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It’s more complicated than you might think

Most people interested in climate change have seen the plots showing strong correlations between CO2 and temperature going back several hundred thousand years:

FIGURE: Data from the Vostok ice core in Antarctica, from 410,000 years ago to the present. The top curve shows abundance of CO2 (in parts per million) from air bubbles in the ice core. The bottom curve shows the temperature anomaly in the Antarctic region, relative to the present, from isotopic measurements of the ice. After Fig. 3-6 of my book.

Delayed Gratitudation

Grist takes rest of week off, needs time to stuff free-range Tofurky Here at Grist, we take our holidays seriously, so after today you won’t be seeing us again until next Monday. But as Thanksgiving nears, we want to take a moment to give our thanks to you, our readers, for being so darn loyal […]

One Good Deed Reserves Another

Northeast, California move forward with marine reserves It’s time to call in the marine reserves (think fish, not guns). The Conservation Law Foundation and the Canadian branch of the World Wildlife Fund issued a report yesterday recommending that a network of ocean areas off the eastern coast of Canada and the U.S. be protected from […]

OSHA, No He Didn’t

Federal agency threatens asbestos-warning writer with suspension What if we said a federal agency was pressuring one of its own to weaken an environmental opinion? Crazy, right? But it’s true. Again. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a warning this summer that brakes could contain asbestos, putting mechanics at risk for mesothelioma, lung cancer, […]

You Give Hubris a Glad Name

Nuclear fusion gets a boost as 31 countries sign reactor agreement After years of debate, 31 countries have agreed to build the $12.8 billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in southern France. (Ah, “experimental reactor” — was there ever a more comforting phrase?) Deemed “the victory of the general interest of humanity” by French President Jacques […]

Wal-Mart may sell organic, but it also thrives on ruined downtowns and long freight hauls.

I've always been a bit appalled by the polite applause with which some enviros greet Wal-Mart's "green" initiatives. Seems to me that the only way the company could really "go green" would be to stop selling cheap plastic crap shipped in from halfway around the world in vast suburban megastores. In other words, completely change it's business model -- not, say, adopt "green" building techniques for its appalling superstores, or haul mass-produced "organic" food from California, Mexico, and China to stores nationwide, thus burning lots of fossil fuel and potentially squeezing profits for farmers and sparking consolidation and industrialization in a movement that arose to challenge same.

Deep breath.

Sometime Grist contributor Bill McKibben nails it in the latest Mother Jones.

Money quote:

What’s up with solar silicon?

... how come solar power may be stymied by a worldwide shortfall in key ingredient poly-crystalline silicon? Despite the growing momentum for alternative power generation, the Financial Times quotes analysts citing "unsustainable" price increases of 500% over 2004 levels in some "isolated" cases.

Global production of solar batteries grew by 47 per cent by volume during 2005, and the pace is believed to have quickened in 2006. One industry estimate suggests that between 2007 and 2009, the global polysilicon supply shortage will be about 9,000 tons a year, or about a fifth of current worldwide capacity.

So much for those reassuring supply and demand lessons in ECON 101.

‘We can’t even predict the weather next week’–But weather is not climate

(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide)

Objection: Scientists can't even predict the weather next week, so why should we believe what some climate model tells us about 100 years from now?

Answer: Climate and weather are very different things, and the level of predictability is comparably different.

Gift ideas and holiday cheer from Grist readers and staff

The holiday season is upon us, and you know what that means: bajillions of crazed consumers seeking sales assistants full of cheer, good tidings of markdowns, and the joy of reaching the last TMX Elmo just before that little old lady in the wheelchair does. Photo: iStockphoto What’s a jaded green to do? Turn to […]

Can Thompson become president?

I never got around to posting on this last week, but it seems Bush's old Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson is getting into the presidential race. The enterprise is already somewhat of a laughingstock in political circles, but what's remarkable to me is that Thompson seems to think he has a chance almost purely based on his long-standing support for and knowledge about ethanol subsidies -- oops, did I say "ethanol subsidies"? I mean energy policy.

Perhaps ethanol subsidies are the road to serious energy policy. But then again, perhaps "energy policy" is just a road to expanded ethanol subsidies. Which do you think it is? Leave predictions in comments.