Climate Files 68 / Climate Scientists Conquer a Lord
Diagram from the testimony of Dr. James Hurrell (click to enlarge)
Real climate scientists smack down a gecko-like climate denier operative named Lord Christopher Monckton. Or to put it nicely, for purposes of educating the public about climate change, real climate scientists update us on climate science and correct climate denier operative named Lord Christopher Monckton at a May 6th global warming hearing. Monckton is a poser and a favorite of the right-wingers in the climate denial movement. After you get past the frustration of being fed lies by Mr. Monckton about climate change, it’s highly entertaining — especially when a congressman decides he’s had it with the bull. This all took place on May 6th in a congressional hearing, but this so-called debate was just made for TV! But here you have it in podcast form, in nearly its entirety — and all of Mr. Monckton in his ridiculous glory. If you want to watch this presentation you can view the video by downloading it at this link. This Climate Files podcast contains only the audio.
The hearing was sponsored by Rep. Edward J. Markey and held by his Select Committee on Global Warming, a hearing he called “The Foundation of Climate Science”.
Climate Scientists who testified last week:
- Dr. Lisa Graumlich, Director at School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona
- Dr. Chris Field, Director, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, and co-chair of “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” portion of new IPCC report due in 2014
- Dr. James McCarthy, Professor of Biological Oceanography, Harvard University, past President and Chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, co-chair of “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” portion of IPCC report published in 2001
- Dr. James Hurrell, Senior Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research, contributor to IPCC reports
And for some reason the guest (their “expert) of the GOP minority: Lord Christopher Monckton, a British consultant, writer and journalist — not a scientist. He argued with the real scientists that were present, and basically made a fool of himself. If you click on the names of the scientists at the hearing listed above, you can download their statements that contain loads of climate science facts and figures. See more at the website for the hearing. Lord Monckton and his charts have been thoroughly debunked by scientists, and one place with a good debunking is here on RealClimate.org.
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Climate Files / Hansen Talks Climate in Sydney
Hansen speaking in Adelaide, March 2010
He speaks about energy policy too, and clearly feels frustrated with the bias against nuclear power. It’s not that he’s a big advocate of nuclear power, but Hansen realizes that we need carbon-free power and that it cannot all come from what he calls “soft renewables”. Here are a few other points he makes that are not widely known:
- The whole problem with our energy is that fossil fuels are cheap. So to get people to change their behavior, we need a gradually rising price on carbon. To get the public to accept the additional cost, we need to return this money to the public.
- The climate system is incredibly sensitive. We know from paleoclimate history that the climate has changed a lot in the past. To make predictions of coming climate, climate scientists are not depending on “climate modeling” so much as real data they are getting from the past and the present.
- Six other countries are developing 4th Generation nuclear plants, and China is building at least 24 new nuclear plants.
- We will not get rid of nuclear plants, so we should be making them safer.
- Renewable energy is what everyone wants to hear, but the fact is, they are still invisible on the graph. There is a renewable portion on the graph, but that is burning of biomass. The dream that soft renewable technologies will be enough is not supported by empirical evidence. India and china are planning on going with mainly nuclear for their future power.
- Hansen also expresses his disappointment and frustration with the Obama administration and politicians like Senator John Kerry, who want him to support the Obama administration’s plans for coal and CCS and oil drilling. Hansen won’t, for obvious reasons.
Hansen also wrote an article while he was in Australia in March. — “Only a carbon tax and nuclear power can save us”, claims The Australian. in its title of his article. He didn’t really say that, but that could be inferred from what he did say.
The video version of this podcast is in three parts from Blip TV here. This podcast contains all three parts in one episode.
Sorry there was a problem with downloading the file. … Click here to download it.
Climate Scientist James Hansen is known as the ‘grandfather of climate change’ and is perhaps the world’s leading authority on the science of climate change. He is director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute and has for the last 30 years focused on climate research, publishing more than 100 scholarly articles on the topic. This talk was presented by Sydney Ideas and the United States Studies Centre, March 11, 2010.
