Climate Change News Digest

A THIRD of Scots have changed their views on climate change due to the winter big freeze and the "climategate" scandal, a study for The Scotsman has revealed.

Avoid mopping your floor, laundry and washing your dishes during the day and save energy in the process " that''s what power utilities in the U. S. are telling customers this summer. Heard this before? The difference is this year, heat waves have already caused blackouts and power- grid strain across the country, and it''s only mid- July. This begs the question: Do power utilities want less of your business? Heat waves last month meant increased cooling needs " up as much as 76 percent in some regions " which adds in turn to the threat of power outages.

Rasmus' recent post on the greenhouse effect raised some interesting points concerning the technical level at which posts or other public communications should be written. This was a relatively technical article as these things go, eschewing the very basic 'the greenhouse effect is like a blanket' but not really approaching the level of a technical paper on the subject (no line- by- line calculations for instance). Nonetheless, there were complaints that was too much to be absorbed by the lay public, counter- arguments that making it too simple was patronising, as well as complaints that the discussions were not technical enough (for instance in explaining stratospheric cooling).

It''s time to abandon the black- and- white fiction that human- induced climate change is fact or conspiracy, they say

The intensity of hurricanes follows a simple mathematical law " a finding that could help us predict how they will respond to climate change

It is often said that the test of any civilization is how it treats its weakest members. Those who are compromised physically, mentally or emotionally create a sort of live- action Rorschach test. Do the weak among us evoke our compassion or our scorn? If we are among the lucky ones who have our full faculties, our reaction to the weak says more about our view of the disfigured, stricken and defeated parts of our own psyche--the parts which make us feel most vulnerable and ashamed--than it does about the weak among us. Even if we feel compassion for those less fortunate, we are rarely called upon to find the limits of that compassion.

My latest column on Scitizen entitled "Is Net Energy Peaking?" has now been posted. Here is the teaser: When most people think of fossil fuel supplies, they think in terms of barrels of oil, cubic feet of natural gas and tons of coal. But in evaluating how much energy in the form of finite fossil fuels the world has left, these are no longer adequate measurements....Read more

A gathering of international parliamentarians has been informed that 'climate change is a reality'.

Climate change is expected to disrupt agriculture in the U. S. Midwest, with high carbon dioxide promoting crop growth but stronger storms, drought, floods and migrating yields dampening yields.

Despite the creation of a High- Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing (AGF), a group of hard- hit Pacific islands is expressing doubt that aid will be delivered in a timely manner.

Polemical and partisan characterises the climate debate online - but at last night''s Guardian debate there was courteousness and a distinct warmth in the air. Something remarkable happened last night in the polarised world of "warmists" versus "sceptics": a candid but not rancorous public debate. I' m sure you' ll correct me if I' m wrong but, to my knowledge, never before have all sides of this frequently poisonous debate shared a stage. The outcome was illuminating. With no little effort, I had persuaded a star panel to convene to discuss the fall out from the "Climategate" affair which followed the exposure of 1,000 private emails between climate scientists at the University of East Anglia''s Climatic Research Unit and their international colleagues.

Interactive tool layering climate data over Google Earth maps shows the impact of an average global temperature rise of 4CThink it''s hot this summer? Wait until you see Google''s simulation of a world with an average global temperature rise of 4C. Using a map that was first launched by the former Labour administration in October 2009, the coalition government has taken temperature data from the Met Office Hadley Centre and other climate research centres and imposed it on to a Google Earth layer. It''s a timely arrival, with warnings this month that current international carbon pledges will lead to a rise of nearly 4C and the Muir Russell report censuring some climate scientists for not being more open with their data (but exonerating them of manipulating the scientific evidence).Unlike a similar tool using IPCC data that was launched by Google in the run- up to the Copenhagen ...

