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‘One hundred years is not enough’–Yes it is

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

Objection: One hundred and some years of global surface temperatures is not long enough to draw any conclusions from or worry about anyway.

Answer: The reliable instrumental record only goes back 150 years in the CRU analysis, 125 in the NASA analysis. This is a simple fact that we are stuck with. 2005 was the warmest year recorded in that period according to NASA, a very close second according to CRU. Because of this limit, it is not enough to say today that these are the warmest years since 150 years ago, rather one should say 'at least':

1998 and 2005 are the warmest two years in at least the last 150.

See post-bovine methane generate clean electricity!

On some days it's especially fabulous to be an eco-scribe. I had one of those days on Wednesday, Oct. 25. As part of a group from the Society of Environmental Journalists, I got to tour Vermont's very first cow-power operation, in which the non-dairy output of a herd of Holsteins is turned into cleanly generated electricity. It's got the potential to help more of Vermont's beleaguered dairy farmers stay in business, while cutting their operation costs over time and keeping the methane generated by decomposing cow poop out of our greenhousing atmosphere.

The tour took place at Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport, Vermont, owned by the same family for about three generations. We begin in the barn, a vast structure lit with natural light ...

... and home to the farm's many, many Holsteins:

Liveblogging it, only two days later

At the 16th annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists, there was a panel on media coverage of global warming. One of the panelists was Marc Morano, Sen. James Inhofe's right-hand man (ha ha). The full roster of panelists:

• Andrew Revkin, Environment Reporter, The New York Times
• Bill Blakemore, Senior Correspondent, ABC News
• Dan Fagin, Associate Professor of Journalism/Associate Director of the Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program, New York University
• Marc Morano, Director of Communications, Environment and Public Works Committee, U.S. Senate

Via DeSmogBlog (where I stole the picture above) comes this full audio recording (MP3) of the panel. I'm listening to it now. I shall blog along:

Denialists are not the only ones

There are many who scoff at the notion that climate change is really happening; they are one type of ideologue -- the perpetual skeptic impervious to reason and scientific inquiry.

But there is another type.

An interview on planning for climate change

An interview I recently did has been published in the newsletter of Caisse des Depots, a state-owned financial institution that performs public-interest missions on behalf of the French government. Also quoted in the interview is Patrick Criqui, Director of the Energy and Environmental Policy Department of the Grenoble LEPII. You can get the full newsletter here (PDF). It's all about the problems posed by the long timescale climate change operates on, and is definitely worth reading.

Here is the interview:

‘Warming is due to the Urban Heat Island effect’ — No, it isn’t

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

Objection: The apparent rise of global average temperatures is actually an illusion due to the urbanization of land around weather stations, the Urban Heat Island effect.

Lots of random catch-up

Time for some housecleaning. That's right: a link dump! Here's some random stuff I've had open in Firefox (have you seen 2.0?) tabs for varying lengths of time:

It’s like, get busy over there already!

I have been criminally negligent in failing to draw attention to the fact that the folks at Worldchanging have a book out, and it's gorgeous. (Their website's been spiffed up too, with the de rigeur pinstripe background and gradients galore. Slick.)

The WCers are going on tour to support the book, and to draw attention to local worldchanging efforts in the cities they're visiting. To begin with, they'll be in Seattle -- tonight! Go watch Alex rap with Bruce Sterling and hear about the all the stuff the smart people are doing for a change.

You can get tickets here. Check out other dates here.

Congrats to the Worldchanging crew on all the kick-ass developments this past year. Onward and upward!

In a word, yes

In recent years right-wingers in this country, including the president, have scoffed at the idea of global warming and ignored those who expressed concern and called for action. But even among Republicans and conservatives, the need to act to reduce the risks of climate change is looking increasingly like the new conventional wisdom.

The obvious example is in California, where a Sep. 1 story in the Wall Street Journal [$] rightly predicted that a high-stakes deal between a Republican executive and a Democratic legislature "to cut emissions tied to global warming is likely to boost a resurgence in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity." In fact the "halo effect" from this deal has remade Schwarzenegger's image among independents and Democrats, which -- baring an act of God -- will easily carry him to victory on November 7.

But the California electorate has long supported environmental regulations for the sake of clean air, clean water, coastal protection, and parks and wild lands.

How is global warming seen in the right-wing media in this country?

Meet this year’s Brower Youth Award winners

Whether it’s the Oscars, the Emmys, or the Webbys, everyone’s wished for the chance to be the one in the seat of honor — the one saying “I’d like to thank the Academy” or even the one who’s “honored just to be nominated.” So as the annual Brower Youth Awards came around this year, we […]