Climate Climate & Energy

The tiny island nation of Tuvalu is threatened by global warming.

Possibly one of the most tragic outcomes that may result from climate change is the extinction of an entire nation's culture and homeland. As the United Nations discussed the threat that global warming poses to the security of nations, Afelee Pita, an ambassador from the tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, was there to represent his country.

Tuvalu may be one of the first nations whose way of life could disappear as a result of the actions (or in this case, the lack of action) of other countries. NPR is covering this story as part of their year-long Climate Connections series. Here's a quote from the piece:

"We face many threats associated with climate change," Pita said to the U.N. "Ocean warming is changing the very nature of our island nation. Slowly our coral reefs are dying through coral bleaching. We are witnessing changes to fish stocks. And we face the increasing threat of more severe cyclones. With the highest (land) point of four meters above sea level, the threat of more cyclones is extremely disturbing."

Listen to the entire story on NPR.org.

And check out a small Grist slideshow of photos taken by Gary Braasch in 2005.

Update [2007-6-12 13:1:43 by Chris Schults]: NPR also has a related piece about the islands of Fiji.

Can You Hear the Drums, Hu Jintao?

Sweden hosts Chinese president, global environment ministers What we learned today: while researching eco-news from Sweden, you might stumble upon some juicy tidbits. Like the fact that tennis player Björn Borg was severely bitten by a dog this weekend, or that the organizers of a future museum dedicated to ABBA have found a location in […]

Johnson Pussyfoots

EPA chief will decide whether to regulate greenhouse gases … next year Climatic evidence notwithstanding, U.S. EPA chief Stephen Johnson would like to assure you that snoozers are not losers. On Friday, Johnson told a House special committee on global warming that he’s going to put off making up his mind about whether vehicle greenhouse-gas […]

What rules would you impose to address global heating if you were

America, nominally a democracy, acquired a strange fetish for "czars" during the Nixon administration (how telling).

I remember William Simon being appointed "energy czar" back in the 70s. Like the Romanoffs, he had a fearsome title and did nothing good for most of the people in his country.

Still, it can be a useful exercise to think about what you would do if you suddenly had responsibility for something like dealing with global heating, and you could make the policy changes you thought wisest. What would yours be?

Your math teacher knew you’d need this stuff someday!

During one of our many discussions here at Gristmill around cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, I did some figuring and realized that, if we started in 2008, we would have three "halving" periods between then and 2050 if we could just cut emissions by 5 percent per year -- not an unreachable goal for people who absolutely waste a buttload of energy.

I've been talking up what I've taken to calling "The 5% Solution" here in Springfield (where the Simpsons live), making contact with a local group to propose starting a campaign for it as a project of the organization, with the idea that it would spread to other towns, cities, and states, and then all over America (insert Howard Dean-like scream here).

This morning, the fellow I've been talking to sent me to this link about something I have not heard of, the Sierra Club's "2% Solution." What?! Have I been left at the gate? Did I invent something well after the patent had already been issued to someone else?

Turns out, no.

The days when they would take whatever you served up are gone

Why does Amory Lovins say that the market is deciding against nukes?

On smart grids

My last post made the points that:

• Long-distance transmission lines tying different climate zones together reduce storage needs to a few hours capacity, by ensuring that most of the time when one machine is not producing, another is.


• The least expensive and most ecologically sound way to store electricity on the particular scale needed is with closed-cycle, lined, modular pumped storage that recirculates the same water over and over again, and thus does not draw on rivers, lakes, or other natural watercourses.

However a grid must not only be able to meet baseload (the part of demand that is the same 24 hours a day) plus daily peaks. It also has to deal with seasonal peaks as well. After all, in cooling climates (say Houston) electric demand will peak at a much higher rate in the summer than the winter. Similarly in a heating climate (say New England, Toronto, or Glasgow), demand will peak much more in the winter than the summer.

The same extended grid that can help smooth out supply can also help smooth out demand. If we have a grid that extends 3,000-5,000 kilometers across multiple climate zones, you can connect heating and cooling climates so that summer and winter peaks vary less.

Skeptical about skeptics

One last comment on NASA administrator Michael Griffin's comments about global warming. The skeptics out there heralded his comments. For example, Bob Carter was quoted as saying, "My main reaction to Michael Griffin is to congratulate him on his clear-sightedness, not to mention his courage in speaking out on such a controversial topic."

What these skeptics seem to forget (or conveniently ignore) is that Griffin's comments were only about the moral question of whether we should address climate change, not about the reality of human-induced climate change. From the New York Times: "In his comments to NPR and in today's interview, he did not express any doubt that the warming trend is real or that humans have been found to play a part in that rise." Skeptics never comment on this aspect of Griffin's statement.

This is a good example of why skeptics cannot be trusted. A skeptic would only tell you the point about Griffin's questioning the moral aspect of climate change policy, and conveniently forget to tell you that Griffin specifically endorses the dominant scientific view that humans are warming the world. Remember that next time you hear a skeptical statement about climate change.

Fun Guys

Two recent college grads make insulation using mushroom spores Let’s play a word game: we say “college students” and “mushrooms,” you say the first thing that comes to mind. OK, now get ready to eat your words, because two recent Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute grads are having a different kind of fun with their fungi. Eben […]

O Pioneers

Western states fired up over clean energy When it comes to clean energy, the West is the best — or at least, it wants to be. In Deadwood, S.D., this week, 10 Western U.S. governors and two Canadian provincial premiers are meeting to talk about the region’s power prospects, including solar, wind, biomass, and “clean […]