Nice Comment

Comment by Chris on October 19, 2012 at 1:17pm

I keep hearing about dependence on foreign oil. People even go so far as to say that domestic production will cut cost making the price independent of the world market. That's one of the the biggest lines of B/S I've ever heard. Unless domestic production is nationalized it will always be tied to the world price.

Comment by Chris on October 19, 2012 at 1:13pm

Here's the Obama-Biden Energy Plan:

The energy challenges our country faces are severe and have gone unaddressed for far too long. Our addiction to foreign oil doesn't just undermine our national security and wreak havoc on our environment -- it cripples our economy and strains the budgets of working families all across America. Barack Obama and Joe Biden have a comprehensive plan to invest in alternative and renewable energy, end our addiction to foreign oil, address the global climate crisis and create millions of new jobs.

The Obama-Biden comprehensive New Energy for America plan will:

• Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
• Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
• Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars -- cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon -- on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
• Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
• Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

Energy Plan Overview

Provide Short-term Relief to American Families

• Crack Down on Excessive Energy Speculation.
• Swap Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Cut Prices.

Eliminate Our Current Imports from the Middle East and Venezuela within 10 Years

• Increase Fuel Economy Standards.
• Get 1 Million Plug-In Hybrid Cars on the Road by 2015.
• Create a New $7,000 Tax Credit for Purchasing Advanced Vehicles.
• Establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
• A “Use it or Lose It” Approach to Existing Oil and Gas Leases.
• Promote the Responsible Domestic Production of Oil and Natural Gas.

Create Millions of New Green Jobs

• Ensure 10 percent of Our Electricity Comes from Renewable Sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
• Deploy the Cheapest, Cleanest, Fastest Energy Source – Energy Efficiency.
• Weatherize One Million Homes Annually.
• Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology.
• Prioritize the Construction of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline.

Reduce our Greenhouse Gas Emissions 80 Percent by 2050

• Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
• Make the U.S. a Leader on Climate Change.

Comment by Doone on October 19, 2012 at 11:16am

by Lostconversation. Browse more infographics.

Comment by Marianne on October 10, 2012 at 12:23am

It's about time Americans and people from other countries recognize this fact, but what are they going to do about it ?

Comment by Doone on October 9, 2012 at 7:05pm

Most Americans Believe Extreme Weather Is Tied To Climate Change

The majority of Americans think global warming is not only affecting weather but is also worsening extreme weather events, including record-high summer temperatures and the Midwest drought, a new survey released today (Oct. 9) finds.

 

For instance, 74 percent (a 5 percent increase from March) of Americans said "global warming is affecting weather in the United States." The increase was mostly driven by changing beliefs of residents in the Northeast (82 percent saw a link, up 11 points from March) and the South (75 percent, up 9 points).

A majority of Americans also felt that global warming worsened the six extreme-weather events asked about. For instance, 73 percent either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that global warming had worsened the record-high temperatures this summer; 64 percent said the same of a derecho, or fast-moving band of thunderstorms, which traveled from Indiana to Virginia in June, causing massive power outages and other damage. [Extreme Weather Facts: Quiz Yourself]

Many also agreed that warming had worsened drought in the Midwest and Great Plains (71 percent), the unusually warm winter of 2011-2012 (71 percent), the unusually warm spring of 2012 (70 percent), and record forest fires in the American West (65 percent).

Comment by Doone on October 8, 2012 at 6:24pm

Rising Tides

Daniel Grossman profiles Paul Hearty, otherwise known as "The Rock Whisperer," who believes ancient rocks hold the key to figuring out how fast and how much polar ice will melt due to climate change:

Such predictions matter tremendously. The world’s glaciers and ice sheets hold about two percent of Earth’s water. It’s a small fraction, but if all of it—about 6 million cubic miles of water—melted and poured into the oceans, the sea would rise by more than 230 feet. Most of today’s largest cities would vanish. A map of this waterlogged world would be missing Florida, the eastern shore of Maryland, Bangladesh, and Denmark. 

Comment by Chris on October 2, 2012 at 8:19am

Fish to shrink by up to a quarter due to climate change, study reveals

Scientists predict 14-24% reduction in fish size by 2050 as ocean temperatures increase

Global warming is likely to shrink the size of fish by as much as a quarter in coming decades, according to a groundbreaking new study of the world's oceans.

The reduction in individual fish size will be matched by a dwindling of overall fish stocks, warned scientists, at a time when the world's growing human population is putting ever greater pressure on fisheries.

"We were surprised as we did not think the effects would be so strong and so widespread," said Prof William Cheung from the University of British Columbia in Canada, who led the research. His team examined the effect of rising ocean temperatures on the growth and distribution of more than 600 species of fish around the world and found that they are expected to shrink in size by 14-24% by 2050, with the biggest effects in tropical regions.

"It could be worse than that," said Prof Callum Roberts, at the University of York, who described the research as the most comprehensive to date. Roberts, who was not one of the study's authors, said additional impacts of climate change such as the acidification of the ocean and reduction of nutrients in surface waters could decrease fish stocks even further, as would continued overfishing.

More here

Comment by Doone on October 1, 2012 at 5:41pm

An Important Message from a Polar Bear about the lack of Sea Ice!

Comment by Godless Poutine on October 1, 2012 at 10:00am

Thank you for the invite!  The climate change stuff concerns me deeply - even more so now that I have a child.  I know we don't have all the solutions now but wouldn't it help us immensely if people would wake up and realize the problem is real?

Comment by Chris on September 24, 2012 at 7:15pm

Collapse of Arctic Sea Ice Has Reached Tipping Point

By Ben Cubby, Brisbane Times AU

24 September 12

s Artic sea ice hits a record low, scientific focus is turning to climate "tipping points" - a threshold that, once crossed, cannot be reversed and will create fundamental changes to other areas.

"It's a trigger that leads to more warming at a regional level but also leads to flow-on effects through other systems," Will Steffen, the chief adviser on global warming science to Australia's Climate Commission, said.

There are about 14 known "tipping elements", according to a paper published by the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In the case of the Arctic ice cap, less ice means less white surface to reflect heat and more dark water to soak it up. This leads to higher temperatures, which scientists say will unlock more ancient greenhouse gases frozen into ocean depths and permafrost, speeding climate change, interfering with ocean currents, rainfall patterns and weather.

Next to the Arctic ice cap, Greenland experienced melting across 97 per cent of its surface in June and July. It is unclear what the tipping point is for the melting of the Greenland ice sheet. Melts similar to this year's seem to occur every century or so. What is known is that if temperatures keep rising as they are, the ice sheet will start to disintegrate on a massive scale some time in the second half of this century.

Tentative estimates from Australian and international studies say that another 1.5 degrees of warming would push Greenland across the threshold into irreversible melt, a process that would continue for centuries. There is enough ice in Greenland alone to raise sea levels off NSW and Victoria by four to nine metres.

Frozen methane trapped in pockets around the Arctic circle is also seen as a critical tipping element. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and as frozen earth thaws, more is leaking out. There are no exact measurements on the rate of leakage. Rough estimates suggest 30 to 60 billion tonnes of methane may leak by 2070.

Other potential tipping elements include monsoon patterns and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation cycle, which scientists expect will start to shift quite suddenly in response to global warming.

Changes in tree cover, especially in giant forests like the Amazon, are also expected in response to changing rainfall and more heat - and this would have the effect of amplifying global warming because fewer trees would mean less carbon dioxide was being soaked up out of the air.

More here

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