Climate Climate & Energy

But It’s Still Friggin’ Raining in Seattle

2005 is hottest year on record, and 2006 weather is wacked We know you’ve been waiting with bated breath to hear the outcome of the competition between 1998 and 2005 for hottest year on record, and NASA’s results are in: 2005 wins! 1998 had El Nino, but 2005 had a remarkably warm Arctic. Congratulations, 2005, […]

The End is Nigeria

Oil pollution, corruption contribute to hostage-taking in Nigeria In Nigeria, oil, corruption, pollution, and violence have produced a drama rich with 21st-century portent. Last week, militants in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta region took four Western oil workers hostage. Their demands include more local control of Nigeria’s massive oil wealth — the proceeds of which typically end […]

Global warming could wipe out the bottom of the food chain.

When you woke up this morning, did you thank [God, your lucky stars, the Big Bang] for plankton? If you didn't, consider adding it to your daily routine. Sure plankton are teeny-tiny and look like scary aliens, but they're also moderately important, in that sustaining-life sort of way.

Sadly, global warming could kill them off. The Independent wins my nomination for "Most Sinister Opening Paragraph o' the Day":

The microscopic plants that underpin all life in the oceans are likely to be destroyed by global warming, a study has found.

The article goes on to tell how this has "catastrophic implications" and is "potentially devastating," not just because the little critters are chow for bigger critters, but also because they absorb carbon dioxide in their wee bodies and take it with them when they die and sink to the ocean floor. Thanks for taking one for the team, plankton.

Of course this was entirely expected and scientists have been taking steps to resolve this imminent disaster, right? Uh, no.

Scientists had believed phytoplankton, which survives best at depths of about 100 metres, is largely stable and immune from the impact of global warming.

Whoops!

Without phytoplankton, the oceans would soon because marine deserts.

This is depressing, so I'm going to end this post with an exciting contest! Fun, fun! First person to name the band and song title of the following lyric wins a virtual high five from me!

"The ocean is a desert with its life underground, and a perfect disguise above."

Good luck!

An interview with swashbuckling climate scientist Lonnie Thompson

Lonnie Thompson has clocked more hours above 18,000 feet than any other person in history, and yet he doesn’t exactly like climbing mountains. A masochist? No, just a hard-driving climate scientist. The iceman cometh. Photo: Courtesy Lonnie Thompson. Thompson treks up the highest peaks of the tropics — including the Himalayas and Andes — to […]

Iran and oil

So, let's return to a familiar subject: The use of oil as a political tool in international relations.

Iran's heading toward nukes. The U.S. wants to prevent it. So the U.S. is threatening economic sanctions -- specifically, threatening to restrict Iran's major export, oil.

But, ahem, don't we need that oil? Points out Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, "You need us more than we need you. All of you today need the Iranian nation."

Kevin Drum asks, and Stuart Staniford answers, the obvious question: Could cutting off, or even slowing down, Iranian oil exports really do that much damage to us, or to the world economy?

The short answer is: Yes.

So the next time somebody's calculating the economic cost of Kyoto, or a carbon tax, or emissions caps, I hope that in the "continuing the status quo" column they don't forget to include, "inability to prevent a large Middle Eastern country headed by maniacs from acquiring nuclear weapons." How much does that run these days?

Plop, Plop, Biz, Biz

Dairy farmer earns bucks from herd’s manure Alert readers will note that we never pass up a chance to talk about cow poop. But cow poop that generates power? Pinch us! Minnesota dairy farmer Dennis Haubenschild uses an anaerobic digester to convert the methane-generating dookie of his 900-cow herd into electricity for a local utility, […]

It’s a Floor Wax and a Dessert Topping!

Algae being harnessed to combat climate change and other eco-woes Consider the algae. Three years ago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology rocket scientist Isaac Berzin had an idea: use the slimy plants to clean up emissions from power plants. Today, at a power plant next to MIT, tubes of healthy algae slurp up 40 percent of […]

Croak and Dagger

Mass frog die-offs linked to global warming The mass disappearance of colorful harlequin frog species in Central and South America has long puzzled biologists, but research published in the latest issue of Nature fingers a culprit: global warming. (When in doubt …) The deadly chytrid fungus that’s killing off the tiny amphibians is flourishing in […]

Damn You, Bush!

Plants are major methane producers, new research says Methane: it’s not just from cow farts anymore. Apparently, ordinary plants emit significant amounts of the potent greenhouse gas. Clearly, all cows and plants must be killed. For the health of the planet! Ahem. Writing in Nature, German researchers suggest that the never-before-noted phenomenon — which they […]

Doin’ What Comes Dastardly

Not-Kyoto climate pact meeting ends with much hot air The U.S. and Australia today marked the end of the Asia-Pacific climate summit in Sydney by pledging $127 million to support technology projects that would lower greenhouse-gas emissions. Climate activists derided the commitment from the two big polluters as laughably small; the Kyoto Protocol, which both […]