The Last Frost

The US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has held hearings on the accusations that the White House has been "asserting it's will" on climate science. What they've found is that it's true, there are documented cases of so called 'editing' by White House aides. The goal of this editing process is to filter the information from the scientists in order to align it with the policies of the Bush administration before the information reaches the public. 

One of the defenders of the practice, Phil Cooney who was the chief of staff at the White House's Council on Environmental Quality and now conveniently works for ExxonMobile. So what were the specifics? In 10 years, 181 edits to highlight scientific uncertainties, 113 edits to diminish the role of humans in climate change.

Here's an example from the New Scientist article (which I encourage everyone to read):

For example, Cooney replaced "will" with "may" in the sentence: "Warming temperatures will also affect Arctic land areas." He also deleted this sentence: "Climate change has global consequences for human health and the environment." [New Scientist Environment, 2007]

Is this the way America conducts scientific research now? It's certainly not the behavior of the America I was raised to love.  

US fudging of climate science - details revealed - [New Scientist Environment]

At least for this past week, which was a particularly windy week for Spain. As a result the country managed to produce more electricity from the wind than from any other single source of power at total of 27% of the countries power needs.

Nuclear was a close second, and coal came in third. Officials believe this may be the first time Wind power has exceeded other forms of power generation. This is the kind of news we need more of if we hope to curb climate change.

Wind Power Is Spain's Top Energy Source This Week - [TreeHugger via Digg.com]

This is a great piece on global warming and the greenhouse effect in general. 

Who's Lying? A Simple Tale of Unbiased Global Warming Facts - [OpEdNews.com]

Check out Al's statements during his congressional hearing on our climate crisis. Thanks to the help of all you Al not only made his initial goal of 350,000 signatures but then raised that goal to 500,000 and shattered that as well. It's wonderful to see people mobilizing around such a deeply important issue.

You can watch the you tube videos after the jump. 

Al's Journal - Hearing Highlights - [AlGore.com]

Check out this simple but great little flash movie narrated by Leonardo himself. It's a summation of the problem climate change poses, using simple metaphors and easy to understand language. It's a great way to explain to people what global warming is and what it isn't.

Check it out, and pass it on if you think someone else will enjoy it.

Global Warning - [LeonardoDicaprio.org]

At a congressional hearing held this past Monday, scientists charged the administration with hiring uninformed oil-friendly lobbyists to edit climate change reports to soften their impact. 

Here's an example:

"greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere as a result of human activities, causing surface air temperatures to rise and subsurface ocean temperatures to rise."

was changed to:

"Some activities emit greenhouse gases that directly or indirectly may affect the balance of incoming and outgoing radiation, thereby potentially affecting climate on regional and global scales."

I can see why the scientists are pissed.

Congressional hearing heats up over changes to climate reports - Los Angeles Times

Al Gore will be testifying before the United States Congress about Climate Change in just a couple more days. There's a petition to sign which will be delivered to Congress by Gore himself. Currently near 300,000 signatures, Gore hopes to get 350,000. So send this around to your friends which will send a message to Congress that action must be taken to curb global climate change while we still have the chance.

UPDATE: As of Saturday morning there were 405,758 signatures, so now the goal is 500,000 and there are two more days to do it. Please pass this along to your friends so they can sign if they're interested. You can even use the "Email This Post" link below to save you some trouble.

Sign The Petition [AlGore.com] 

A documentary made by the UK's Channel 4 called "The Great Global Warming Swindle" has lived up to it's namesake by attempting to swindle unsuspecting viewers into believing what is essentially a work of fiction. 

The documentary has conjured a heated reaction from many including an MIT scientist who says his views were misrepresented and manipulated in the piece and is considering litigation.

I was tipped off about this unfortunate story by the good folks at The Campaign against Climate Change (http://www.campaigncc.org/) and I've decided to pass the guts of their message straight onto you.  Basically it's a list of inaccuracies in the documentary. I don't care what side you're on, just look at all the facts, after the jump.

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China is poised to take the title of top emitter of greenhouse gases away from the United States either this year or in 2008, and boy did they catch up fast.

This is just one reason why Kyoto has taken so much flak from the conservative right. China is exempt from the Kyoto Protocol, so what sense does it really make? Their argument is that it hurts our economy in relation to developing countries. There are a lot of good arguments on both sides actually.

I guess my point is that this latest news shows how Kyoto really isn't and was never the answer to our problem of global climate change. It's too exclusive and it's not aggressive enough. We need a binding international agreement to lower greenhouse gas emissions EVERYWHERE and in much larger quantities than ever previously considered. If the US shut down all emissions tomorrow, there would still be China, and soon there will be India and the rest of the developed world who will go on polluting. The problem is massive and it needs a massive solution.

Otherwise we may be doomed to witness the graph depicted in the image above becoming reality. (Image borrowed from chinahousing.mit.edu)

China: Top generator of greenhouse gases - [FreeMarketNews.com]

If there's one thing airports know about, it's the power of the wind and how to harness it. Philadelphia International Airport is dropping nearly a quarter million dollars every year for the next five, towards the purchase of environmentally friendly wind power. The power will amount to about seven percent of the total power consumption for the airport. 

Philly Airport to Spend $1 Million on Wind Power [Environmental Leader]