If there is one thing that has continuously undermined any remaining climate skeptics, it is the persistant news reports about ice melting - either sea ice or glaciers, particularly in the Arctic and Antarctic, but also in Greenland.
Here is an article from Alternet, posted October 10, 2007, after journalists and scientists were taken on a helicopter ride over Greenland and saw what alarmed some of them to the point where they were convinced that global warming had already reached its tipping point:
Ice Caps Melting Fast: Say Goodbye to the Big Apple?
By Paul Brown, AlterNet. Posted October 10, 2007.
The talk of sea level rise should not be in centuries, it should be decades or perhaps even single years. And coastal regions like New York and Florida are in the front line for devastation.
It is hard to shock journalists and at the same time leave them in awe of the power of nature. A group returning from a helicopter trip flying over, then landing on, the Greenland ice cap at the time of maximum ice melt last month were shaken. One shrugged and said: "It is too late already."
What they were all talking about was the moulins, not one moulin but hundreds, possibly thousands. "Moulin" is a word I had only just become familiar with. It is the name for a giant hole in a glacier through which millions of gallons of melt water cascade through to the rock below. The water has the effect of lubricating the glaciers so they move at three times the rate that they did previously.
Some of these moulins in Greenland are so big that they run on the scale of Niagra Falls. The scientists who accompanied these journalists on the trip were almost as alarmed. That is pretty significant because they are world experts on ice and Greenland in particular. We were visiting Ilulissat, Greenland, once a stronghold of Innuit hunters but now with so little ice that the dog sleds are in danger of falling through even in the depth of winter. But it is not the lack of sea ice that worries scientists and should be of serious concern to the inhabitants of coastal zones across the world. Cities like New York and states like Florida are in the front line.
Scientists know this already, but just to give you some idea of the problem, the Greenland ice cap is melting at such a fast rate it is triggering earthquakes as pieces of ice several cubic kilometres in size break up.
Scientists say the acceleration of melting and subsequent speeding up of giant glaciers could be catastrophic in terms of sea level rise and make previous predictions published this year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) far too low. The glacier at Ilulissat, which it is believed spawned the iceberg which sank the Titantic, is now flowing three times faster into the sea than it was 10 years ago.
Robert Correll, chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, from Washington told me: "We have seen a massive acceleration of the speed with which these glaciers are moving into the sea. The ice is moving at 2 metres an hour on a front five kilometres long and 1,500 metres deep. "That means that this one glacier puts enough fresh water into the sea in one day to provide drinking water for a city the size New York or London for a year."
Professor Correll, who is also director of the global change programme at the Heinz Centre in Washington said the estimates of sea level rise in the IPCC report in February had been "conservative" and based on data two years old. The range of rise this century had been predicted to be 20 to 60 centimetres, but would be the upper end of this range at a minimum and some now believed it could be two metres. This would have catastrophic effects for European and US coastlines.
He said newly invented ice penetrating radar showed that the melt water was pouring through to the bottom of the glacier creating a melt water lake 500 metres deep causing the glacier "to float on land. "These melt water rivers are lubricating the glacier, like applying oil to a surface and causing it to slide into the sea. It is causing a massive acceleration which could be catastrophic."
The glacier is now moving at 15 kilometres a year into the sea although in periodic surges it moves even faster. He has seen a surge, which he had measured as moving five kilometres in 90 minutes - an extraordinary event.
If all of Greenland melts, something we were previously assured would take thousands of years, but now could be hundreds, then sea level round the world would rise seven metres. That is without any contribution from the Antarctic, the glaciers of Alaska, the Rockies, the Himalayas, or the ocean water expanding as it warms.
So the talk of sea level rise should not be in centuries, it should be decades or perhaps even single years. For 10,000 years, during all of human civilisation sea level remained stable leading us to believe that coastlines remained roughly in the same place. A century ago the sea began to rise one millimetre a year, 20 years ago it had reached two millimetres and this century it has risen to 3 millimetres. This annual rise may not seem much but add hurricane storm surges and high tides and we are soon saying good bye to a lot of coastal settlements -- like the Big Apple.
Switch forward a week from the helicopter ride to George W. Bush's meeting of 16 of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters in Washington last month and what do we hear. We hear lots of rhetoric about how, along with terrorism, climate change is the biggest threat to the earth -- although the catastrophic sea level rise facing our major coastal cities does not rate a mention.
But instead of decisive political action (as with terrorism) we get suggestions from the President of voluntary cuts in emissions, down to the government of each country, and then next summer another conference to discuss where we have got to -- which on past form will be nowhere at all. It did not sound like the much needed change of heart from the President, but just another delaying tactic to tide him over until his term of office ends.
Although it may sound like it, the commentators in Europe are not singling out America for criticism, although it has to be said as often as possible that the US is the world's most profligate nation when it comes to fossil fuel consumption, AND has rejected the only legally binding international agreement that could do something about it. But Europeans are not doing enough either. We need convincing that our own leaders have enough political will to reach the tiny Kyoto targets that are the minimum first step to tackling this problem. The public hears the latest scientists' warnings that an 80% cut in greenhouse gas emissions is needed if we are to stave off catastrophic climate change, yet wait in vain for the policies needed to achieve them.
In my book, protestors wearing George Bush masks are pictured "fiddling while the earth burns." Maybe he is just the lead violinist of the orchestra.
