Climate Climate & Energy
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Ocean temperture levels indicate planet has kept warming since 1998
As part of their climate myth series, New Scientist cuts through the nonsense on what’s happened globally in the last decade: In fact, the planet as a whole has warmed since 1998, even in the years when surface temperatures have fallen. According to the dataset of the UK Met Office Hadley Centre (see figure, right), […]
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Nasty chemicals used in oil and gas drilling go largely unregulated
Toxic chemicals pumped underground to break up seams of rock and increase oil and gas production have a fun nickname: fracking fluids, short for fracturing. (Go on, say it: frack!) But the fun stops there. Fracking fluids go largely unregulated, despite millions of gallons of use and hundreds of reported spills each year. Thanks to […]
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Science orgs plead for more funding for severe-weather preparation
More floods, storms, and droughts are a-comin’, and the U.S. lacks funding to predict and prepare for ’em, say eight scientific organizations. The groups, including the American Geophysical Union and American Meteorological Society, made a plea Wednesday for Congress and the next U.S. president to double the current budget for climate research and forecasting between […]
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Colorado utility voluntarily shuts down two coal plants
Two coal-fired power plants in Colorado will be shut down — not because green groups sued like crazy to make it happen, but because a utility volunteered. Citing concerns about public health and greenhouse-gas emissions, Xcel Energy asked permission of state regulators to close its coal plants, and regulators have approved the plan. Xcel becomes […]
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Toward a sensible energy plan
This is a guest post by Ted Glick, the policy director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network/U.S. Climate Emergency Council. He can be reached at usajointheworld@igc.org. He is author of “Past Future Hope” columns. —– On August 4, the Barack Obama presidential campaign released a comprehensive program for reform of the U.S. energy system. In […]
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IPCC needs to update projections to include deforestation feedbacks
The following post is by Ken Levenson, guest blogger at Climate Progress. —– As deforestation accelerates and grows ever more concentrated the climate change consequences appear even greater than previously thought. As reported in New Scientist: Pristine temperate forest stores three times more carbon than currently estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and […]
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Climate change endangers American pika, say groups
The American pika should be listed as an endangered species because climate change could cause its extinction, say Earthjustice and the Center for Biological Diversity in a lawsuit filed Tuesday against California and the federal government. The pika, a rabbit cousin characterized by inordinate cuteness and a squeaky call, is “the polar bear of the […]
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T. Boone Pickens lays out his plan to a progressive crowd
Famed oilman T. Boone Pickens gave the morning keynote at the National Clean Energy Summit, in what might have seemed hostile territory. "I don’t see anyone here from my party," said the longtime Republican and funder of the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry. "I’m making new friends. That’s good." And make friends he did […]
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Reid and Dems’ Stockholm Syndrome
Ugh. Harry Reid is onstage saying, in a single breath, that new drilling won’t do any good, and that the Gang of 10 energy compromise — which contains new drilling — is a wonderful thing. And he’s praising his “friend” T. Boone Pickens to the sky. When, I wonder, was the last time anyone paid […]
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Summit sprint
The summit has a jam-packed schedule today — I talked to one of the organizers from CAP and he said "it’s because people kept wanting to talk!" I’ll try to keep up throughout the day.
