherlands # 70; Germany # 81). Canada, a nice country but an oil-hog, is # 111. The US craters at rank 150, close to Rwanda (# 152). Over human development plus sustainability, the USA, due to Bushist ideology, is such a failure that its niveau of sustainability makes it similar to Rwanda. US Americans are at the anthropological limit. Turbo capitalism, pathological consumerism, postmodern relativism, and amerigenic climate change have made them go against the dao. Now the dao goes against them.
Locally, the American Disenlightenment goes on. Folks are defensive but unchanged. Tampa continues to be trainless. The University of South Florida continues to be without solar. USF administrators continue to debate whether a sustainable switchover is worthwhile. And I continue to be grateful for living in such historic times in such a radical place. If I were in Canada or another enlightened society, I'd suffer, forced to watch the madness from afar. Being here, in the American bathos, gives me a sense that I might make a difference.
FOUR BEST NEOLOGISM
"the Moron Crescent"
Usage: "... the Jesus-soaked Nascar fans who inhabit the Moron Crescent that runs from West Virginia south through Dixie and then west into Idaho. "
Jim Kunstler, Farewell GWB, Clusterfuck Nation 1.5.09.
"Lemon Socialism"
Usage: "Call it 'lemon socialism' -- the auto bailout engineered by North America's two neo-con governments as the year ended is an exercise in putting deadbeat corporations on the dole."
Wayne Roberts, downhill from here, Now Toronto 1.7-14.09
(Thanks Scott Schneider for this text!)
"Sunrise Industry"
Usage: "What we really need is investment in local infrastructure for sunrise industries that make the things we need, thereby shifting the focus from mobility of goods to local provision and access."
Wayne Roberts, downhill from here, Now Toronto 1.7-14.09
"Sunset Industry"
Usage: "By contrast, auto is a sunset industry from the horse-and-buggy era."
Wayne Roberts, downhill from here, Now Toronto 1.7-14.09
PANTS ON FIRE
C Booker is Jan '09's proud recipient of the "liar, liar, pants on fire" award, for the delightful essay 2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved, Telegraph 12.31.
For a reality check, see the '08 climate data analysis by Tamino 1.8.
CLIMATE EVENTS
Fiji: floods 1.11.
Greenland: maybe no massive meltdown? 1.11.
Europe: brutal freeze 1.10.
Australia: extreme heat 1.10.
Spain: freak snowstorm 1.9.
Alaska: extreme cold 1.8.
Washington State: heavy flooding 1.7.
Washington State: record snow 1.7.
Australia: reef decline warns of ocean changes 1.2.
Planet: coral reef growth slowest ever 1. 2.
Washington State: state of emergency 12.30.
Planet: Naturkatastrophenschaden $ 200 Mia '08 12.29.
Planet: natural disasters killed over 220,000 '08 12.29.
Midwest: flooding threats 12.29.
Chicago: icy roads worst ever seen 12.26.
Greenland: glaciers lose ice faster 12.23.
Planet: Klimawandel bedroht Artenvielfalt der Seen 12.22.
EU: Klimapacket verabschiedet 17.12.
Germany: 2008 eins der wärmsten Jahre 12.16.
CLIMATE POLICY
US: Bush reverses Forest Service rules 1.6.
US: Bush burns the 'midnight rules' oil 1.4.
UK: Lord Stern hopeful over US change 12.31.
US: court reinstates pollution rule 12.23.
EU/US: el clima también espera a Obama 12.13.
CLIMATE EVOLUTION
China: sustainable, quake-proof, zero carbon schools 1.10.
Germany/South Africa: "climate fix" ship dumps iron 1.9.
EU: emergency declared across Europe over gas 1.8.
US: flight powered with biofuel takes off 1.7.
China: größtes Solarkraftwerk der Welt 1.3.
EU: airlines step up search for viable biofuels 12.30.
UK: food needs 'fundamental rethink' 12.27.
EU: rail system moving full steam ahead 12.25.
US: first offshore wind-farm permitted 12.23.
EU: tough climate goals easier than feared 12.22.
EU: how to save the Netherlands 12.22.
GLOBAL VIBES
US: even more obesity expected 1.10.
US: 33 percent overweight; 34 percent obese 1.9.
US: worst job market since WW2 1.9.
Mexico: risk of becoming a failed state 1.9.
US: Ecotopia's Callenbach makes comeback 1.7.
Polar Regions: climate change threatens conflicts 1.7.
UK: predicting unprecedented US $ collapse 1.6.
US: ex-detainee describes 6 yrs torture 1.6.
M Parris: managing an empire in decline, 1.3.
SvGelder, hopeful, terrified about 2009, 1.2.
RealClimate: 2008 climate year in review 12.31.
HDS Greenway, out with Bush, 12.23.
T Friedman, time to reboot America, 12.23.
US: the American cult of consumerism 12.21.
OECD: US faces deep problems, 12.9.
ENLIGHTENMENT
Wayne Roberts: downhill from here--bailout bomb 1.10.
Exxon supports carbon tax 1.9.
M. T. Klare: the problem of cheap oil 1.8.
NYT: the costly compromises of Oil from sand 1.7.