Paul Brown was the environment correspondent for The Guardian newspaper for 16 years and has worked in newspaper journalism for more than 40 years. He has written extensively about climate change, population, biodiversity, pollution, energy, desertification, and ocean management, and is the author of several books on the environment. www.globalwarningbook.com
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
What You Can Do To Help Save Forests
The National Resources Defence Council (NRDC) website has some general tips on how you can help save forests by choosing paper products (paper towel, toilet paper, napkins and tissues), which you can find below. The website then has charts which list brand named paper products and which are the best and worse choices for the environment. I can't seem to add the charts without everything getting scrambled, so you'll need to have a look yourself:
http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/gtissue.asp#facial
Tips: Three Things You Can Do To Help Save Forests
1. Buy paper products with recycled content--especially post-consumer fibers.
Look for products that have a high recycled content, including high post-consumer content. Post-consumer fibers are recovered from paper that was previously used by consumers and would otherwise have been dumped into a landfill or an incinerator.
2. Buy paper products made with clean, safe processes.
Paper products are bleached to make them whiter and brighter, but chlorine used in many bleaching processes contributes to the formation of harmful chemicals that wind up in our air and water and are highly toxic to people and fish. Look for products labeled totally chlorine-free (TCF) or processed chlorine-free (PCF). In some cases, elemental chlorine-free (ECF) may be acceptable.
3. Tell tissue manufacturers to stop using virgin wood for throwaway products.
If a brand you buy for your home doesn't have any recycled content, contact the manufacturer (click here to send a message to paper giant Kimberly-Clark). Tell the company to use more recycled fibers, to avoid sourcing from ecologically valuable forests such as those in the Cumberland Plateau and Canadian boreal, and to ensure any virgin fibers used are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Saving forests also helps reduce global warming pollution.
P.S. If you live in Canada, go to the Greenpeace.ca website, where they have similar information on best and worst choices of paper products for Canadians: http://tissue.greenpeace.ca/
http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/gtissue.asp#facial
Tips: Three Things You Can Do To Help Save Forests
1. Buy paper products with recycled content--especially post-consumer fibers.
Look for products that have a high recycled content, including high post-consumer content. Post-consumer fibers are recovered from paper that was previously used by consumers and would otherwise have been dumped into a landfill or an incinerator.
2. Buy paper products made with clean, safe processes.
Paper products are bleached to make them whiter and brighter, but chlorine used in many bleaching processes contributes to the formation of harmful chemicals that wind up in our air and water and are highly toxic to people and fish. Look for products labeled totally chlorine-free (TCF) or processed chlorine-free (PCF). In some cases, elemental chlorine-free (ECF) may be acceptable.
3. Tell tissue manufacturers to stop using virgin wood for throwaway products.
If a brand you buy for your home doesn't have any recycled content, contact the manufacturer (click here to send a message to paper giant Kimberly-Clark). Tell the company to use more recycled fibers, to avoid sourcing from ecologically valuable forests such as those in the Cumberland Plateau and Canadian boreal, and to ensure any virgin fibers used are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Saving forests also helps reduce global warming pollution.
P.S. If you live in Canada, go to the Greenpeace.ca website, where they have similar information on best and worst choices of paper products for Canadians: http://tissue.greenpeace.ca/
Health Concerns Caused by Climate Change
Health Canada lists eight "significant" health concerns related to climate change, including:
- Health affects from increased smog episodes;
- Illnesses and deaths caused by heat and cold waves;
- Water- and food-borne contamination;
- Diseases transmitted by insects;
- Health affects of stratospheric ozone depletion;
- Extreme weather events.
Here is the article, followed by the web address for the article, which includes a chart with more detail on the health concerns and examples of health vulnerabilities.
Canada's Health Concerns from Climate Change and Variability
Canada's climate is being affected by increased levels of greenhouse gases caused by human activity.
Scientists, governments, international health and environmental organizations agree that climate change will affect the environment and human health and well-being.
Health Canada has identified eight significant health concerns related to climate change that cover a broad range. They include health effects from increased smog episodes, illnesses and deaths caused by heat and cold waves, water- and food-borne contamination, diseases transmitted by insects, health effects of stratospheric ozone depletion, and extreme weather events.
Some segments of our population will be affected to a greater degree: children, the elderly, the poor, disabled people, immigrant populations and Aboriginal people. We can also expect that the environmental changes brought by climate change will affect our communities' economy and quality of life. For example, severe weather events like a tornado or a flood can result in loss of income, productivity, increased stress for families, costs to health care and social services.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/climat/health_table-tableau_sante_e.html
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Americans Are Liberals.Who Knew?
PUBLIC OPINION
Americans are Liberals. Who knew?
by Catherine Bailey
On a series of key domestic issues, Americans are much more progressive than one might think given today's political debates. Here are some of the polling results compiled by the Campaign for America's Future and Media Matters:
Americans are Liberals. Who knew?
by Catherine Bailey
On a series of key domestic issues, Americans are much more progressive than one might think given today's political debates. Here are some of the polling results compiled by the Campaign for America's Future and Media Matters:
- In 2006, even before the release of Sicko, 69% of Americans said the federal government should provide health care for its citizens, up from 59% in 2000.
- When asked in February 2007 if they would pay an extra $500 a year so that all Americans could have health care, 82% said yes.
- Of those surveyed early this year, 79% want caps on carbon emissions, 84% favor higher environmental standards for business,and 86% would like more investment in solar and wind power.
- Support for energy conservation rose to 64% in 2007, up from 56% in 2001, while only 26% favor expanded energy production, down from 33%.
