Month: March 2014

LATimes:

On Monday night, Democratic senators held an all night “talk-athon” on the Senate floor to bring increased attention to the issue of climate change. Predictably, their efforts were mocked by the Republican leadership.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called the Democratic efforts “30 hours of excuses” for why “families are losing work because of government attacks on the coal industry.”

Interestingly, McConnell didn’t deny that global warming existed. His argument was that fighting climate change isn’t worth the economic costs. That puts him in line with the majority of non-tea party Republicans on the issue — 61 percent of whom, according to a recent Pew poll, agree that global warming is occurring.

Continue reading “Climate Change and the Future of Russia”

Lauren Vallez in the Guardian:

“This January, I found myself sitting across from Senior Human Resource Officer in the Department of Administration, Office of the President of Uganda. I wanted to know whether they were observing changes to their climate, what those changes were, and if plans for adaptation had been developed. Mr. Benon Twineobusingye, Senior Human Resource Manager in the Office of the President told me that they were already facing increased drought and changes to the hydrological cycle.

Much of the Ugandan economy is based on agriculture, a practice infused in their culture. Normally regular wet and dry periods have become more varied. He stated that they are, ‘…seeing drought. Serious drought that has not happened before. This drought has caused famine in parts of the country. In other parts, there has been too much rain.’ He also told me, ‘It has been very hot these days. Over the years it has gotten hotter with more unpredictable weather.’

But, unlike many countries which are inactive, Uganda has plans. From the top levels of government, they have enacted policies which encourage reforestation. They also are taking steps to preserve wetlands. Will these steps stop climate change? By no means. But they will help insulate Uganda and its neighbors from the impacts.

His anecdotal perceptions matched with what scientists expect. Uganda, and many other countries in Africa are at or near the equator. Atmospheric circulation patterns provide regular rainy-dry seasons but the water cycle is being modified. This modification may be occurring because of large scale circulation changes, perhaps it is associated with increases in evaporation and water-holding capacity of the air. Regardless of the cause, people in countries like Uganda live close to the ground, acutely aware of changes to seasonal weather. They have cultivated an agriculture based on traditions that are now being challenged.

I also spoke to Dr. Walaga Charles (Executive Director of Environmental Alert) who works on sustainability in Uganda. He concurred with Benon’s assessment by telling me that there have been more unpredictable rainy seasons. They’ve observed shortened rainy seasons with crop failures. Although he believes rainfall will in general increase with climate change, the regularity will also change. They expect more flooding and saturated ground. I even observed such flooding during unexpected rains this January.

But Dr. Walaga also told me that increases in temperature are increasing animal diseases and pests. For example, coffee rust is a leaf disease that is now being monitored. It used to be common in warm areas of the country but now is being found in new regions. The same is being observed with malaria.

He told me that Uganda has developed a climate change policy and an implementation plan. The government has established a climate change unit and is working to upgrade that unit into a department. International organizations such as the United Nations and the Global Environment Facility are providing funds to aid adaptation.

He also told me that Ugandan universities are performing research on climate change and are incorporating climate change into the curriculum. In particular, agricultural schools are developing climate change centers.”

A Master’s degree student, Mr. Denis Bazalirwa, agrees. He told me,

‘I agree there are significant changes in my country’s climate. When I journeyed back there in December 2013, I noticed a change in both daytime and evening temperatures. Rarely did I observe people sleeping with fans and air conditioners but the rise in particular of night time temperatures has forced people to control the unbearable heat. Also, Uganda has two main weather seasons each year. Their timing, however, has changed and it is harder to tell when the current season will end.’

Olympic gold medalists converses with flake.

It used to be that “conservatives” meant people who cared about “conserving” the things that have value – whether it be family, home, relationships, community, the land, the heritage. No more.

Whether it’s coal fields, oil fields, the short lived booms wrought by a one-time construction project, a pipeline, or similar greed-driven gold rush.

This is prosperity, as defined by the hucksters of Climate Denial.

Just wait in line. You’ll get your turn.

NPR:

Tiffany Aho runs a cleaning company in nearby Sidney, Mont. Her company cleans oil field offices in the North Dakota oil fields as well as “man camps,” the clusters of long narrow buildings or trailers built by oil companies to cheaply house workers.

