Operation Rock the Boat, and Other Climate Change News

What is going on in the climate change world these days?  I did some surfing and found some of the most interesting postings – hope you enjoy!

Although April Fool’s Day was last week, this April 1st posting from Real Climate is worth reading.  It discusses the “consensus view” of climate scientists that the Northern Hemisphere will be warming as spring approaches, as well as the response – including “scientific diagrams” –  of skeptic and author “Micheal Crikey”.  And don’t miss the comments section!

A “consensus view” amongst climate scientists holds that the Northern Hemisphere will be warming this month, as spring is coming. This is thought to be due to the Earth’s orbit around the sun and the inclination of the Earth’s axis, tilting the Northern Hemisphere progressively towards the sun throughout March and April and increasing the amount of solar radiation received at northern latitudes.

In a new novel, State of Euphoria, bestselling author Michael Crikey uncovers major flaws in this theory and warns against false hopes for the arrival of spring.

This is not merely fiction: Crikey underpins his thesis with numerous scientific diagrams. He presents measurements from over a dozen weather stations in the Northern Hemisphere where temperatures show a cooling trend in March. He further cites scientific results which show that in some places, snow and ice have increased in the past weeks, counter to climatologists’ claims that they should be melting away in the spring sun. He further argues that even the average temperature of the Northern Hemisphere has not increased steadily; during one week of March, it showed a slight cooling despite the increase in solar radiation.

“This casts a grave shadow of doubt on the theory of the seasons”, says Crikey…Click here to read the full article at Real Climate.

From Climate Progress: An Insider’s View of Climate Science, Politics, and Solutions, Joe Romm’s posting on The War Against Carbon Starts Now is the first in a new series Romm is launching about the kind of serious action on decreasing global warming emissions that people can push for at a local and state/provincial level — and even at a national and global level — without waiting for politicians. Part 1 discusses how the Carbon War Room (CWR) is starting to focus on lowering the carbon footprint of the worldwide shipping industry. The Carbon War Room is an exciting nonprofit initiative founded by Sir Richard Branson and several other world-class business leaders to harness “the power of entrepreneurs to implement market-driven solutions to climate change”. The CWR’s operational approach, Romm writes, is to:

“bring together successful entrepreneurs in collaboration with the most respected institutions, scientists, national security experts, and business leaders to implement the change required to avoid catastrophic climate change.”

The Carbon War Room has “identified 25 battles across 7 theaters that are material to winning the war against climate change. Each battle accounts for over 1 billion tons (or more than 2%) of global anthropogenic CO2e emissions annually.”   The figure above represents CWR’s “Theaters and Battles,” with filled in green circles representing an “Op in Progress” and the dotted circles a developing Op.  For instance, one area CWR has already start on is shipping, a too-neglected sector that has huge emissions and but only medium-sized market barriers, which they are addressing with Operation Rock The Boat“… Click here to read the full story at Climate Progress.org.

From Colin  Beavan, AKA “No Impact Man”, some thoughts on environmentalism 2.0:

1. Happier planet = happier people.

2. You make a difference.

3. Our culture is broken.

4. The personal is political.

5. Economic growth ≠ Life satisfaction growth.

6. Jobs are paramount but we should work to make our planetary home better not worse.

7. The concept of zero sum game is for people with zero sum brains.

8. There is a better, happier system out there.

9. If thine eyes (or thine economic system) offends thee, pluck them (or it) out.

10. It’s not about having less. It’s about having more. The question is: more of what?

Go to NoImpactMan.typepad.com to read the complete list.

And for a visual, here’s “60 Seconds of Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Actual Volume of Gas in Real Time”. For more images of our global warming emissions, check out “Carbon Quilt: Making Sense of the World’s Carbon Footprint” (thanks to Laurie for the link!).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1vbtnExw_g&feature=player_embedded]

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