- Since 1972, belief that women should be equal to men in the workplace has risen from 47% to 78%.
- The belief that homosexuals should have equal job rights has risen from 55% to 89% since 1977.
The report covers a wide range of issues, including national defense, unions, immigration, and criminal justice. On issue after issue, the study shows that a majority of Americans are liberals.
Interested? Download the report at http://www.yesmagazine.orgcafmm/
Climate Change: Article on Increase in Solar Power
I bought the Fall 2007 issue of Yes! magazine recently. It is subtitled, Building a Just and Sustainable World. From the "Signs of Life: Small Stories About Big Change" section of the magazine, here is an article on solar power:
CLIMATE CHANGE
Solar Power Surge
The solar industry is poised for rapid growth and cost reductions that will make it a mainstream power option in the next few years, according to a new assessment by the WorldWatch Institute in Washington, DC, and the Prometheus Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
People around the world are installing solar cells on the roofs of their homes and businesses. Communities and companies are creating solar parks -- connected arrays of solar panels, sometimes installed along parking lots or in polluted "brown fields" that cannot otherwise be used.
Solar cell manufacturers are now able to produce enough photovoltaic (PV) cells each year to generate 5,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity. That's 10 times the manufacturing capacity of 2002. Some analysts say this number will triple by 2010. A typical coal or nuclear power plant has a capacity of about 1,000-2,000 MW.
After growing at 20-25% per year in the 1980s and '90s the solar PV industry has grown 40-45% per year over the last six years, says Mark Farber, founder of Evergreen Solar, a Marlboro, Massachusetts, company.
With the new generation of plug-in hybrid vehicles, this new abundance could mean solar will spread its reach to include the transportation as well as the electricity sector.
"At these growth rates, solar will hit a home run for addressing the climate crisis," said Todd Larsen, Co-op America's climate action director in Washington, DC.
Climate scientists estimate that we need to reduce carbon emissions globally by at least 80% by 2050 to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
"If we want to do this without coal or nuclear power," Larsen says,"this means that after implementing all available energy efficiency measures, and installing win and geothermal generation, the world will still need an additional 17 terawatts of low-carbon energy by 2050." A terawatt is 1 million megawatts. "Growing at just 25% per year, solar can do this by 2042."
In addition to solar PV, other types of solar power are also growing rapidly. These include solar power are also growing rapidly. These include solar thermal for hot water and industrial applications, and concentrating solar power (CSP), for utility scale applications. In China, an estimated 30 million households now use solar power to heat their water. And California alone may have more than 8,000 MW of CSP by 2020.
Small and large companies alike are getting into the business. First Solar of Phoenix, Arizona, plans to provide 685 MW of solar power to five big projects over the next few years. PPM Energy, a Portland, Oregon, company specializing in win power, announced plans to invest over $1 billion in solar in coming years.
"The conventional energy industry will be surprised by how quickly solar becomes mainstream -- cheap enough to provide carbon-free electricity on rooftops while also meeting the energy needs of hundreds of millions of people in poverty who currently lack electricity," said Janet Sawin, senior researcher at Worldwide Institute.
Alisa Gravitz is executive director of Co-op America, www.coopamerica.org
CLIMATE CHANGE
Solar Power Surge
The solar industry is poised for rapid growth and cost reductions that will make it a mainstream power option in the next few years, according to a new assessment by the WorldWatch Institute in Washington, DC, and the Prometheus Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
People around the world are installing solar cells on the roofs of their homes and businesses. Communities and companies are creating solar parks -- connected arrays of solar panels, sometimes installed along parking lots or in polluted "brown fields" that cannot otherwise be used.
Solar cell manufacturers are now able to produce enough photovoltaic (PV) cells each year to generate 5,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity. That's 10 times the manufacturing capacity of 2002. Some analysts say this number will triple by 2010. A typical coal or nuclear power plant has a capacity of about 1,000-2,000 MW.
After growing at 20-25% per year in the 1980s and '90s the solar PV industry has grown 40-45% per year over the last six years, says Mark Farber, founder of Evergreen Solar, a Marlboro, Massachusetts, company.
With the new generation of plug-in hybrid vehicles, this new abundance could mean solar will spread its reach to include the transportation as well as the electricity sector.
"At these growth rates, solar will hit a home run for addressing the climate crisis," said Todd Larsen, Co-op America's climate action director in Washington, DC.
Climate scientists estimate that we need to reduce carbon emissions globally by at least 80% by 2050 to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
"If we want to do this without coal or nuclear power," Larsen says,"this means that after implementing all available energy efficiency measures, and installing win and geothermal generation, the world will still need an additional 17 terawatts of low-carbon energy by 2050." A terawatt is 1 million megawatts. "Growing at just 25% per year, solar can do this by 2042."
In addition to solar PV, other types of solar power are also growing rapidly. These include solar power are also growing rapidly. These include solar thermal for hot water and industrial applications, and concentrating solar power (CSP), for utility scale applications. In China, an estimated 30 million households now use solar power to heat their water. And California alone may have more than 8,000 MW of CSP by 2020.
Small and large companies alike are getting into the business. First Solar of Phoenix, Arizona, plans to provide 685 MW of solar power to five big projects over the next few years. PPM Energy, a Portland, Oregon, company specializing in win power, announced plans to invest over $1 billion in solar in coming years.