“We get several people when we’re out on locations that ask if we offer more services than just cleaning,” she says.

“Sex services?” a reporter asks.

“Correct.”

“At all times, I send two girls — I never send one girl to a location,” Aho says. But that doesn’t stop the propositions from coming.

Scan the North Dakota section of the online classifieds site Backpage.com and you’ll find pages of postings from female escorts with revealing pictures of women offering companionship, massages and more.

Many posts contain disclaimers saying anything that happens is between two consenting adults.

“I mean, you can’t put your finger on it,” says Bryan Lockerby, the administrator of the Division of Criminal Investigation for the Montana Department of Justice.

Lockerby knows the oil boom in his state and in neighboring North Dakota means economic opportunities for organized crime. “Guns, drugs, prostitution — all of that goes hand in hand,” he says.

But law enforcement in the region just hasn’t had the training or the resources to fully grasp what’s happening on the ground.

Agencies are trying to change that, though. There are more highway patrol officers now, and the FBI has a new office based in Sidney that covers the entire Bakken region.

And to address prostitution, Lockerby says, you need to start with a focus on human trafficking.

Continue reading “The Weekend Wonk: Living with the North Dakota Oil Boom”

Democracy Now:

While the fight over the Keystone XL pipeline and the Alberta tar sands has galvanized the environmental movement, far less attention has been paid to a related story here in the West. The state of Utah has begun making preparations for its own major tar sands and oil shale extraction projects. According to one U.S. government report, land in the region could hold up to three trillion barrels of oil — that’s more recoverable oil than has been used so far in human history. Critics say Utah is sitting on a tar sands carbon bomb. The Utah Water Quality Board has recently begun giving out permits for companies to extract from the state’s tar sands reserves

Midwest Energy News:

A Republican from an exurban district in the red state of Missouri, Rep. T.J. Berry is also a self-described “green champion.”

Berry, who represents an area just outside Kansas City where cul-de-sacs give way to farm fields, is known as the leading advocate for renewable energy in the Missouri House of Representatives. This session, he’s introduced three bills which would advance solar energy.

Last year, the Missouri Solar Energy Industries Association formally celebrated Berry for his support of solar power.

However, Rep. Berry hasn’t always been such a friend to solar in particular, nor to renewables in general.

Midwest Energy News asked Rep. Berry to trace his evolution from green-energy skeptic to green-energy champion.

Midwest Energy New: How would you characterize your view of renewable energy when you first joined the Missouri General Assembly in 2011?

Berry: It wasn’t on my radar screen. I am most definitely a Republican, a nuts-and-bolts kind of guy. I wasn’t excited about the cost of it. I didn’t see the need to subsidize it.

Then I got to the legislature. In my freshman year, a [nuclear plant] site permit came to the legislature. I’m pretty agnostic when it comes to power — I want the light switch to go on.

But what triggered my evolution was that site permit. It was $40 million. I did some research on what was going on in Florida and Georgia — cost overruns. Why would we want to go down that road? When Wall Street won’t fund a building project, guess who does? The government. It does that by letting the public service commission increase the rates.

I thought, “If we authorize a $40 million site permit, they’ll come back and ask for money for construction.”

Continue reading “In the “Show Me” State: More Conservatives Waking Up to Renewables”

RawStory:

Texas television station KCBD kicked up a cloud of anti-Muslim bigotry Tuesday night by sharing an alert from the National Weather Service on its Facebook page.

“Haboob northwest of Lubbock as seen from the Science Spectrum,” the NWS warned. “If you must drive west of Lubbock, plan for near-zero visibility in blowing dust and strong winds of 50+ mph.”

Although haboobs are more commonly known as “dust storms,” a NWS meteorologist said the Arabic word refers to a particular weather phenomenon.

A haboob refers specifically to a wall of dust created by cool, dense air blowing away from a thunderstorm or along a cold front, said meteorologist Jerome James.

But it signaled something even more threatening to some of the station’s Facebook fans.

“Never had a haboob until we got that muslim boob for potus,” said viewer Jeff Bertrand, referring to President Barack Obama, who is believed by some of this critics to secretly be a Muslim.

Continue reading “Panic Over Muslim Terrorist Haboob in Texas”

Give this one a chance.

