Author Archives: Kit Stolz

(Potential) Good News Friday: “If the World Pays Attention…”

Over Asia, according to a new study in Nature reported in Scientific American, a high percentage of the local warming threatening Himalayan glaciers is the result of black carbon from cooking fires. It’s so prevalent it shows up in NASA images taken from space. The Times of London ledes with the bad news: They callContinue reading “(Potential) Good News Friday: “If the World Pays Attention…””

Washington Post Reports Odd Outbreak of “Wild Weather” in Europe

Today the Washington Post runs a front-page story reporting on "wild, wild weather" in Europe this summer, with floods in England, killer heat in Greece, fires in the Canary Islands, and unseasonable cold in Paris — and doesn’t even mention the possibility of a connection to climate change! Shameful. Yes, weather is not the sameContinue reading “Washington Post Reports Odd Outbreak of “Wild Weather” in Europe”

Treasury Secretary Lobbies China on Global Warming

From the Wall Street Journal today: Mr. Paulson has tried to broaden the discussion beyond the currency, talking about further openness in the financial sector as a key step for China’s reforms and cooperation on mitigating climate change, preserving the environment, and developing more secure energy supplies. Ahead of his meetings in Beijing Tuesday andContinue reading “Treasury Secretary Lobbies China on Global Warming”

Thinking of Red Desert

Some people–the brilliant few–do not let a lack of means prevent them from making true art. The late Michangelo Antonioni was one of those few. His movies are fascinating, exasperating, mysterious, but never cliched. For the environmentally minded, his Red Desert–featuring the beautiful Monica Vitti in an industrial wasteland, is not to be missed. RestContinue reading “Thinking of Red Desert”

Cloudy with a Chance of Chaos

Tom Englehardt, of TomDispatch and The Nation, brings us a terrific essay by a Utah writer named Chip Ward. It focuses on what has gone wrong with bees in this country, with unusual depth (and grasp of the English language), but also offers a way forward different from our present path, and touches on theContinue reading “Cloudy with a Chance of Chaos”

Sunday Morning on the Planet: If This Isn’t Nice…

"I had a good uncle, my late Uncle Alex. He was my father’s kid brother, a childless graduate of Harvard who was an honest life-insurance salesman in Indianapolis. He was well-read and wise. And his principal complaint about other human beings was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy. So when weContinue reading “Sunday Morning on the Planet: If This Isn’t Nice…”

Floods Show Global Warming, Says Conservative British Paper

Echoing the liberal Prime Minister, the conservative British broadsheet the Daily Telegraph runs a long story arguing that "the worst floods to hit England in 200 years" show that global warming has arrived. Here’s the heart of the piece, by environmental editor Charles Clover: I have covered the subject of climate change, in what IContinue reading “Floods Show Global Warming, Says Conservative British Paper”

Jet Stream Shift Over Europe: Climate Change…or Not?

Below is a nice map, courtesy of the BBC, showing the shift in the jet stream bringing unprecedented rain and flooding to the UK. As Kim Murphy put it for the Los Angeles Times today: Few scientists are ready to immediately blame the quirky weather on global warming. For one thing, current climate change trendsContinue reading “Jet Stream Shift Over Europe: Climate Change…or Not?”

Good News Friday: Coal Plants Cancelled Nationwide

According to the Wall Street Journal, the coal industry is struggling to build new plants, because of fear of climate change. It’s a long story, so I’ll put a couple of other excerpts (one relating to Florida) below the fold, but here’s the lede:

From coast to coast, plans for a new generation of
coal-fired power plants are falling by the wayside as states conclude
that conventional coal plants are too dirty to build and the cost of
cleaner plants is too high.
[cut]
As recently as May, U.S. power companies had announced
intentions to build as many as 150 new generating plants fueled by
coal, which currently supplies about half the nation’s electricity. One
reason for the surge of interest in coal was concern over the higher
price of natural gas, which has driven up electricity prices in many
places. Coal appeared capable of softening the impact since the U.S.
has deep coal reserves and prices are low.

But as plans for this fleet of new coal-powered plants
move forward, an increasing number are being canceled or development
slowed. Coal plants have come under fire because coal is a big source
of carbon dioxide, the main gas blamed for global warming, in a time
when climate change has become a hot-button political issue.