"The conventional energy industry will be surprised by how quickly solar becomes mainstream -- cheap enough to provide carbon-free electricity on rooftops while also meeting the energy needs of hundreds of millions of people in poverty who currently lack electricity," said Janet Sawin, senior researcher at Worldwide Institute.
Alisa Gravitz is executive director of Co-op America, www.coopamerica.org
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Green Links & Books From David Suzuki Foundation
I support the David Suzuki Foundation as a member. The Foundation's website: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/ has excellent material on climate change, protecting human health, conserving our ocean, promoting global conservation and building a sustainable economy.
BOOKS
The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth Tim Flannery has written what Dr. David Suzuki calls ". . . one of the most important books of this young century . . . An urgent call to action that we cannot afford to ignore."
The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription
The New York Times notes that Ross Gelbspan's first book "remains the best, and virtually only, study of how the coal and oil industry has provided financing to a small group of contrarian scientists."
Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists and Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis--and What We Can Do to Avert Disaster
Ross Gelbpan's most recent book communicates his sincere belief that human civilization is in mortal peril from global warming.
The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies
Richard Heinberg's book is a riveting wake-up call for human-kind as the oil era winds down, and a critical tool for understanding and influencing current U.S. foreign policy.
LINKS
Business
The Climate Group
The Climate Group is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing business and government leadership on climate change.
United Nations & Kyoto Protocol
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeThe IPCC assesses the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change.
United Nations
Official United Nations (UN) site pertaining to climate change and international agreements and conferences.
Convention on biological diversity (UN)
An overview of the connections between biological diversity and climate change, by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
Kyoto Protocol - Full Text
Current list of countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol (PDF)
Energy Efficiency
Office of Energy
EfficiencyCanada's Office of Energy Efficiency has helpful tools and information to increase the energy efficiency of homes, vehicles, businesses, institutions and governments.
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network
The EREN is a program of the US Department of Energy.
Toronto Atmospheric Fund
The Toronto Atmospheric Fund was established by Toronto City Council to finance local initiatives to combat global warming and improve air quality.
Rocky Mountain Institute
The Rocky Mountain Institute promotes energy efficiency and conservation.
Green CommunitiesGreen Communities delivers home energy assessments in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia.
Government
Government of Canada
The official Government of Canada web site pertaining to climate change.
Environment Canada
Environment Canada's climate change web site.
B.C. Ministry of Water and Air
The B.C. government's climate change home page contains information on climate change impacts and solutions for British Columbia.
City of Vancouver
One Day is a new Vancouver-based approach to change the way people consume energy in their homes and on the road.
Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.)
The EPA strives to present accurate information on the very broad issue of climate change and global warming.
European UnionThis is the official climate change web site of the European Union, outlining Europe's approach to this issue.
Green Buildings
Sustainable Building Centre
The SBC is an information and education centre, exhibition space and forum for sharing ideas on green building technologies.
Health
Health Canada
Health Canada's web site on Climate Change, health and air quality.
Climate Change and Human Health - Risks and Responses
This book describes the context and process of global climate change, with a particular focus on the health sector.
Physicians for Social Responsibility
This non-profit advocacy organization is the medical and public health voice for policies to stop nuclear war and proliferation and to slow, stop and reverse global warming and toxic degradation of the environment.
Kids, Youth & Teachers
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada has produced a series of seven classroom posters on the regional impacts of climate change in Canada.
Destination Conservation
Destination Conservation is a practical, activity-based program that brings environmental education alive in our schools.
Environmental Protection Agency
A global warming site for kids produced by the EPA.
Pembina Institute
The Pembina Institute has developed high-quality educational resources for use in Canadian schools.
Youth Climate Change Conference
The Youth Climate Change Conference (?YC3?) is a youth-lead initiative, focused on action, alternatives, and solutions for a changing world.
Re-Energy
Re-Energy.ca explores wind energy, water energy, solar energy, biomass energy and more. Teaching materials are included that make it easy for teachers to introduce renewable energy content into the classroom.
Bullfrog Films
Bullfrog Films is the oldest and largest publisher of videos and films about the environment in the United States.
News
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Comprehensive background information on climate change from the CBC.
British Broadcasting CorporationThe climate change information site of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Climate Wire
ClimateWire.org, updated daily, is a leading multi-sectoral, international news service specifically focussing on the issue of climate change.
Yahoo News -> Climate Change
Yahoo news updates on global climate change.
Non-Governmental Organizations
International Institute for Sustainable Development
IISD has been actively engaged in defining the framework in which global action on climate change may take place since the signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992.
Pembina Institute
The Pembina Institute works in the areas of sustainable energy, climate change, environmental governance, ecological fiscal reform, sustainability indicators, and the environmental impacts of the energy industry.
Natural Resources Defence Council
The Natural Resources Defence Council's web page on global warming and its consequences.
Canadian Climate Action Network
The Canadian Climate Action Network (CANet) is made up of more than 100 organizations across Canada working to protect the environment from harmful human interference of the atmosphere resulting in climate change.
International Climate Action Network
The Climate Action Network (CAN) is a worldwide network of over 340 NGOs working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change.
Climate Action Network Europe
Climate Action Network Europe is a coordinating office, based in Brussels, for environmental groups in Western Europe working on climate change issues.
Climate Ark
The Climate Ark is a climate change and renewable energy portal dedicated to promoting public policy that addresses global climate change.
Climate Institute
The Climate Institute serves as a bridge between policymakers and scientists around the world and is dedicated to being the world's foremost authority on climate change information, science and responses.