Tom Engelhardt: Bush's legacy of destruction 1.6.
Jim Kunstler: farewell GWB 1.5.
Bill McKibben: think again: climate change 1.5.
Jim Hansen, letter to Obama, 12.29.
Debbie Bookchin, time for utopia, 12.25.
M Ahmadinejad, Iranian Christmas message, 12.25.
J Freedland, Bush must face a reckoning 12.24.
DISENLIGHTENMENT
Der Fluch des billigen Benzins in den USA 1.7.
CLIMATOLOGY
C Holden higher temps seen reducing global harvests science 323
A Vieli/F Nick maybe no massive Greenland meltdown 1.11.
E Zorita how unusual is the recent series of warm years? GPR 35
Tamino 'taint likely (comments to Zorita) 1.10.
C Brahic billions could go hungry from global warming newscientist
V Smetacek iron-dumping 'climate fix' ship sets sail (A Wegener Inst)
P Berardelli after a brief vacation, La Nina is back science 1.8.
Tamino cold hard facts 1.8.
Weather Eye: the days of the little Ice Age 1.8.
A Revkin China's power surge ends (for now) dotearth 1.6.
Realclimate finalist for 'best science blog' award realclimate 1.5.
USGS: Sundquist Carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change
S Hopper (Kew Gardens UK): plants more vital than ever 12.31.
USGS: faster climate change feared 12.25.
O Heffernan a record year Nature Reports Climate 12.24.
A Mascarelli what we've learned in 2008 Nature Reports Climate 12.18.
J Bogardi here comes the flood Nature Reports Climate 12.11.
Recommended new climatology literature (via Real Climate 12.22.)
Lastly, via NewScientist, transcendent climate art by Harry Holcroft.
I'll post links to more science publications in the next climate review of this month.
The HDR contains the Human Development Index (HDI). This index is a summary of data on literacy, educational attainment, per capita gross domestic product (GDP), and life expectancy. A year ago, the US held rank 12 on the HDI (2007 pdf p. 229). Eight years ago, at the start of Bushism, the US had been on rank 6 (HDR 2001 pdf p. 141). In the 2008 HDR released a few weeks ago, the decline continues. This time the Bushist US has fallen to rank 15.
Top political entity overall, according to this quantification of flourishing, is the European Union. Top ten nations are Iceland, Norway, Canada, Australia (down 1), Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. The US is flanked by Austria (14) and Spain (16). What the ranking does not tell us is the nature of the average. In Austria or Spain, the average, say over per capita GDP, reflects a sound Gaussian curve, with a broad social bulge in the middle. In the US, such averages refer to sickly bipolar distributions, illustrated by a dwindling middle class.
Criticisms concern the HDI's failure to account for sustainability. The annual HDI analysis is terrific and valuable info, but rests on a flawed premise--the assumption that human well-being is isolated from environmental impact. When the UN changes this, presumably in one of the future HDR's, odds are the results will be surprising. Chances are the US will plummet like a led zeppelin in the ranking. After all, the systems structure of the US at present is unsustainable.
Right now, an alternative analysis, which involves conventional HDI synthesis plus sustainability data, is done by the New Economics Foundation (NEF). NEF publishes the Happy Planet Index, which has a nice acronym: HPI (say it loud!). The happiest states are island nations and some Latin countries. They are followed by China (# 33), East Asian countries, and more places in Latin America. Next come European nations (Netherlands # 70; Germany # 81). Canada, a nice country but an oil-hog, is # 111. The US craters at rank 150, close to Rwanda (# 152). Over human development plus sustainability, the USA, due to Bushist ideology, is such a failure that its niveau of sustainability makes it similar to Rwanda. US Americans are at the anthropological limit. Turbo capitalism, pathological consumerism, postmodern relativism, and amerigenic climate change have made them go against the dao. Now the dao goes against them.
Locally, the American Disenlightenment goes on. Folks are defensive but unchanged. Tampa continues to be trainless. The University of South Florida continues to be without solar. USF administrators continue to debate whether a sustainable switchover is worthwhile. And I continue to be grateful for living in such historic times in such a radical place. If I were in Canada or another enlightened society, I'd suffer, forced to watch the madness from afar. Being here, in the American bathos, gives me a sense that I might make a difference.
FOUR BEST NEOLOGISM
"the Moron Crescent"
Usage: "... the Jesus-soaked Nascar fans who inhabit the Moron Crescent that runs from West Virginia south through Dixie and then west into Idaho. "
Jim Kunstler, Farewell GWB, Clusterfuck Nation 1.5.09.
"Lemon Socialism"
Usage: "Call it 'lemon socialism' -- the auto bailout engineered by North America's two neo-con governments as the year ended is an exercise in putting deadbeat corporations on the dole."
Wayne Roberts, downhill from here, Now Toronto 1.7-14.09
(Thanks Scott Schneider for this text!)
"Sunrise Industry"
Usage: "What we really need is investment in local infrastructure for sunrise industries that make the things we need, thereby shifting the focus from mobility of goods to local provision and access."
Wayne Roberts, downhill from here, Now Toronto 1.7-14.09
"Sunset Industry"
Usage: "By contrast, auto is a sunset industry from the horse-and-buggy era."
