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Wyoming joins Oklahoma in drought

Irony is no stranger to our posts derived from the U.S. Drought Monitor, and again, this case is no exception.

The monitor reveals severe to extreme drought covering most of the state of Wyoming (for at least the last three months), the home of none other than Vice President Dick Cheney.

A coastal geologist explores the flaws in modeling nature

The New York Times yesterday published a short piece on a new book by coastal geologist (and InterActivist alum) Orrin H. Pilkey and his daughter Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, also a geologist. The book, Useless Arithmetic: Why Environmental Scientists Can’t Predict the Future, argues that nature’s unruliness — conditions are highly variable and uncertainties inevitable — makes […]

Aerosols

Andrew’s mentioned this stuff before, but if you want to learn more about aerosols and their role in climate change (and climate change modeling), RealClimate has a nice post up on it.

The system changes or we’re all screwed

Having finally gotten the memo that the debate on climate change science is over, conservatives now need a new attack on green advocates. It appears they’re reverting to an old standby: hypocrisy. Watch (via Hugg) as FOX News’ Sean Hannity lays out the charge against Al Gore: The hypocrisy attack on environmentalists is extremely common, […]

Umbra on air quality and temperature

Dear Umbra, Is there a relationship between air quality and temperature? I thought about this on my bike ride to work this morning when the smell of exhaust from cars seemed more potent, and the fumes were certainly more visible in the 32-degree air. I know that air quality in Los Angeles is worse during […]

Readers write in about GOP pollster Frank Luntz, whaling activists, and more

  Re: And Now, a Word From Our Detractor Dear Editor: I read your interview with GOP uber-flack Frank Luntz last week and thought, “Poor Frank. Losing on all fronts, rejected by his party and outsmarted by his opponents.” Luntz was dis-invited from the GOP’s cool-kids caucus after the election because, in a comprehensive, post-November […]

Check back for updates

Al Gore says the same thing he’s been saying for over a year — he does not intend to run for president and can’t imagine the circumstances under which he would — but this time AFP spins it as his "ruling out" a run. The story will probably get a bunch of links. It’s amazing: […]

New bill would mandate California-like carbon reductions

Whether you live in the Old Line State or not, this is of high interest: the "Global Warming Solutions Act," a bill that Orion Grassroots Network super group Chesapeake Climate Action Network thought could take years to pass, suddenly has a chance, thanks to recent changes in the political climate.

The bill would make Md. just the second in the U.S. -- behind California -- to mandate huge, statutory reductions in greenhouse gases by 2020. CCAN Director Mike Tidwell calls it a "radical and utterly appropriate commitment. More importantly, it encourages other states to do the same, raising pressure for strong federal legislation." Marylanders, get in touch with CCAN and with your reps!

So who's next?

What a fubar, eh?

James Surowiecki aptly captures the idiocy of our belligerence toward Iran: When buying and selling oil, traders don’t just look at today’s supply and demand. They also try to forecast the future. And if buyers think there’s a chance that supply is going to be lower down the line — because, say, Iranian oil fields […]

Blair gets thumb in eye

I forgot to mention this last week, but the Blair government’s decision that Nukes Rule has been dealt a grievous blow by the UK courts: A judge ruled Thursday that the government’s consultation process before making the decision was "seriously flawed" as well as "procedurally unfair", and granted Greenpeace an order quashing the decision because […]