Environmental Defence
Both domestically and internationally, Environmental Defense works to stabilize Earth's climate by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.
Greenpeace
Greenpeace International's climate change campaign.
National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation explains the link between climate change and wildlife.
Pew Center on Global Climate Change
The Pew Center on Global Climate Change is a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organization dedicated to providing credible information and innovative solutions in the effort to address global climate change.
Stopglobalwarming.org
World Wildlife Fund
The climate change site of the WWF.
Sierra Club of Canada
The climate change campaign of the Sierra Club.
Smart Growth BC
Smart Growth BC is a non-governmental organization devoted to fiscally, socially and environmentally responsible land use and development.
Union of Concerned Scientists
The Union of Concerned Scientists promotes scientifically sound solutions to major environmental problems.
World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute provides information, ideas, and solutions to global environmental problems such as climate change.
Envirolink Network
The EnviroLink Network is a non-profit organization that maintains a database of thousands of environmental resources and provides Internet services to non-profit organizations.
Climate Solutions
Climate Solutions offers practical solutions to climate change in the Northwest and BC.
Renewable Energy
National Renewable Energy Lab
The U.S. Department of Energy's premier laboratory for renewable energy research & development and a lead lab for energy efficiency R&D.
Alternative Energy Institute
Alternative Energy Institute is a non-profit organization that promotes renewable energy technologies.
American Wind Energy Association
The American Wind Energy Association advocates the development of wind energy as a reliable energy alternative in the United States and around the world.
Canadian Wind Energy Association
The Canadian Wind Energy Association promotes "a robust Canadian wind energy community that makes a significant contribution to safe, reliable, economically and environmentally sustainable energy supply in Canada."
American Solar Energy Society
The American Solar Energy Society promotes the use of all forms of solar energy.
Solar Energy Society of CanadaSolar Energy Society of Canada is a voice for solar and renewable energy in Canada.
Canadian Association for Renewable Energy
The Canadian Association for Renewable Energy is a non-profit association that promotes the feasible applications of renewable energy.
Canadian Solar Association
For more than 25 years, CanSIA members from all segments of the solar industry have joined together to support, promote and advance all forms of solar energy for the benefit of Canadians and the environment.
The Renewable Planet
The Renewable Planet is a free and accessible resource that highlights the number and variety of renewable energy projects from around the world.
Science
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by WMO and UNEP to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.
Interactive Climate Change Map
Background information on climate change from the CBC, including aninteractive map of Canada featuring climate change impacts.
Woods Hole Research Center
A beginner's guide to understanding the issue of global warming by The Woods Hole Research Center.
New Scientist
Recent articles on Climate Change from the New Scientist.
International Climate and Environmental Research
The Center for International Climate and Environmental Research ? Oslo.
Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Research Network
The Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Research Network is a good source of climate change research from the Canadian government.
Goddard Institute for Space Studies
The Goddard Institute for Space Studies is a NASA research institute engaged in studies of global climate change.
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
The Tyndall Centre brings together scientists, economists, engineers and social scientists, who together are working to develop sustainable responses to climate change.
The Hadley Centre for Climate Change Prediction and Research
The Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, which is part of the Met Office, provides a focus in the United Kingdom for the scientific issues associated with climate change.
The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
An international and independent research institute working on questions of climate change, climate impact and sustainable development.
Real Climate
Real Climate is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists. We aim to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary.
DeSmogBlog
The mission of this blog is to debunk the climate change deniers, who use suspect science and deceptive public relations techniques to confuse and mislead the public on climate change issues.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography is one of the oldest, largest, and most important centers for marine science research, graduate training, and public service in the world.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research
The National Center for Atmospheric Research in the U.S. provide research, facilities, and services for the atmospheric and Earth sciences community.
Solutions
Pembina Climate Solutions
The Pembina Institute has created hands-on tools that help individuals and businesses reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Cool Companies
Cool Companies is a project of the Center for Energy & Climate Solutions, and helps businesses, government and individuals reduce greenhouse gas emissions with practical advice, tools and technologies.
Northern Climate Exchange
An independent source of information on climate change in northern Canada.
Sustainable Communities
Cities for Climate Protection
This program of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives offers a framework for local governments to develop a strategic agenda to reduce global warming and air pollution emissions.
Federation of Canadian Municipalities ? Partners for Climate Protection
PCP is a national program of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities that brings municipal governments together to reduce the local production of greenhouse gas emissions.
Sustainable Transportation
Carpool Tool
CarpoolTool is a free service that facilitates carpooling anywhere in Canada.
Detour Publication
This non-profit enterprise specializes in sustainable transportation books and multi-media resources. There is a special 10% discount for David Suzuki Foundation supporters.
Personal Vehicle Program
The Personal Vehicle Program of Natural Resources Canada provides motorists with helpful tips on buying, driving and maintaining their vehicles to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Trax
TRAX works to promote cycling, walking, carpooling and transit in Nova Scotia through trip reduction programs, public education and outreach.
U.S Environmental Protection Agency
EPA's Green Vehicle Guide gives information about the environmental performance of vehicles. Larger numbers, whether scores or fuel economy, are more environmentally friendly than smaller numbers.
Idle Free Zone
This is Canada's first Web site dedicated to helping Canadians stop unnecessary engine idling in their communities.
Global Warming and Energy: SUV's and Global Warming
When it comes to wasting energy, SUVs are unrivaled. Built with outdated, gas-guzzling technology, many SUVs get just 13 miles per gallon. And the higher gas prices are, the more money they waste.