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Climate Files 64 / Al Gore’s Call to Action
Al Gore fills us in on facts and strategy to help our lawmakers to accomplish something useful on climate change, for a change. We need to either change our legislators minds on global warming, or plan for the worst now. Unfortunately, we probably can’t adapt to the 4 or more degree temperature rise in global average temperature that seems inevitable. What is the U.S. doing about it? What they are doing is being done in secret to avoid advertising problems (This is how it is being described). Senator John Kerry and two other senators have shown industry leaders their 8-page draft bill on climate and energy. We don’t get to see it, but it has been discussed and this episode lets you in on what is known about it so far. Reportedly, it contains targets that are a bit lowered than the bill that passed in Congress, and more allowances for industry, energy, coal, natural gas and oil. From what I have read about it, it emphasizes jobs, but sounds like a planetary train-wreck on climate change.
The U.S. government is planning for adaptation and ‘resilience’ for the government — not necessarily for us. Yet they won’t act decisively to stop carbon emissions.
On March 16, 2010, the Task Force released an Interim Progress Report which outlines the Task Force’s progress to date and recommends key components to include in a national strategy on climate change adaptation.
The Interim Progress Report is available for 60 days of public comment. Submit comments here.
Al Gore spoke to supporters and the public in an open conference call on Monday, March 15th, in conjunction with Repower America. Senator Sherrod Brown also spoke. Hear Al Gore’s call to activist action in this episode, and find out what you can do to help push climate legislation in the U.S. along. One suggestion he had is to write letters to Senators. See more at Repower America. Write letters to your congressmen!
Finally, the last talk in this episode is an interview with Lester Brown, author of his newly revised book, Plan B 4.0. This is the premier Post Carbon Exchange interview, and they plan a series of these in the future. You can check out his book and read more at the Post Carbon Institute.
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Climate Files 63 / Steven Chu at Stanford
US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu spoke at Stanford University the 2nd week of March about clean energy , climate change science, innovation and education. It’s a science and solutions oriented talk so it’s valuable for everyone.
Secretary Chu met with students before the talk for a student round table discussion on energy. The event was followed in the evening by a panel called “Educating the Energy Generation,” focused on how the U.S. can build a competitive clean energy workforce as quickly as possible. See here for an article about Secretary Chu’s visit to Stanford, “The Biggest Speaker of the Year,” and why his perspective is important. On the DoE website, Chu asks,
What are the steps we must take as a nation to create new, clean energy jobs and ensure America’s long-term competitiveness? What are the consequences for our climate of inaction? How can science and technology offer us new and better choices - and how can America’s young people make a difference?
I recently returned to Stanford University, where I spent many years as a professor, to discuss these and many other issues with a great group of students. I’d like to invite you to watch a replay of my speech here, and then share your thoughts afterward on my personal Facebook page (www.facebook.com/stevenchu) to continue the conversation.
During the speech he said something to take notice of: “Humans are altering the destiny of the planet. . . . [but] it’s not too late.”
To watch a video of this event, see the Department of Energy homepage
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Music in the podcast:
1) Step it Up — The Gallerists
2) Lost in Detroit – Rolfe Kent
(more…)
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Climate Files 62 / EPA Priorities
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Discusses 2010 EPA Priorities
On March 8, 2010, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson spoke to the National Press Club on progress made by the agency in 2009 and priorities for 2010. She discussed actions on climate change, America’s waters and EPA’s efforts to expand the conversation on environmentalism.
She was asked why the EPA doesn’t stop surface mining (mountaintop removal) and she basically said because the EPA regulates pollution and water quality; the EPA does not and cannot regulate mining. That is a political excuse. They are the Environmental Protection Agency — it’s their job to protect the environment. Mountaintop removal is one of the most environmentally destructive practices in the U.S. and they must have the authority to stop it. Apparently, this is the EPA’s way of stalling a decision on mountaintop removal. Surface coal mining is especially destructive, not just to our water but to the trees, the ecology of the area, and to the land itself. There is no way to put the top back on a hill or mountain once it has been removed, and no way to completely reinstate the wildlife and balance of the ecology of the area once it has been ruined.
Unfortunately today, in conjunction with this talk, the EPA approved a surface mining operation in Ohio. They imposed supposed stringent rules on the mining operation so that it doesn’t pollute the water, but nowhere are there requirements of a carbon fee or any way for this mining to take responsibility for how it adds to global warming. This is where the EPA has to change. The EPA’s responsibilities should include protecting the human race’s ability to live in its environment–which would necessarily render coal mining obsolete. Read about the EPA’s new permit below. To see the video of this talk, visit CSPAN.org.
