Climate Media Summary
Climate change media summary to 3 March 2010
A weekly service of CarbonEquity and the Victorian Climate Action Centre
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PICKS OF THE WEEK •••••••
••••• Google touts solar thermal breakthrough
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2258673/google-touts-so...
Rachel Fielding, BusinessGreen, 1 March 2010
Google's high-profile plan to develop renewable energy that is cheaper than coal could soon bear fruit, after the search giant revealed it has developed a new mirror technology that could slash the cost of building a solar thermal plant. According to reports by Reuters, the internal prototype for the new concentrated solar technology promises to cut the cost of solar thermal power systems in half.
Manufacturing a scientific scandal
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2829295.htm
Clive Hamilton, ABC The Drum Unleashed, 25 February 2010
Although sceptics have been gnawing away at the credibility of climate science for years, over the last five months they have made enormous leaps owing to the hacking of emails from the Climate Research Unit at theUniversity of East Anglia and the discovery of a number of alleged mistakes in the benchmark reports of the IPCC.
AND
Tomorrow: Where are the defenders of science?
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2830890.htm
Clive Hamilton, ABC The Drum Unleashed, 26 February 2010
The sustained assault on climate science, detailed in this series, spread from the loonier corners of the internet first into certain media outlets with an ideological axe to grind, and now into neutral news outlets too lazy or lacking in confidence to carry out some basic checking before reporting the same distortions.
Alcoa deal locks in jobs - and emissions
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/alcoa-deal-locks-in-jobs--and-emiss...
Royce Millar, Ben Schneiders and Adam Morton, The Age, 2 March 2010
The biggest consumer of Victoria's brown-coal-fired electricity is to continue operating for decades after the surprise announcement of a long-term power deal for Alcoa's controversial aluminium smelters.
AND
MacGen Australia's heaviest emitter
http://www.theage.com.au/business/macgen-australias-heaviest-emitter-201...
Paddy Manning, The Age, 2 March 2010
NSW power company Macquarie Generation is Australia's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, according to Department of Climate Change data.
Most Credible Climate Skeptic Not So Credible After All
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/02/pat-michaels-climate-skeptic
Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones, 26 February 2010
Patrick Michaels has more credibility than your average climate skeptic. Unlike some of the kookier characters that populate the small world of climate denialists—like Lord Christopher Monckton, a sometime adviser to Margaret Thatcher who claims that "We are a carbon-starved planet," or H. Leighton Steward, a retired oil executive and author of a best-selling diet book who argues that carbon dioxide is "green"—Michaels is actually a bona fide climate scientist. But what Michaels doesn't mention in his frequent media appearances is his history of receiving money from big polluters.
ENERGY & INNOVATION--------------
More would install solar if power paid for: report
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/more-would-install-solar-if-power-p...
Adam Morton, The Age, March 2, 2010
The cost of installing rooftop solar panels could be dramatically lowered by abolishing rebates and paying households a premium for all electricity generated at home, an economic analysis has found.
'Greening' economies may be the best way to save them
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthcomment/geoffrey-lean/7325711/Gree...
Geoffrey Lean, UK Telegraph, 26 Feb 2010
In Bali, 130 governments quite rightly agreed that low-carbon growth offers a better future than the oil-soaked present.
Energy: it's time to start concentrating
http://www.smh.com.au/business/energy-its-time-to-start-concentrating-20...
Paddy Manning, Sydney Morning Herald, February 27, 2010
After an interview with Australian solar energy pioneer David Mills in October, this column previewed a stanford University study showing that renewable sources - principally wind and solar - could meet all of our energy needs. Its co-author, Mark Jacobson - the university's professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of its atmosphere and energy program - appeared by videoconference at lastweekend's Sustainable Living Festival in Melbourne.
Reaping the Whirlwind? Europe's Big Wind Subsidy Race
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/02/24/24climatewire-reaping-the-whirlw...
ClimateWire, February 24, 2010
For centuries, the winds howling at high speeds during most of the year over the North Sea have been a challenge for those sailing these waters, but now they present a big opportunity for utilities: a free power source.
Australia overhauls troubled renewable energy scheme
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61P0HT20100226
Rob Taylor, Reuters, 26 January 2010
Australia moved to help unlock billions of dollars in stalled wind and solar energy projects on Friday, with the government reshaping a troubled scheme requiring 20 percent of energy to come from renewable sources by 2020.
Drax outlines its ambition for future without coal
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilitie...
Angela Jameson, Martin Waller, The Times, February 24, 2010
It may be Europe’s biggest coal-fired power station, but Drax’s management is already mapping out a future without coal.
POLITICS & POLICY----------------
Is the climate change movement splintering?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/feb/25/climate-change-mo...
Bibi van der Zee Thursday 25 February 2010
Climate change activists are regrouping post-Copenhagen – and some are reasserting their radical root
Victorian farmers sceptical about climate change
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201002/s2826353.htm
ABC News, 22 February 2010
More than half of Victoria's farmers don't believe that humans are responsible for climate change.
'No intention' of capping emissions
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-02/25/content_9499066.htm
China Daily, 25 February 2010
China has no intention of capping its greenhouse gas emissions even as authorities are committed to realizing the nation's target to reduce carbon intensity through new policies and measures, the country's top climate change negotiators said yesterday.