The SUV Info Link
The SUV Info Link is here to give you more information, so that you can decide what type of vehicle matches your needs.
Diesel Passenger Vehicles and the Environment
A growing interest in diesels for passenger vehicles has increased concern over the public health implications of expanding diesel's market share.
Livable Region Coalition
The Livable Region Coalition (LRC) is a group of British Columbian citizens and sustainable transportation advocates concerned about a proposal to widen the region's primary freeway.
Weather
Meteorological Service of Canada
The Meteorological Service of Canada offers information on extreme weather and climate change.
Canadian Hurricane Centre
Environment Canada's hurricane centre specializes in providing information to Canadians on storms of tropical origin that affect Canada.
BOOKS
The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth Tim Flannery has written what Dr. David Suzuki calls ". . . one of the most important books of this young century . . . An urgent call to action that we cannot afford to ignore."
The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription
The New York Times notes that Ross Gelbspan's first book "remains the best, and virtually only, study of how the coal and oil industry has provided financing to a small group of contrarian scientists."
Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists and Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis--and What We Can Do to Avert Disaster
Ross Gelbpan's most recent book communicates his sincere belief that human civilization is in mortal peril from global warming.
The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies
Richard Heinberg's book is a riveting wake-up call for human-kind as the oil era winds down, and a critical tool for understanding and influencing current U.S. foreign policy.
LINKS
Business
The Climate Group
The Climate Group is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing business and government leadership on climate change.
United Nations & Kyoto Protocol
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeThe IPCC assesses the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change.
United Nations
Official United Nations (UN) site pertaining to climate change and international agreements and conferences.
Convention on biological diversity (UN)
An overview of the connections between biological diversity and climate change, by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
Kyoto Protocol - Full Text
Current list of countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol (PDF)
Energy Efficiency
Office of Energy
EfficiencyCanada's Office of Energy Efficiency has helpful tools and information to increase the energy efficiency of homes, vehicles, businesses, institutions and governments.
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network
The EREN is a program of the US Department of Energy.
Toronto Atmospheric Fund
The Toronto Atmospheric Fund was established by Toronto City Council to finance local initiatives to combat global warming and improve air quality.
Rocky Mountain Institute
The Rocky Mountain Institute promotes energy efficiency and conservation.
Green CommunitiesGreen Communities delivers home energy assessments in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia.
Government
Government of Canada
The official Government of Canada web site pertaining to climate change.
Environment Canada
Environment Canada's climate change web site.
B.C. Ministry of Water and Air
The B.C. government's climate change home page contains information on climate change impacts and solutions for British Columbia.
City of Vancouver
One Day is a new Vancouver-based approach to change the way people consume energy in their homes and on the road.
Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.)
The EPA strives to present accurate information on the very broad issue of climate change and global warming.
European UnionThis is the official climate change web site of the European Union, outlining Europe's approach to this issue.
Green Buildings
Sustainable Building Centre
The SBC is an information and education centre, exhibition space and forum for sharing ideas on green building technologies.
Health
Health Canada
Health Canada's web site on Climate Change, health and air quality.
Climate Change and Human Health - Risks and Responses
This book describes the context and process of global climate change, with a particular focus on the health sector.
Physicians for Social Responsibility
This non-profit advocacy organization is the medical and public health voice for policies to stop nuclear war and proliferation and to slow, stop and reverse global warming and toxic degradation of the environment.
Kids, Youth & Teachers
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada has produced a series of seven classroom posters on the regional impacts of climate change in Canada.
Destination Conservation
Destination Conservation is a practical, activity-based program that brings environmental education alive in our schools.
Environmental Protection Agency
A global warming site for kids produced by the EPA.
Pembina Institute
The Pembina Institute has developed high-quality educational resources for use in Canadian schools.
Youth Climate Change Conference
The Youth Climate Change Conference (?YC3?) is a youth-lead initiative, focused on action, alternatives, and solutions for a changing world.
Re-Energy
Re-Energy.ca explores wind energy, water energy, solar energy, biomass energy and more. Teaching materials are included that make it easy for teachers to introduce renewable energy content into the classroom.
Bullfrog Films
Bullfrog Films is the oldest and largest publisher of videos and films about the environment in the United States.
News
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Comprehensive background information on climate change from the CBC.
British Broadcasting CorporationThe climate change information site of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Climate Wire
ClimateWire.org, updated daily, is a leading multi-sectoral, international news service specifically focussing on the issue of climate change.
Yahoo News -> Climate Change
Yahoo news updates on global climate change.
Non-Governmental Organizations
International Institute for Sustainable Development
IISD has been actively engaged in defining the framework in which global action on climate change may take place since the signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992.
Pembina Institute
The Pembina Institute works in the areas of sustainable energy, climate change, environmental governance, ecological fiscal reform, sustainability indicators, and the environmental impacts of the energy industry.
Natural Resources Defence Council
The Natural Resources Defence Council's web page on global warming and its consequences.
Canadian Climate Action Network
The Canadian Climate Action Network (CANet) is made up of more than 100 organizations across Canada working to protect the environment from harmful human interference of the atmosphere resulting in climate change.
International Climate Action Network
The Climate Action Network (CAN) is a worldwide network of over 340 NGOs working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change.
Climate Action Network Europe
Climate Action Network Europe is a coordinating office, based in Brussels, for environmental groups in Western Europe working on climate change issues.