Wayne Roberts, downhill from here, Now Toronto 1.7-14.09
PANTS ON FIRE
C Booker is Jan '09's proud recipient of the "liar, liar, pants on fire" award, for the delightful essay 2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved, Telegraph 12.31.
For a reality check, see the '08 climate data analysis by Tamino 1.8.
CLIMATE EVENTS
Fiji: floods 1.11.
Greenland: maybe no massive meltdown? 1.11.
Europe: brutal freeze 1.10.
Australia: extreme heat 1.10.
Spain: freak snowstorm 1.9.
Alaska: extreme cold 1.8.
Washington State: heavy flooding 1.7.
Washington State: record snow 1.7.
Australia: reef decline warns of ocean changes 1.2.
Planet: coral reef growth slowest ever 1. 2.
Washington State: state of emergency 12.30.
Planet: Naturkatastrophenschaden $ 200 Mia '08 12.29.
Planet: natural disasters killed over 220,000 '08 12.29.
Midwest: flooding threats 12.29.
Chicago: icy roads worst ever seen 12.26.
Greenland: glaciers lose ice faster 12.23.
Planet: Klimawandel bedroht Artenvielfalt der Seen 12.22.
EU: Klimapacket verabschiedet 17.12.
Germany: 2008 eins der wärmsten Jahre 12.16.
CLIMATE POLICY
US: Bush reverses Forest Service rules 1.6.
US: Bush burns the 'midnight rules' oil 1.4.
UK: Lord Stern hopeful over US change 12.31.
US: court reinstates pollution rule 12.23.
EU/US: el clima también espera a Obama 12.13.
CLIMATE EVOLUTION
China: sustainable, quake-proof, zero carbon schools 1.10.
Germany/South Africa: "climate fix" ship dumps iron 1.9.
EU: emergency declared across Europe over gas 1.8.
US: flight powered with biofuel takes off 1.7.
China: größtes Solarkraftwerk der Welt 1.3.
EU: airlines step up search for viable biofuels 12.30.
UK: food needs 'fundamental rethink' 12.27.
EU: rail system moving full steam ahead 12.25.
US: first offshore wind-farm permitted 12.23.
EU: tough climate goals easier than feared 12.22.
EU: how to save the Netherlands 12.22.
GLOBAL VIBES
US: even more obesity expected 1.10.
US: 33 percent overweight; 34 percent obese 1.9.
US: worst job market since WW2 1.9.
Mexico: risk of becoming a failed state 1.9.
US: Ecotopia's Callenbach makes comeback 1.7.
Polar Regions: climate change threatens conflicts 1.7.
UK: predicting unprecedented US $ collapse 1.6.
US: ex-detainee describes 6 yrs torture 1.6.
M Parris: managing an empire in decline, 1.3.
SvGelder, hopeful, terrified about 2009, 1.2.
RealClimate: 2008 climate year in review 12.31.
HDS Greenway, out with Bush, 12.23.
T Friedman, time to reboot America, 12.23.
US: the American cult of consumerism 12.21.
OECD: US faces deep problems, 12.9.
ENLIGHTENMENT
Wayne Roberts: downhill from here--bailout bomb 1.10.
Exxon supports carbon tax 1.9.
M. T. Klare: the problem of cheap oil 1.8.
NYT: the costly compromises of Oil from sand 1.7.
Tom Engelhardt: Bush's legacy of destruction 1.6.
Jim Kunstler: farewell GWB 1.5.
Bill McKibben: think again: climate change 1.5.
Jim Hansen, letter to Obama, 12.29.
Debbie Bookchin, time for utopia, 12.25.
M Ahmadinejad, Iranian Christmas message, 12.25.
J Freedland, Bush must face a reckoning 12.24.
DISENLIGHTENMENT
Der Fluch des billigen Benzins in den USA 1.7.
CLIMATOLOGY
C Holden higher temps seen reducing global harvests science 323
A Vieli/F Nick maybe no massive Greenland meltdown 1.11.
E Zorita how unusual is the recent series of warm years? GPR 35
Tamino 'taint likely (comments to Zorita) 1.10.
C Brahic billions could go hungry from global warming newscientist
V Smetacek iron-dumping 'climate fix' ship sets sail (A Wegener Inst)
P Berardelli after a brief vacation, La Nina is back science 1.8.
Tamino cold hard facts 1.8.
Weather Eye: the days of the little Ice Age 1.8.
A Revkin China's power surge ends (for now) dotearth 1.6.
Realclimate finalist for 'best science blog' award realclimate 1.5.
USGS: Sundquist Carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change
S Hopper (Kew Gardens UK): plants more vital than ever 12.31.
USGS: faster climate change feared 12.25.
O Heffernan a record year Nature Reports Climate 12.24.
A Mascarelli what we've learned in 2008 Nature Reports Climate 12.18.
J Bogardi here comes the flood Nature Reports Climate 12.11.
Recommended new climatology literature (via Real Climate 12.22.)
Lastly, via NewScientist, transcendent climate art by Harry Holcroft.
I'll post links to more science publications in the next climate review of this month.
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