ClimateScienceWatch

Promoting integrity in the use of climate science in government

Climate Science Watch is a nonprofit public interest education and advocacy project dedicated to holding public officials accountable for the integrity and effectiveness with which they use climate science and related research in government policymaking, toward the goal of enabling society to respond effectively to the challenges posed by global warming and climate change. See Details

Climate change impacts in our backyards: the Great Plains

Posted on Thursday, July 02, 2009

How great will the Great Plains still be in the face of global climate disruption? What can we expect to see in the this vast swath of land, bordered on the west by the Rocky Mountains and on the east by Mississippi River, ranging from Wyoming and North Dakota abutting Canada all the way down to the southern tip of Texas? How will US agriculture be impacted? What are decisionmakers doing to prepare in this region? This 5th post in our series delving into Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States takes a look what is in store for the Great Plains, and how people are beginning to deal with climate consequences in this region.

House climate bill gives White House science office lead role in guiding climate research & services

Posted on Wednesday, July 01, 2009

We talked with Climate Wire about how the “Adapting to Climate Change” subtitle of the House-passed Waxman-Markey climate change cap and trade bill is an improvement over how the bill started out in its earlier discussion draft form—in putting the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, headed by John Holdren, in the lead role for reforming the U.S. Global Change Research Program and for designing the framework for a new National Climate Service, and in creating revenue streams from emissions allowances to help fund a set of new programs to enhance preparedness and adaptation to the impacts of climate change.

Video of Al Franken interview with climate change whistleblower Rick Piltz, 2005

Posted on Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Al Franken, who has been declared the winner in the Minnesota U.S. Senate election, interviewed Rick Piltz on Air America Radio and the Sundance Channel on July 7, 2005. Piltz, now director of Climate Science Watch, talks about Bush White House political interference with federal climate science communication.

Paul Krugman on “treason against the planet”—“the immorality of climate-change denial”

Posted on Monday, June 29, 2009

Most of the 212 representatives who voted no on the Waxman-Markey climate change bill that passed with a 7-vote margin in the House “rejected the whole notion that we have to do something about greenhouse gases,” says Paul Krugman in his New York Times column on June 29. “And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet. To fully appreciate the irresponsibility and immorality of climate-change denial, you need to know about the grim turn taken by the latest climate research….”

Climate change impacts in our backyards: the Midwest

Posted on Monday, June 29, 2009

This fourth post in our series delving into Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, a landmark report issued June 16, highlights the climate change consequences we can expect to see in the Midwest. While this region will likely escape the prolonged droughts that are projected to plague the West and the Southeast, midwestern states will be exposed to the hazards of more frequent deadly heat waves, more frequent, heavier downpours, and disruption of freshwater lake ecosystems. Already there have been two record-breaking floods in the past 15 years: the Great Flood of 1993, and a record-breaking 24-hour rainstorm in July 1996, which resulted in flash flooding in Chicago and its suburbs, causing extensive damage and disruption.

Remembering Jack Eddy, 1931-2009, R.I.P.

Posted on Sunday, June 28, 2009

John A. Eddy, a solar astronomer famed for his studies of irregular variations in solar activity and their connections with Earth’s climate, died on June 10, 2009. What was not captured in the obituaries we have seen was Dr. Eddy’s significance as one of the early leading lights in developing the interdisciplinary study of climate and global change research, and his role as a champion of bridging the gap between scientific research and public understanding. Here we present some notes written in remembrance by a few of his many colleagues and associates.

Funding for adaptation in the Waxman-Markey House-passed climate change cap and trade bill

Posted on Friday, June 26, 2009

In addition to creating a cap-and-trade system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and setting in motion a sustainable energy transformation, the Waxman-Markey “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” which the U.S. House of Representatives approved today by a vote of 219-212, would earmark funding mechanisms for a wide variety of federal, state, local, and international activities to plan for enhancing resilience and adapting to the impacts of global climatic disruption.

Jim Hansen’s statements at Coal River Mountain protest against mountaintop removal

Posted on Thursday, June 25, 2009

“We must have a moratorium on new coal plants and phase out existing ones within the next 20 years.” said NASA climate scientist James Hansen at a June 23 rally in West Virginia protesting mountaintop removal for coal mining. “Coal from mountaintop removal provides only 7% of United States coal, less than the amount of coal that we export.” At the time he was arrested, Dr. Hansen was reading a Declaration of the protestors that begins: “When, in the course of their lives, people find that they are being abused by those in position of power, and their children and their children’s future are being damaged by those in power, it is the right of the people, and their sacred duty, to resist…”

Climate change in our backyards: the Southeast

Posted on Thursday, June 25, 2009

This third post in our series delving into Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, a landmark report issued June 16, highlights the climate consequences we can expect to see in the southeastern region of the US. This region is rich with culture, biodiversity, coastal and mountainous habitats, and a meandering coastline that twists and turns and harbors some of the most coveted beaches in the world. But all of this is now at risk of being harmed, even devastated, by the harsh conditions that climate change brings. The most severe impacts of climate change in the Southeast are most likely to be the projected increases in hurricane intensity and storm surge driven by rising air and ocean temperatures. Recent hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike have given us a glimpse into such a future. But other serious impacts are in store for these southern states as well. See details.