Thirty Years of Antarctic Snow and Ice Melt
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V13/N9/C2.php
Grass-Roots Organizer Jumps From Nature Conservancy to API
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/02/26/26greenwire-grass-roots-organize...
Anne C. Mulkern, Greenwire, February 26, 2010
The oil industry's biggest trade group has nabbed one of the environmental community's top grass-roots organizers as it ramps up efforts to build a network of citizen lobbyists.
EU climate chief: 'No climate deal likely before 2012'
http://euobserver.com/9/29537
Leigh Philllips, EUobserver, 23 February 2010
Global divisions on climate are so acute that a binding UN deal is unlikely for almost another two years, Europe's new climate commissioner believes.
Research group: China preparing for ice-free Arctic as global thaw uncovers new opportunities
http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-eu-china-arctic,...
Louise Nordstrom, LA Times, 1 March 2010
China is starting to prepare for the commercial and strategic opportunities arising as global warming melts the polar ice cover in the Arctic, an international peace research group said Monday.
Climate pioneer backs tax on carbon, nuclear power
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-pioneer-backs-tax-on-carbon...
Adam Morton, The Age, 4 March 2010
The scientist who first convinced the world that climate change was a problem has backed a Greens' proposal for a carbon tax as the only solution being offered in Canberra.
AND
Hansen Interview
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2010/2834890.htm
The FP Guide to Climate Skeptics
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/25/the_fp_guide_to_climate...
Christina Larson and Joshua Keating, Foreign Policy, 26 February 2010Can't tell the legitimate concerns from the nonsense? FP is here to help.
SCIENCE & IMPACTS-----------------
Climate change report sets out an apocalyptic vision of Britain
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7041857.ece
Ben Webster, The Times, 26 february 2010
Mass migration northwards to new towns in Scotland, Wales and northeast England may be needed to cope with climate change and water shortages in the South East, according to an apocalyptic vision set out by the Government Office for Science.
The IPCC needs to change and switch to shorter, more targeted reports
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/02/ipcc-hacked-climate-sc...
Robert Watson, Guardian, 2 March 2010
A handful of errors does not mean that human-induced climate change is an illusion or that CO2 emissions do not need to be cut, writes the former chairman of the IPCC. From Yale Environment 360, part of the Guardian Environment Network
From ocean to ozone: Earth's nine life-support systems
http://www.newscientist.com/special/ocean-to-ozone-earths-nine-life-supp...
UP TO now, the Earth has been very kind to us. Most of our achievements in the past 10,000 years - farming, culture, cities, industrialisation and the raising of our numbers from a million or so to almost 7 billion - happened during an unusually benign period when Earth's natural regulatory systems kept everything from the climate to the supply of fresh water inside narrow, comfortable boundaries
Sea-level threat ends coastal development
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/26/2830876.htm?section=business
Simon Lauder, ABC News, Feb 26, 2010
The risk of rising sea levels has put an end to plans for residential development in coastal Victoria.
'Climategate' scientist speaks out
http://www.nature.com/climate/2010/1003/full/news.2010.71.html
Olive Heffernan, Nature News, February 2010
Climatologist Phil Jones answers his critics in an exclusive interview with Nature.
World warming unhindered by cold spells: scientists
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100225/ts_nm/us_climate_warming
David Fogarty, Reuters, 25 Feb 2010
The pace of global warming continues unabated, scientists said on Thursday, despite images of Europe crippled by a deep freeze and parts of the United States blasted by blizzards.
Deep insight improves decadal predictions
http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/m/1658/235765/article/research/4...
Including data on ocean temperature and salinity from the sea's upper 2000 m, in addition to sea surface temperature, makes decadal predictions more accurate.
Climate anomalies and world ice cover
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2010/2831507.htm
ABC Science Show, 27 February 2010
Richard Peltier was a lead author on the IPCC 4th Assessment Report Chapter 6. This describes what past climates can reveal about the quality of models that predict future change. He has concluded that climate models are actually quite accurate. He says the climate anomalies quoted, such as the Medieval warm period, and the little ice age, were not global, but experienced locally.
Warmer seas may rob corals and rainforests of clouds
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18547-warmer-seas-may-rob-corals-a...
Wendy Zukerman, New Scientist, 19 February 2010
Rising ocean temperatures might leave coral reefs in seriously hot water – without clouds for protection.
A quiet sun won't save us from global warming
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527494.700-a-quiet-sun-wont-save...
New Scientist, 26 February 2010
EVEN if the sun were to quieten down appreciably for the rest of this century, it would still be business as usual for global warming.
PSYCHOLOGY, STRATEGY AND CHANGE------------
Belief In Climate Change Hinges On Worldview
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124008307
Christopher Joyce, NPR, 23 February 2010
Over the past few months, polls show that fewer Americans say they believe humans are making the planet dangerously warmer, despite a raft of scientific reports that say otherwise. This puzzles many climate scientists — but not some social scientists, whose research suggests that facts may not be as important as one's beliefs.
On grabbing the third rail
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/02/22/on_grabbing_the_third_rail
Stephen M. Walt Monday, February 22, 2010
Advice on how to handle attacks from ideological opponents.