Climate Ark
The Climate Ark is a climate change and renewable energy portal dedicated to promoting public policy that addresses global climate change.
Climate Institute
The Climate Institute serves as a bridge between policymakers and scientists around the world and is dedicated to being the world's foremost authority on climate change information, science and responses.
Environmental Defence
Both domestically and internationally, Environmental Defense works to stabilize Earth's climate by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.
Greenpeace
Greenpeace International's climate change campaign.
National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation explains the link between climate change and wildlife.
Pew Center on Global Climate Change
The Pew Center on Global Climate Change is a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organization dedicated to providing credible information and innovative solutions in the effort to address global climate change.
Stopglobalwarming.org
World Wildlife Fund
The climate change site of the WWF.
Sierra Club of Canada
The climate change campaign of the Sierra Club.
Smart Growth BC
Smart Growth BC is a non-governmental organization devoted to fiscally, socially and environmentally responsible land use and development.
Union of Concerned Scientists
The Union of Concerned Scientists promotes scientifically sound solutions to major environmental problems.
World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute provides information, ideas, and solutions to global environmental problems such as climate change.
Envirolink Network
The EnviroLink Network is a non-profit organization that maintains a database of thousands of environmental resources and provides Internet services to non-profit organizations.
Climate Solutions
Climate Solutions offers practical solutions to climate change in the Northwest and BC.
Renewable Energy
National Renewable Energy Lab
The U.S. Department of Energy's premier laboratory for renewable energy research & development and a lead lab for energy efficiency R&D.
Alternative Energy Institute
Alternative Energy Institute is a non-profit organization that promotes renewable energy technologies.
American Wind Energy Association
The American Wind Energy Association advocates the development of wind energy as a reliable energy alternative in the United States and around the world.
Canadian Wind Energy Association
The Canadian Wind Energy Association promotes "a robust Canadian wind energy community that makes a significant contribution to safe, reliable, economically and environmentally sustainable energy supply in Canada."
American Solar Energy Society
The American Solar Energy Society promotes the use of all forms of solar energy.
Solar Energy Society of CanadaSolar Energy Society of Canada is a voice for solar and renewable energy in Canada.
Canadian Association for Renewable Energy
The Canadian Association for Renewable Energy is a non-profit association that promotes the feasible applications of renewable energy.
Canadian Solar Association
For more than 25 years, CanSIA members from all segments of the solar industry have joined together to support, promote and advance all forms of solar energy for the benefit of Canadians and the environment.
The Renewable Planet
The Renewable Planet is a free and accessible resource that highlights the number and variety of renewable energy projects from around the world.
Science
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by WMO and UNEP to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.
Interactive Climate Change Map
Background information on climate change from the CBC, including aninteractive map of Canada featuring climate change impacts.
Woods Hole Research Center
A beginner's guide to understanding the issue of global warming by The Woods Hole Research Center.
New Scientist
Recent articles on Climate Change from the New Scientist.
International Climate and Environmental Research
The Center for International Climate and Environmental Research ? Oslo.
Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Research Network
The Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Research Network is a good source of climate change research from the Canadian government.
Goddard Institute for Space Studies
The Goddard Institute for Space Studies is a NASA research institute engaged in studies of global climate change.
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
The Tyndall Centre brings together scientists, economists, engineers and social scientists, who together are working to develop sustainable responses to climate change.
The Hadley Centre for Climate Change Prediction and Research
The Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, which is part of the Met Office, provides a focus in the United Kingdom for the scientific issues associated with climate change.
The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
An international and independent research institute working on questions of climate change, climate impact and sustainable development.
Real Climate
Real Climate is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists. We aim to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary.
DeSmogBlog
The mission of this blog is to debunk the climate change deniers, who use suspect science and deceptive public relations techniques to confuse and mislead the public on climate change issues.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography is one of the oldest, largest, and most important centers for marine science research, graduate training, and public service in the world.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research
The National Center for Atmospheric Research in the U.S. provide research, facilities, and services for the atmospheric and Earth sciences community.
Solutions
Pembina Climate Solutions
The Pembina Institute has created hands-on tools that help individuals and businesses reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Cool Companies
Cool Companies is a project of the Center for Energy & Climate Solutions, and helps businesses, government and individuals reduce greenhouse gas emissions with practical advice, tools and technologies.
Northern Climate Exchange
An independent source of information on climate change in northern Canada.
Sustainable Communities
Cities for Climate Protection
This program of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives offers a framework for local governments to develop a strategic agenda to reduce global warming and air pollution emissions.
Federation of Canadian Municipalities ? Partners for Climate Protection
PCP is a national program of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities that brings municipal governments together to reduce the local production of greenhouse gas emissions.
Sustainable Transportation
Carpool Tool
CarpoolTool is a free service that facilitates carpooling anywhere in Canada.
Detour Publication
This non-profit enterprise specializes in sustainable transportation books and multi-media resources. There is a special 10% discount for David Suzuki Foundation supporters.
Personal Vehicle Program
The Personal Vehicle Program of Natural Resources Canada provides motorists with helpful tips on buying, driving and maintaining their vehicles to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Trax
TRAX works to promote cycling, walking, carpooling and transit in Nova Scotia through trip reduction programs, public education and outreach.
U.S Environmental Protection Agency
EPA's Green Vehicle Guide gives information about the environmental performance of vehicles. Larger numbers, whether scores or fuel economy, are more environmentally friendly than smaller numbers.
Idle Free Zone
This is Canada's first Web site dedicated to helping Canadians stop unnecessary engine idling in their communities.
