The conclusion of a review by the Royal Society in the UK, is that fracking can be done ‘safely’, provided ”best practices are implemented and robustly enforced through regulation.”
Unfortunately the Royal Society did not examine the more interesting questions of what fracking means for the climate, hence the scare quotes in the title of this post.
Tomorrow, North America’s only Carbon tax will increase by $5. British Columbia’s carbon tax was introduced July 1st 2008 at $10/tonne by the right of centre BC Liberals. Every year the carbon tax increases by $5 until the tax reaches a maximum of $30/tonne which it will do tomorrow July 1st.
Mark McCaffrey is not happy with the recent trend of downplaying the importance of climate literacy:
There’s a dangerous meme drifting through the climate community: that when it comes to “solving” climate change, literacy does not matter.
There are many things evolution has not prepared us for. That is a major reason we find ourselves in this mess.
(via xkcd)
John Nielsen-Gammon is not happy with the appeals court decision that upheld EPA GHG emissions rules concluding:
Until there’s a reasonably intelligent scheme, approved by Congress and the Administration, for regulating greenhouse gases effectively and appropriately on a national and intenational level, the present absurd approach is mandated by law.
Via Nature News:
The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has agreed to set up an international scientific advisory board to provide him with guidance on science-related issues, and enable him to provide advice to UN member states on such issues.
Via Climate Progress:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today unanimously ruled in favor of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) legal authority to limit industrial carbon pollution under the Clean Air Act to protect Americans’ health.
Via Nature News:
Oil exploration ramps up in US Arctic
A new round of exploratory oil drilling is due to begin in the Arctic this July. Oil companies are no doubt dreaming of a northern oil rush, while environmentalists face nightmares of devastating spills.
It is worth noting that EO Wilson and Richard Dawkins are currently involved in a dispute over some of the more intricate details of evolutionary theory. I mention this only because it highlights a key aspect of scientific disputes that can get lost on (or intentionally abused by) some people.
Some how I don’t think this is what they had in mind:
A disagreement between the twin giants of genetic theory, Richard Dawkins and EO Wilson, is now being fought out by rival academic camps in an effort to understand how species evolve.
Rio+20 has come and gone. It ended in the traditional fashion for UN environmental summits with the nations of the world agreeing that, at least in principle, it would be preferable to prevent wide-scale degradation of the planet’s natural systems.
This is more absurd than the usual drivel from ClimateDepot:
We need to redefine sustainable development as oil, gas, coal
From the always amazing XKCD:
Is anyone here interested/hopeful in RIO+20?
Personally after watching year after year of UNFCCC meetings agree to do something about GHG emissions… at some unspecified point in the future, I have little hope that Rio+20 will produce anything useful.