We’re getting up towards St. Paddy’s day, one of my favorite pagan-spring-festivals-with-all-too-obviously-gossamer-thin-overlay-of-Christianity.
Caught these guys giving a pretty good seminar in all things musical from the British Isles. They tell a pretty good story about what its like to be on a music tour in the  Winter of the Polar Vortex.

Fullset’s US Touring info here.. They made me smile and tear up more than once.

I was asked weeks ago to do an update on the California drought situation – which seemed pretty straightforward at the time – but it turned into one of the most challenging assignments I’ve taken on.
Not only has the weather situation continued to morph, but the political dialogue heated up as well, when the President travelled to the state and mentioned climate as a contributor to the drought conditions.  Hysteria  ensued.

Aside from the predictable political fallout from this very critical, very visible, and potentially crippling weather event, there is a very real ongoing debate in the science community as to when an event can be attributed to climate change, and how much.
I spent a lot of time interviewing a range of scientists, both in and outside California, on the history of drought cycles in the state, as well as the effects of the slow but persistent signal of climate warming on that variable cycle.  Dr. Kathleen Johnson of UC Irvine shared with me her research on the central California paleo-climate, derived from cave geology.
One confounding factor is the exponential population growth that has occurred during an era when the state has been, historically speaking, relatively lush with water – a condition that the paleo-record warns, is temporary under the best scenario, as I was reminded by Dr. Bill Patzert and Dr. Tom Painter, both of NASA JPL.
But, even given that, it is impossible to ignore the emerging exploration in the science literature for possible changes in atmospheric dynamics that may be part of a warming climate.  We’ve become used to the cycles we know, such as El Nino/LaNina, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation – but as Dr. Richard Rood of the University of Michigan, and Dr. Aradhna Tripati of UCLA told me, there is no guarantee that these are set in stone.
Finally I talked to Dr. Jacob Sewall, whose computer modeling of a decade ago forecast that declines in arctic sea ice might mean future circulation  pattern eerily similar to the stubborn, “ridiculously resilient ridge” that has produced the spectacularly variable weather from the arctic, to North America, to Europe, this winter.

Party on, dudes…

Vancouver Observer:

US Secretary of State John Kerry claims “the United States is committed to doing its part” to fight the “clear and present danger” of the climate crisis.

But a high-profile, eleven-volume, multi-year study from his own department says to expect only rising carbon emissions and broken climate promises from America.

The only future this State Department study expects will occur is one in which:

• America fails to meet President Obama’s Copenhagen Accord target
• America emits even more CO2 in 2040 than it does today
• American CO2 levels are consistent with the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) scenario for +6C of global warming

The IEA says such a future would be a “catastrophe for all of us.” International Monetary Fund (IMF) director has stated bluntly that in a world that hot, “future generations will be roasted, toasted, fried and grilled.”

In other words, spectacular American failure. Game over.

As the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) points out, such a high-profile expectation of climate failure from Secretary Kerry’s own department is likely to “undermine the nation’s credibility” in its high-stakes international negotiations to prevent a full blown climate crisis.

Can Secretary Kerry convince other nations that America will cut climate pollution when his own State Department expects only failure?

What is the official expectation at State? Who is making these decisions?

I’ve tried for over a week to get some basic answers from the State Department about their study’s grim climate expectations. I’ve been told my questions were sent to the “technical staff” but so far no answers, and no response to my follow-up email.

Keystone XL and climate failure

The State Department’s study that expects abject American climate failure is their Keystone XL Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).

The grim prognosis of broken climate promises and rising US emissions is hiding in plain sight in one of the most famous passages from the report — one that has been regularly quoted worldwide by politicians and major media. Here it is:

[Keystone XL] is unlikely to significantly affect the rate of extraction in oil sands areas (based on expected oil prices, oil-sands supply costs, transport costs, and supply-demand scenarios).

Proponents of Keystone XL regularly quote the first part:

[Keystone XL] is unlikely to significantly affect the rate of extraction in oil sands areas

The bombshell about expected climate failure is in the second part:expected prices, costs and supply-demand scenario.

As my chart (below) shows, the State Department report doesn’t expect any future to unfold in which America comes anywhere close to meeting its climate goals. None.

Continue reading “State Department’s Keystone Eval: “Oh, Well, Since We’re Screwed Anyway…””