Below is the press release released by the EPA today in its approval of the Ohio surface mining permit. This is a blow to the environment, and it’s hard to see how this is the EPA “protecting” the country’s land and water.
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Climate Files 61 / Question the EPA
I attended the EPA Townhall Meeting and asked a good question. Everyone should question the EPA. Mine was about that nasty Canadian tar sands oil and the pipeline that is spilling oil into the beautiful northern part of one of the Great Lakes states. The EPA must not care very much about that, because they wouldn’t answer a simple question: how does a dirty oil pipeline fit in with the new green economy being promoted in the Great Lakes states? I like this EPA so much better than the last one, but it’s hard to believe it’s so easy to stump the EPA.
Also in this episode, what U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said about climate change deniers, and what President Obama said about energy and climate in his speech to the business roundtable in Washington DC. Some headlines were covered too, including the exciting news about Bloom Energy, a new company making a revolutionary new type of stand-alone power station. It sounds almost too good to be true — fuel cells that run on oxygen and biomass? Yes, and it’s already being used by companies in Silicon Valley. Here is what I wrote about it on Futurism Now.
The Delta Institute website is here.
The EPA video page where you can watch the entire Townhall meeting from February 23rd is here.
News covered:
- Poor Nations Could Be Paid to Preserve Marine CO2: UN (Reuters)
- Curbing Smokestack Emissions Tops EPA’s 2011-2013 Enforcement Goals (Greenwire)
- Groups ID Toxic Coal Ash Sites in 14 States, Demand Regulations (ENN)
- Tackling Climate Change ‘Urgent,’ President Hu Jintao Says (China Daily)
- Italy Delays New Solar Plan Again, Industry Worried
- World’s Temperature Record To Be Re-analyzed (The Independent)
- Check out the Enbridge Pipeline in my Backyard blog.
- Waste could fuel part of Spain – read here.
- Did you hear about the 126,000 gallon oil spill in northern MN, the 2nd in months?
You can download this episode here, or subscribe on Climate Files Radio.
Final song is by Galactic, “Heart of Steel feat. Irma Thomas” from the MPR song of the day podcast.
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Climate Files 60 Special / The Gates Equation
This is a special edition of Climate Files of a highly anticipated talk by Bill Gates, who has come up with an equation you see in this graphic. He presented this at the latest TED conference during a short talk on February 12th. This was followed by a short Q&A at TED and on livestream.com. Gates says he’s happy to get Twitter questions, so visit his website and fire off some questions to him.
Gates discussed energy, his “equation”, and his goal in life at the TED conference — getting us to zero carbon by 2050. He feels this is doable in a variety of ways. (These are his ideas and are not necessarily endorsed by myself or by Climate Files, but they are interesting.) He is getting a large amount of criticism from some environmentalists for saying that we need an “energy miracle” and lots of tech development to solve the climate problem. As he defines “miracle”, I mostly agree with his ideas on climate change. (Read an article discussing this here.) He is promoting nuclear power and not just any nuclear power but specifically, a “traveling wave” type of nuclear power, which is being developed by a company called TerraPower.
Is Gates just another T. Boone Pickens trying to cash in? Nope, Gates actually does understand and believe in the importance of climate change and is really seeking zero carbon solutions, unlike Pickens.
If you are wondering what Gates is up to besides caring what happens to the atmosphere, you should know that he is personally investing his own money into these ideas. He is spending quite a bit of thought and some of his great wealth on thinking about not just seeds and malaria, but also zero-carbon energy. Check out another article from last Monday for more on what Gates is doing to promote zero carbon energy. “When we talk about zero climate emissions, we sound crazy. When Bill Gates does it, bankers pick up the phone,” from Alternet.
(This episode of Climate Files is sans commentary from yours truly because I’m on a working break, and the plan is that this podcast will still return to weekly or bi-monthly episodes at some point.)