Climate change in our backyards: the Northeast

Posted on Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Climate change impacts are already discernible in the US Northeast region, and are expected to worsen over time. The Northeast is projected to face continued warming and more extensive climate-related changes, some of which could dramatically alter the region’s economy, landscape, character, and quality of life. “Climate change is happening now, in our own backyards…. It affects all of us and the things we care about,” said climate scientist and NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco at a June 16 press briefing announcing the Obama administration’s release of the scientific assessment report, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. This is the second in a series of CSW posts that will draw salient points from the report’s chapters, covering geographic regions and socioeconomic sectors, and will discuss some of the implications of the findings, primarily in terms of US planning and preparedness for a wide range of climate change consequences.

“Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States” – Report Overview (Part 1 of a series)

Posted on Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, a scientifically based assessment report issued on June 16 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, with its focus on the likely impacts of climate change across the nation, has the potential to add a much-needed dimension to policy debates about the costs and benefits of mitigation and adaptation measures. The potentially devastating impacts of climate change on all aspects of human life have all-too-often been missing from discussions of climate change policy, which has emphasized mitigation options to reduce emissions while neglecting the need for strategies for adaptation and preparedness to deal with impacts that are already in evidence and projected to be much more damaging in the future. As the report authors note: “concerns about climate change impacts will almost certainly alter perceptions and valuations of energy technology alternatives.” (p. 54).

NASA climate scientist Jim Hansen arrested today for civil disobedience against WV coal mining

Posted on Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Breaking news…. Along with actress Daryl Hannah, 94-year old former US Congressman Ken Hechler, coal mining activist Judy Bonds, and dozens of others protesting mountaintop removal for coal mining, Dr. James Hansen was arrested this afternoon for trespassing onto the private property of Massey Energy Company in Coal River Valley, West Virginia. Hansen is slated to debate Massey CEO Don Blankenship tomorrow on climate change and coal burning (see yesterday’s post). Now it is unclear whether the debate will proceed; Blankenship has not confirmed despite his instigating challenge to Hansen late last week, nor has Massey issued a statement about the arrest. Media links below.

Letter to Congress from 22 environmental groups in support of cap-and-trade bill, preparedness

Posted on Tuesday, June 23, 2009

22 national environmental organizations, representing millions of members, sent a letter June 22 to members of the House of Representatives urging a vote in support of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, the Waxman-Markey greenhouse gas emissions cap and trade bill currently set for House floor debate on June 26. The groups urged that the bill be strengthened between now and final passage, including “amendments that increase investments that help…prepare for the impacts of climate change to natural resources and vulnerable communities that can no longer be avoided.” See Details for full text and list of signers.

Open Letter to the President and Members of Congress from 20 leading scientists and scholars

Posted on Monday, June 22, 2009

In an open letter to President Obama and Congress, 20 leading U.S. scientists and scholars “call attention to the large difference between what U.S. politics now seems capable of enacting and what scientists understand is necessary to prevent climatic disruption and protect the human future. We urge President Obama to exercise maximum personal leadership beginning now to ensure that the strongest possible legislation emerges from the Congress.” The letter says that policy objectives of limiting the buildup of carbon dioxide to 450 parts per million and the rise of global temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius “are inadequate to sustain the integrity of global climate and to hold the risk of ruinous climatic change to an acceptably low level.” See Details for full text and list of signers.

Dr. James Hansen agrees to debate a major coal mining company CEO in West Virginia

Posted on Monday, June 22, 2009

Last week the President and CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship, when he learned Dr. James Hansen would be joining protesters tomorrow in a demonstration against mountaintop removal for coal mining, publicly challenged Hansen to a debate on coal burning and climate change. Along with hundreds of others, Hansen is headed to West Virginia to participate in tomorrow’s demonstration, and is expected to risk arrest by marching with protesters to the private property of Massey Energy to make a set of demands. Hansen took Blankenship up on the offer. (We hope the debate goes forward and that someone records it!)

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