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Funny vision of a hopeful future

RenewUS has posted a newscast from 2055.

It's funny in the vein of Gore's SOTU on SNL.

Americans and Climate Change: Packaging climate change as an energy issue

"Americans and Climate Change: Closing the Gap Between Science and Action" (PDF) is a report synthesizing the insights of 110 leading thinkers on how to educate and motivate the American public on the subject of global warming. Background on the report here. I'll be posting a series of excerpts (citations have been removed; see original report). If you'd like to be involved in implementing the report's recommendations, or learn more, visit the Yale Project on Climate Change website.

Below the fold is the bulk of the report's third chapter, "Packaging climate change as an energy issue." It discusses how climate change can piggy-back on growing energy concerns. Tomorrow's excerpt will discuss the dangers of that strategy.

Grist in Slate

Our very own Maximum Leader Chip and our very own Maximum Story Editor Katharine have a piece in Slate today on the basics of global warming.

Consider that seas worldwide have risen 4 to 8 inches in the last century, causing Massachusetts alone to lose 65 acres a year. They're expected to rise another 3.5 to 34.6 inches by 2100. Even moderate estimates allow for an 18-inch increase. More than half of U.S. residents live in coastal areas. We're not in Kansas anymore, but maybe we should be.

Hee hee.

Read the whole thing.

Contribute to Universal Climate Skeptic Response Project

Over at WorldChanging they're pushing the "debate is over" notion we've been talking about (here and here) to another level -- compiling a "Universal Climate Skeptic Response Post" to act as catchall answer to those who want to keep the conversation stuck in debate terms.

They're asking for help (and have already gotten a lot). I'm sure folks here have lots of good ideas and resources to add in.

The Mustache waxes poetic about America’s innovators

And finally, completing our tour of tomorrow's NYT, The Mustache of Understanding points out that even though the government has not launched the much-discussed Manhattan Project for energy, there is in fact a "distributed Manhattan Project" going on as we speak, powered by American entrepreneurs:

Hillary maneuvering against Gore?

Of course you can't read it because it's behind the NYT $ wall, but Maureen Dowd speculates that Hillary's big speech today on energy and the environment was a bid to divert some of the spotlight that's been cast on Gore lately.

Maybe, maybe not. But if presidential candidates start competing to show who can be most bold on the energy issue, we will all benefit.

Easterbrook accepts global warming

Gregg Easterbrook magnanimously concedes that global warming is, in fact, real. So all of us who have been warning about it for years -- pushing against dimwits like Gregg Easterbrook -- are now, retroactively, by His Own Centrist Grace, transmuted from "alarmists" to reasonable people. Thanks, Gregg.

Kakutani on Gore

The New York Times' Michiko Kakutani -- the most feared, worshiped, loathed, influential book reviewer on the literary scene -- gives Al Gore's new book a strong thumbs up.

A new book reveals the truth about Chilean sea bass

Ahoy, mateys! Methinks you landlubbers will enjoy this here installment of Something Fishy, as I bring news of a book hitting the shelves this month -- about pirates! That's right, me hearties, it's called Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish, and the "perfect fish" in question is the Patagonian toothfish (better known to seafoodies as Chilean Sea Bass). As described in press materials, Hooked is an adventure story about toothfish poachers caught in one of the longest pursuits in nautical history.

Unfortunately, I can't offer me own opinion on the book -- bit hard to read out on these rough seas, what with the eye patch and all ... arrr! -- but I hear that Tom Brokaw is a big fan and had this to say: "Hooked is a fish story, a global whodunit, a courtroom drama -- and a critically important ecological message all rolled into one. Read this and you'll never look at Chilean Sea Bass on the menu the same way."

Word on the poop deck is that author G. Bruce Knecht will be interviewed by Brokaw on the Today Show tomorrow. (Too bad me ship doesn't get good reception out here!)

From the press materials, some Patagonian toothfish facts:

What’s to do in New England?

I'm getting hitched in August (yay!) to this dashing young man, and we're talking about honeymooning in New England. Any of you Gristmill readers live in the area? Any ideas of where we should go? What we should do? Where we should stay? (No, I don't think we'll stay at your house -- but thanks for the offer.)

Any tips (eco- or otherwise) would be greatly appreciated!