Category Archives: climate

The hamburger of the future?

A prize-winning image from a Science magazine visualization competition:   An explanation from Science:  "…marine scientist Jennifer Jacquet of the University of British Columbia in Canada and digital artist Dave Beck's illustration uses this absurd, grotesque image to make their point: Overfishing and climate change have significant consequences for marine ecosystems. As the numbers of largerContinue reading “The hamburger of the future?”

Environment gets 1.5% of news coverage in 2009

That's according to the Pew Center for Excellence in Journalism:    Global warming gets most of the press that goes to the environment. (When was the last time you saw a headline that mentioned habitat?) But all the environmental news put together adds up to only about 1.5% of the total news in 2009.  ToContinue reading “Environment gets 1.5% of news coverage in 2009”

Global warming: the partisan divide, according to polls

According to this graph from well-regarded public policy and polling outfit, PPIC, from a poll taken last summer, most Californians and most Americans believe that global warming has already begun: But it's different among Republicans: one-third believe global warming "will never happen."  How do you compromise those two views?

Sierra butterflies hit by global warming, habitat destruction

A changing climate has hurt butterfly species in the Sierra Nevada, reducing species richness by about fifty percent in the last 35 years. so reports a team at UCDAvis led by Arthur Shapiro, and reported in the PNAS: Compounded effects of climate change and habitat alteration shift patterns of butterfly diversity — PNAS Here we present 35Continue reading “Sierra butterflies hit by global warming, habitat destruction”

Obama admits cap and trade is dead

This week the President admitted what D.C. insiders have been saying for months about the Democratic plan to control greenhouse gas emissions. ACES, The American Clean Energy and Security Bill passed by the House last fall, which is intended to control emissions by a cap-and-trade mechanism, is politically dead. At a town hall meeting inContinue reading “Obama admits cap and trade is dead”

Get ready: seven foot sea level rise this century

If there is one question about climate science that went unanswered in the 2007 IPCC report, it was sea level rise. As the EPA notes, the report estimates a two-foot rise this century…at the most.  But that estimate did not include the possibility of degradation of the polar ice sheets, which in the last twoContinue reading “Get ready: seven foot sea level rise this century”

El Nino 2010: Small, medium, large…or wanna-be?

The infamous El Niño, bringer of warm winters and rain to Southern California, is back, NOAA says, and thanks to a surprisingly wet November, we're still ahead of normal in our total rainfall for this water year. Wouldn't you like to know what that really means? The truth is, no one knows. But for theContinue reading “El Nino 2010: Small, medium, large…or wanna-be?”

Lindzen’s Holy Grail — a negative feedback — and Hansen’s translation

The first difficulty with climate science for the public — and this is true whether or not you believe that the climate is in trouble — is that it's so monstrously huge and long and difficult to understand. The second difficulty is that most scientists themselves aren't very good at explaining the difficulties. The thirdContinue reading “Lindzen’s Holy Grail — a negative feedback — and Hansen’s translation”

Arctic Oscillation 2010: discussion by NOAA forecaster

While working on an El Nino story to be published soon, I happen to talk Monday morning to Ed Olenic, who forecasts seasonal climate for NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. I know nothing about the Arctic Oscillation, but Mr. Olenic walked me through the basics of the  extraordinary extent of the phenomenon, which I may asContinue reading “Arctic Oscillation 2010: discussion by NOAA forecaster”