A new normal
Unsurprisingly XKCD nails it, but head on over there to read the mouseover text, I am sure it perfectly describes more than a few Planet3.0 readers (and writers!). And we wouldn't want it any other way.
Silence of the labs
The CBC's Fifth estate devotes 1 hour to exploring the sorry state of federal science in Canada. The link above takes you to CBC's official page which might not work for some people outside of Canada, but thankfully someone has posted it to YouTube. Only briefly touched upon at the end of the Silence of... Continue Reading →
Crowded
(h/t The Disaffected Lib)
It’s not the spill that matters
The recent approval of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline by National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act review panel has brought a renewed flurry of attention to the project. The media here in Canada has run several stories in recent weeks discussing what the approval means for the pipeline and what if anything... Continue Reading →
Coincidence
“Global warming, huh? By pure coincidence every scientist was right” Homer Simpson
Canada’s climate policy delayed again
At this rate Canada's emission regulations should be ready by 2025. Canada is once again delaying emissions regulations in the oil and gas sector, despite major pipeline projects that continue to put intense scrutiny on the energy industry’s environmental track record ... The regulations were first promised seven years ago, and Alberta has recently criticized... Continue Reading →
Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline gets one step closer to reality
From the bad-news department. In Calgary, the Joint Review Panel today (December 19) recommended that the federal government approve the $6.5-billion project, which would transport oil from the Alberta tar sands across British Columbia to Asia, subject to 209 conditions. "The environmental, societal, and economic burdens of a large oil spill, while unlikely and not... Continue Reading →
Climate Change 2013 Working Group I: The Physical Science Basis
The IPCC has released a very snazzy video that summarizes the fifth assessment report.
Arctic and American Methane in Context
Real Climate gives the recent methane news some proper context. The bottom line is that since methane is a short lived GHG it would take a very sudden and very massive release of methane for it to have a large effect on the climate. And that is unlikely. Methane is a short-lived gas in the... Continue Reading →
A Summary of COP19
Reuters nicely summarizes the outcome of the COP19 UN climate negotiations in Warsaw, Poland. FINANCE Developed nations promised in 2009 to increase their aid to poorer countries to help them cope with climate change to $100 billion a year after 2020, from $10 billion a year in 2010-12. But in Warsaw they rejected calls to... Continue Reading →
Major Iceberg Cracks off Pine Island Glacier
Major Iceberg Cracks off Pine Island Glacier : Natural Hazards Between November 9–11, 2013, a large iceberg finally separated from the calving front of Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier. Scientists first detected a rift in the glacier in October 2011 during flights for NASA’s Operation IceBridge.By July 2013, infrared and radar images indicated that the crack had cut completely across the ice shelf... Continue Reading →
Climate Change — The state of the science
A summary of the IPCC report in 4 minutes
Just 90 companies caused two-thirds of man-made global warming emissions
Chevron, Exxon and BP among companies most responsible for climate change since dawn of industrial age, figures show The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests.... Continue Reading →
A storm surge like a tsunami
This video taken at 6am on Friday 8 November as Typhoon Hayian hit Hernani in Eastern Samar shows how quickly and intensely the storm surge hit.
Michael Mann on Super Typhoon Haiyan
Michael Mann echoing Keven Trenberth's position that all weather now has a climate change component since it is occurring in an altered atmosphere (one with more GHGs, heat and water vapour amongst many other factors). But herein lies the crux—we no longer live in a world without warming. Given that 1985 was the last year... Continue Reading →
Inquiring Minds Podcast interview with Michael Mann
Something worth listening to this weekend
Signs of hope?
From USA TODAY: The vast majority of Americans in each of 40-plus states surveyed say global warming is real, serious and man-made, and the concerns tend to be slightly higher in coastal or drought-stricken areas, says an analysis out today. At least 75% of U.S. adults say global warming has been happening, but the Stanford... Continue Reading →
Canada doing its part to ensure unmitigated climate change
From The ongoing climate negotiations in Warsaw Poland: Canada has dropped any remaining pretences of supporting global action on climate change by urging other countries to follow Australia's example in gutting its climate plan. In a formal statement, the Canadian government said it "applauds" the move by Australia this week to repeal a carbon tax... Continue Reading →
Was Typhoon Haiyan caused by climate change? It’s the wrong question and it doesn’t matter.
It is inevitable. After every extreme weather event the question: “Was it caused by climate change?” is never far behind. Not only that, but often the question is asked with the implication that there is a desire for a simple yes or no answer. But reality is more complex than this and requires a more... Continue Reading →
Bert Bolin: The man who got the world to agree on climate
Andy Extance has written two particularly appropriate posts on Bert Bolin the first chairman of the IPCC and an instrumental figure in getting the world to agree to negotiate a climate agreement. Hopefully the current round of climate negotiations in Warsaw will accomplish more than the typical empty rhetoric and voluntary actions that have characterized... Continue Reading →
To those influencing environmental policy but opposed to nuclear power:
An open letter by leading climate scientists, Ken Caldeira, Kerry Emanuel, James Hansen and Tom Wigley calling on green groups to stop opposing nuclear power: To those influencing environmental policy but opposed to nuclear power: As climate and energy scientists concerned with global climate change, we are writing to urge you to advocate the development... Continue Reading →
It’s the climate, not the oil spill
Mark Jaccard hitting home the point that, while spills might be locally devastating, they pale in comparison to the consequences of unmitigated climate change. Sorry, folks, but if you care about the environment – the planet for that matter – your strategy to stop oil pipelines is futile if its only focus is oil spills... Continue Reading →
Why not buy out the coal industry?
Burton Richter a Nobel Laureate in physics has an interesting idea to stop the use of coal There is no excuse for the continued use of coal to generate electricity that costs too much and is a health hazard to everyone who lives anywhere near a coal-fired power plant. About 137,000 people worked in the... Continue Reading →
Hans Rosling – 200 years of global change
(h/t Andy Skuce) Andy also highlights some key points from the video which are worth highlighting: He commends the IPCC AR5 report as being “as good as science can do”. He says the difficulties of communicating the uncertainties in climate science are far greater than for other science communication problems that he has been involved in professionally,... Continue Reading →
The opposite of progress
A Canadian government report stating that Canadian GHG emissions in 2020 will be 20% higher than the governments promised reductions from the 2009 Copenhagen accord. The estimate of emissions is also 14 million tonnes or 2% higher than last years estimate for 2020. So not only is Canada on a trajectory to miss its GHG... Continue Reading →
The Overton window and its relation to reality
This figure by Michael Tobis should have been published when the IPCC AR5 was released as a reminder of how skewed the public discussion of climate change really is. But I had forgotten about it and it took a twitter conversation/debate between Steve Easterbrook and Richard Betts to jog my memory.