Climate Change News Digest

An ethicist explains why he dove into climate blogging.

Ten countries worldwide, including five African nations, are at 'extreme risk' because of limited access to clean, fresh water, according to a new global water security index. And the effects of climate change and population growth will exacerbate the stress on these water supplies, potentially threatening stability in many regions, according to the analysis by Maplecroft , a UK- based consulting group. Among the nations most at risk are Somalia, Mauritania, Sudan, Niger, and Iraq. Other nations at extreme risk - including Pakistan, Egypt, and Uzbekistan - are already facing internal and border tensions because of limited water supplies. Click to enlarge. Maplecroft. Global water security index 'There is a risk of water stress exacerbating future risks of conflict, although there is evidence that water scarcity may also help foster cooperation instead,' said Anna Moss, a Maplecroft environmental analyst.

The building of new renewable energy sources outstrips new fossil fuel power plants in EU and US during 2009, a report says.

I have previously written about The rise of anti- science cyber bullying and the role played by Swift Boat smearer Marc Morano - who believes climate scientists should be publicly beaten. The UK Guardian has posted an outstanding piece slamming Morano''s 'warped world vision' and the 'award' he just won: But that this award was announced within hours of Morano posting on his Climate Depot website the email addresses of a climate scientist next to a link to my story from last Monday about the said climate scientist, Stanford University''s Professor Stephen Schneider, receiving death threats and hate mail should cause you to throw down that coffee in disgust.

I would like to close with an observation that I gained from watching World Cup soccer over the past few weeks. In particular, I was struck by the recurring juxtaposition of two advertising billboards in the background of the soccer pitch, one in red by an American company- Mc. Donald' s, the other in blue by a Chinese company- Yingli Solar. I thought to myself, this is the World Cup, the world''s biggest sporting stage, and China is proudly showcasing the future of its economy with a solar technology company. What is the U. S. best able to showcase? Hamburgers. I believe this image speaks volumes about the state of play not only in the global clean energy race, but also in the global competitiveness landscape.

Today, a large body of evidence has been collected to support the broad scientific understanding that global climate warming, as evident these last few decades, is unprecedented for the past 1000 years - and this change is due to human activities. This conclusion is based on decades of rigorous research by thousands of scientists and endorsed by all of the world''s major national science academies . Although uncertainties remain, they concern issues like the rate of melting of major ice sheets rather than the broader topic of whether the climate is changing. This is from an article in the Politico, 'The science behind climate science,' by four leading climate scientists ...

Andy Revkin''s revelations over the weekend about the botched media relations strategy deployed by the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, demonstrate that the IPCC has failed to learn from its recent missteps in managing public communications. If you don' t have anything to hide, don' t act as if you do. Being thrust into the media spotlight and subjected to sudden intense scrutiny can rattle any organization, and the IPCC is hardly the first institution to be accused of resorting to a "bunker mentality" and evading media inquiries. But, as Revkin points out correctly, sheltering yourself from the press is bound to backfire, creating more skepticism about your activities when you should really focus on explaining your work more clearly and operating with greater transparency.

API Energy Taxes. png The American Petroleum Institute, the trade group for the oil and natural gas industry, is trying to re- write history by claiming that it has remained "neutral" about U. S. climate legislation. Nothing could be further from the truth, actually. API orchestrated the entire "Energy Citizens" astroturf campaign last year precisely to fight against climate legislation. Greenpeace USA obtained an internal memo[ PDF] from the desk of API president Jack Gerard detailing polluting interests' plans to launch the nationwide astroturf campaign attacking climate legislation as "tax increases on our industry." The API memo requested API''s member companies to recruit employees, retirees, vendors and contractors to attend the "Energy Citizen" rallies in key Congressional districts nationwide during the August recess last year, no doubt hoping to be confused with a genuine grassroots uprising, much like the tea parties.

Senate leaders desperate for a climate bill close in on the Bush plan of a decade ago.

A new vision to replace our grazing land with energy crops will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but many are unwilling to embrace its suggestions for our future diet and countryside

Global warming is adversely affecting certain countries around the Indian Ocean with higher than average sea level rises, according to analysis published in Nature Geoscience

In Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway take us on a fascinating trip down what they call Tobacco Road. Take the journey with them, and you' ll see renowned scientists abandon science, you' ll see environmentalism equated with communism, and you' ll discover the connection between the Cold War and climate denial. read more

CARTI SUGDUB, Panama (Reuters) - Rising seas from global warming, coming after years of coral reef destruction, are forcing thousands of indigenous Panamanians to leave their ancestral homes on low- lying Caribbean islands.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate''s two biggest backers of climate change legislation have scaled back ambitions for a broad attack on greenhouse gases with a new draft bill focusing on cutting pollution from electric power utilities.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A powerful storm destroyed about half a billion trees in the Amazon in 2005, according to a study on Tuesday that shows how the world''s forests may be vulnerable to more violent weather caused by climate change.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - As Chinese policymakers grapple with an expected increase in extreme weather due to global warming, a study has found that periods of cooling between AD 10 to 1900 also caused a wave of disasters, war and upheaval.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The world''s mangroves are being destroyed up to four times faster than other forests, costing millions of dollars in losses in areas such as fisheries and storm protection, a report said Wednesday.

LONDON (Reuters) - European Union governments on Wednesday unanimously agreed detailed rules for auctioning carbon permits in the third phase of the bloc''s Emissions Trading Scheme from 2013, the EU executive said in a statement.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chemists in South Korea and the United States have improved the design of a type of artificial crystal, doubling the amount of carbon- dioxide they can absorb and store.

The U. S. and Europe added more power capacity in 2009 from renewable sources than from conventional sources such as coal and oil, and this year or next the world as a whole will add more capacity to the electricity supply from alternative energy sources than from fossil fuels, according to two new reports. The reports, issued by the United Nations Environmental Program and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, said that in 2009 renewables made up 60 percent of newly installed power capacity in Europe and more than 50 percent in the U. S. Although global investment in green energy decreased in 2009, to $162 billion, some countries, such as China, saw rapid growth ...