British Waterways may enforce shutdown on Leeds and Liverpool canal as water levels in reservoirs plummet. Almost half the Leeds and Liverpool canal, the longest in Britain, will close because of the drought in the north of England unless rain tomorrow heralds St Swithin''s downpours. Narrowboat companies have started moving fleets from the 60-mile approaches to the Pennine summit of the canal after British Waterways announced the shutdown, which will affect the stretch between Gargrave, in the Yorkshire Dales, and Wigan from 2 August. The unusual move follows a precipitous drop in the seven moortop reservoirs that feed the 127-mile canal on either side of the watershed. British Waterways said levels were just under 30% of capacity instead of the usual July figure of 80%.Continuing drought would see stocks dwindle to 10% by the end of the month, and the closure " if implemented " will be ...

Business underestimating catastrophic consequences of declining oil, says Lloyd''s of London/ ISS report. One of the City''s most respected institutions has warned of "catastrophic consequences" for businesses that fail to prepare for a world of increasing oil scarcity and a lower carbon economy. The Lloyd''s insurance market and the highly regarded Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS, known as Chatham House) says Britain needs to be ready for "peak oil" and disrupted energy supplies at a time of soaring fuel demand in China and India, constraints on production caused by the BP oil spill and political moves to cut CO2 to halt global warming."Companies which are able to take advantage of this new energy reality will increase both their resilience and competitiveness.

contribution by Mel Evans One month ago, a group calling themselves Liberate Tate released black helium balloons carrying 'oil- slicked' model fish and birds to the upper airspace of Tate Modern''s Turbine Hall during the gallery''s BP sponsored birthday party. Two weeks ago, an offshoot of the same group spilled 'oil' at the entrance and on the gallery floor of Tate Britain as art scenesters arrived for the semi- prestigious BP Summer Party. And this week yet another group has extended the story by visiting the British Museum, which also takes BP money, during visiting hours and elegantly spilling 'oil' from hand- crafted BP eggs in front of (but not touching) a key exhibit.

Climate scientists emerge from third inquiry with their reputations for honesty intact but with a lack of openness criticised.

By 2039, most of the US could experience at least four seasons equally as intense as the hottest season ever recorded from 1951-1999, according to Stanford University climate scientists. In most of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, the number of extremely hot seasons could be as high as seven. Heat waves could be commonplace in the US by 2039, Stanford study finds Exceptionally long heat waves and other hot events could become commonplace in the United States in the next 30 years, according to a new study by Stanford University climate scientists. 'Using a large suite of climate model experiments, we see a clear emergence of much more intense, hot conditions in the U. S.

Why would you trust a magazine that doesn' t trust itself? In a baffling display of 'balance as bias' - or perhaps 'balance as baloney' - The New Republic has hired right- wing misinformer Jim Manzi to spread confusion about their articles. Maybe magazines don' t bother employing fact checkers anymore, but when I coauthored the cover story for the Atlantic Monthly in 1996, 'Mid. East Oil Forever?' Drifting Toward Disaster, the magazine not only edited the piece, they made me provide a credible published source for every claim. Even today, I know magazines like Wired fact- check every article.

'We' re getting a dramatic taste of the kind of weather we are on course to bequeath to our grandchildren,' says Tom Peterson, Chief Scientist for NOAA''s National Climatic Data Center. An 'excessive heat warning' has been issued this week for parts of the East Coast, home of the status quo media, so please send me examples of coverage - good or bad. Also, drink plenty of fluids and stay cool! I got a call last week from a Florida reporter. Did I know that it was so hot that Miami set the all- time monthly temperature record in June?

As the United States, like much of the rest of the world, bakes in record, killer heat, climate scientists continue to refine our understanding of the dire future of global warming in the years to come. The United Nations has named the 831 scientists who will author the fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, to be published in 2013 with new model runs and observations of the ongoing destruction of our habitable environment. They do this work despite the endless assault from the fossil- fueled right wing, weathering death threats and media and politicians who ignore, downplay, distort, or lie about the science.