Download this episode here — it’s a short one — or listen here or subscribe on the right. For an interesting graphic I found of Bill Gates after he left Microsoft, click on more. I wanted to include it for the cover art for the podcast but it needed the equation on it to make sense!
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Climate Files 59 / Wild Weather Wild Climate
The weather seems crazy everywhere, but what does that mean? 49 states in the U.S. got snow in the last week! It means climate change is happening right now and things are going to get much wilder. Find out how we know this and hear Todd Stern, U.S. climate envoy, talk about where the U.S. is going in dealing with climate change.
The Guardian on world-wide wild weather, article here.
Remember this? From NOAA at the end of January: December Global Ocean Temperature Second Warmest on Record. Scientists reported the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the eighth warmest on record for December.
In this episode you can hear excerpts from the Daily Show, the Rachel Maddow show, and the Thom Hartmann show. The bottom line on our wild weather is that it is to be expected, due to a warmer ocean, and moisture and energy in the atmosphere.
But as a result of recent storms, the Utah legislature passed a resolution (HRJ012) which basically states the climate change in a conspiracy and efforts to stop it will bankrupt the nation! Obviously this is not true, but science seems to be having a strange effect on some U.S. lawmakers.
As Scientific American says, “No single weather event proves or disproves the fundamental science of climate change, but extreme weather is what scientists expect from global warming.”
American Progress link to the whole Todd Stern presentation here. He talks about U.S. climate policy and what happened at Copenhagen. The new government climate change website is at Climate.gov and the EPA website where you can weigh in with the new Open Government Directive.
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Climate Files 58 / Climate Change Science
This episode is a presentation of climate science and how we know global warming is happening. The 3 speakers are all scientists and climate experts. This was titled the Science of Climate change, and was presented last week by the Center for American Progress. You can see the entire video at the CFAP website here. You can download their slides there also. (Michael MacCracken’s slides were especially good.)
Basically, they discuss climate change science and risk management, as well as some of the finer points on how the IPCC publishes its data. There is a question and answer session at the end. They write on the CFAP site:
An overwhelming quantity of direct observations and analyses published by scientists in various disciplines around the world demonstrates that human activity has warmed the planet and altered the climate. The severity of the projected impacts of continuing on our current greenhouse gas emissions path has only increased in recent years.
The speakers are Christopher Field, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and Professor of Biology and Environmental Earth System Science at Stanford University, and a coordinating lead author for the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment. The second is Michael MacCracken, Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs, Climate Institute, and co-author/contributing author for various chapters in the IPCC assessment reports. The event was moderated by Joe Romm, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress and prolific blogger at ClimateProgress.org.
Some of their initial points about how we know climate change is happening:
- Average ground temperatures are going up
- Ocean temperatures are going up
- Sea ice cover is decreasing
- Mountain glaciers and permafrost are melting
- Sea level is rising
- A lot of plant and animal species are moving
- Arctic sea ice is retreating
You can download this episode here, or listen below or subscribe on the right.
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Climate Files 57 / Hacking the Climate
Mt. Pinatubo erupting in 1991
In his State of the Union Speech Obama last week, President Obama focused on Nukes, Offshore Drilling and Biofuels. A lot of people were bothered that he didn’t focus more on renewables. It seems that we can’t depend on the U.S. government to come to the rescue of the climate because they aren’t communicating the danger of climate change and they aren’t talking about how to stop it. In fact, they are mostly talking about jobs and the economy. So that leaves us with the same climate crisis we started with before the last election.
Ross Gelbspan is an author (his website here) and journalist who feels that it’s already too late to stop climate change. Based on his 15 years of research, he has released a recent video that tells us we need to act now and plan to adapt and survive. According to Gelbspan,
As the pace of global warming kicks into overdrive, the hollow optimism of climate activists, along with the desperate responses of some of the world’s most prominent climate scientists, are preventing us from focusing on the survival requirements of the human enterprise.
This brings up the idea of using geoengineering to help in a climate emergency. People involved in geoengineering research stress that it’s not a substitute for mitigating carbon emissions but that it’s tool of last resort. The question is, what kind of tool will it be, how can it be safely tested, and who should be making these decisions. They emphasize this is not a substitute for mitigation. Whether you think it’s good or bad, the research is expanding and growing right now.
CDR (carbon dioxide removal) and SRM (solar radiation management) are discussed in this episode according to recent articles in the journal Science. (Articles here and here). What are the risks of solar radiation management actions, which scientists feel would be potentially dangerous?
Bill Gates has been writing about climate change lately, and he’s putting his money where his keyboard is. He’s investing in stopping hurricanes with his new patent and is talking about what our climate change targets should be. (more info after the break)
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Climate Files 56 / Answering Skeptics
Dead coral and sea shells washed up on beach, Mexico, 2007.
We know that CO2 causes climate change, but how? Believe it or not, credit card debt can help explain how CO2 causes global warming, even if the graphics show CO2 kind of non-synchronized with temperatures, at times. Hear Richard Alley talk about CO2 causing global warming at the AGU Annual Meeting. (Full video with graphics is here)
Also hear Stephen Colbert talk about mountaintop removal with Dr. Margaret Palmer, and the latest crock of the week, the claim of a petition with 32,000 signatures on it from scientists. It’s a hoax, of course. From Peter Sinclair of the Greenman’s Climate Crock video series. Sinclair is a longtime advocate of environmental awareness and energy alternatives and he runs Greenman Studio from his home in Midland, Michigan.
Richard Alley is an American geologist and Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at the Pennsylvania State University. He has authored more than 170 refereed scientific publications about the relationships between Earth’s cryosphere and global climate change, and is recognized by the Institute for Scientific Information as a “highly cited researcher.” (wikipedia)
More information on how to speak to deniers and skeptics that should be useful to everyone is here and here.
New climate change meetings/conferences after COP15:
In Abu Dhabi, the World Future Energy Summit.
Another climate change meeting is coming up on January 24th. Read about it here.
“…key groups of developing countries will meet to try to explore ways to get to agree a legally binding final agreement. As the dust settles on the stormy Danish meeting, environment ministers from the so-called “Basic countries” – Brazil, South Africa, India and China – will meet on January 24 in New Delhi. No formal agenda has been set, but observers expect the emerging geopolitical alliance between the four large developing countries who brokered the final “deal” with the US in Denmark will define a common position on emission reductions and climate aid money, and seek ways to convince other countries to sign up to the Copenhagen accord that emerged last month.”
You have to wonder what the carbon footprint is of all these meetings, especially given what they accomplish.
Transportation emissions information from Science Insider:
“. . . . projections spelled out in a new report reviewing the issue by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change suggests that by 2050 the total amount of carbon pollution from these sources could increase tenfold, depending on population, economics, and technology trends. Were that to happen, emissions would be as high as the entire transportation sector, which takes up 14% of global greenhouse emissions, currently dominated by pollution from cars and trucks.
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Music dedicated to all skeptics and deniers at the end: Pants on the Ground, by ‘General’ Larry Platt.
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Climate Files 55 / Drop the Nuke Bias
Being antinuclear is like a religion to many environmentalists. But solving climate change will be a compromise of what is possible and needed. We are not going to get a green utopian world to emerge and solve climate change with windmills. Even environmentalists want to be able to charge their cell phones and laptops. Should we throw it all away, or find out a realistic way to power it all once the coal plants are gone? We should be supporting nuclear plants over CCS any day. The last thing we want to do is spend billions locking in coal for another 50 years, something that could kill us all.
The Clean Air Act is under attack by Republicans with new legislation trying to block EPA again again. You can help save it by contacting your Reps. here.
Some news discussed in this episode includes information on and quotes from the books Storms of My Grandchildren by James Hansen and the Vanishing Face of Gaia by James Lovelock. Hansen’s letter to Obama is here (PDF). The UK must raise its CO2 emissions target to a 42% cut, says a new report. Read why our endless consumerism needs to be replaced with sustainable living here. The story about Bell Labs greening the internet by 2015 is here. There is a lot more in this episode including an audio description of what a thorium reactor is and how it works.
Read another interview with Stewart Brand, whose interview is played in this episode, here at e360.
More info on thorium reactors:
- How a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) works
- Energy from Thorium blog
- Uranium is so Last Century
Contact CF using the contact form at the top or email CF at news @ climatefilesradio (dot) com
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Music at end: Nuclear Power Plant by Zen Eyes
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