Global Warming and Energy: SUV's and Global Warming
When it comes to wasting energy, SUVs are unrivaled. Built with outdated, gas-guzzling technology, many SUVs get just 13 miles per gallon. And the higher gas prices are, the more money they waste.
The SUV Info Link
The SUV Info Link is here to give you more information, so that you can decide what type of vehicle matches your needs.
Diesel Passenger Vehicles and the Environment
A growing interest in diesels for passenger vehicles has increased concern over the public health implications of expanding diesel's market share.
Livable Region Coalition
The Livable Region Coalition (LRC) is a group of British Columbian citizens and sustainable transportation advocates concerned about a proposal to widen the region's primary freeway.
Weather
Meteorological Service of Canada
The Meteorological Service of Canada offers information on extreme weather and climate change.
Canadian Hurricane Centre
Environment Canada's hurricane centre specializes in providing information to Canadians on storms of tropical origin that affect Canada.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Three Rebuttals For a Climate Change Skeptic
I posted this first in a discussion on another blog about a climate change skeptic who produced a film that was aired on television in England. So here, as the title to the blog post promises, is my rebuttal, followed by that of a blogger from blogspot called Wisco (apparently short for Wisconsin), in his blog called Griper Blade, Grumblings from the Heartland, and last but not least, is George Monbiot in The Guardian, from Wisco's blog.
SHORTER RESPONSE
The debate about climate change is over and that it has been for the most part from the impact of what mankind has been doing since industrialization in the mid 1800s is over. The winner is science (not science fiction). To back up my statement, I am relying on the huge peer-reviewed report (the last section of the four sections of which will be adopted and approved in Valencia, Spain, November 12-17, 2007), using peer-reviewed articles in the IPCC report, Climate Change 2007.
On one hand: There is the peer-reviewed Climate Change 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Association (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), put together or reviewed by hundreds of people. This report represents the current state of climate change science. The first section of the Climate Change 2007 report is 996 pages long, not including two of the four appendices (referred to in report as Annexes). Annex II lists the hundreds of coordinating lead authors, lead authors and contributing authors (I started to count the number of people included but got lost and gave up); Annex III lists expert reviewers and then expert reviewers from international organizations.
On the other hand: There are opinions by a fringe group of scientists who are ignored by mainstream scientists and sometimes are paid by or associated with or working for far-right wing, conservative Republican foundations or think tanks or far right-wing, conservative Christian groups or directly paid by oil and other polluting businesses. Some of the think tanks are attached to some universities. See the site Center for Media and Democracy, PR Watch and also the section called Sourcewatch for names of the lists of organizations and individuals that are known to belong to or paid by some of these organizations.
http://www.prwatch.org/
See also the book Banana Republicans by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber on the above site or more specifically:
http://www.prwatch.org/books/bananas.html
There are five other, great titled books listed there, about media manipulation by the far right-wing machine on various issues.
LONGER RESPONSE
My longer response to the skeptics or those who are undecided is from a blogger on Blogspot. Here is a great blog entry by Wisco on Tuesday, March 13, 2007, entitled 'Global Warming Swindle' is Ironically, a Swindle on his blog: Griper Blade, Grumblings From the Heartland:
http://griperblade.blogspot.com/2007/03/global-warming-swindle-is-ironically.html
The general address of blogspot is: http://www.blogspot.com/ . The blog entry also includes a response published in The Guardian from George Monbiot, the author of How to Stop the Planet From Burning.
Just pretend the following is indented to indicate Wisco wrote it and not me (technical difficulties, related to the fact that I am a techno-peasant).
A British video has been making the rounds of the right wing global warming denial crowd. The UK's Channel 4-produced video, titled The Great Global Warming Swindle, is pure crackpottery - porno for the Flat Earth Society. Among the claims made by this video is that global warming is a scam started by Margaret Thatcher to break the coal miners' union and move the UK to nuclear power. That the right has accepted this smear of a global figure they consider second only to Ronald Reagan shows you how desperate they are to find some reason to continue to believe they're not as wrong on climate change as they have been about pretty much everything since 2000 - or earlier.The video was directed by Martin Durkin. Durkin's history is bad. He's basically the British version of John Stossel. In 1997, he produced a documentary, titled Against Nature, which was nothing but an anti-evironmental screed. The claims made in that video quickly fell apart as interviewees for the piece complained that they were taken out of context and misrepresented as critics of environmentalism.
George Monbiot, The Guardian:
Mr Durkin has often been acused of taking liberties with the facts. In 1997 he made a series for Channel 4 called Against Nature, which compared environmentalists like me to Nazis, conspiring against the world's poor. No one would suggest that green claims should not be subjected to critical examination, but the people he interviewed were lied to about the contents of the programmes and given no chance to respond to the accusations the series made. The Independent Television Commission handed down one of the most damning verdicts it has ever reached: the programme makers "distorted by selective editing" the views of the interviewees and "misled" them about the "content and purpose of the programmes when they agreed to take part". Channel 4 was forced to make a humiliating prime time apology. After the series was broadcast, I discovered that the assistant producer and several of its interviewees worked for the rightwing libertarian magazine masquerading as Living Marxism, which has just been successfully sued by ITN. All the arguments Against Nature made had been rehearsed in LM. Another Durkin piece claimed to 'prove' that silicone breast implants were completely harmless. Now, Durkin is accused of doing exactly the same thing with The Great Global Warming Swindle as he had with Against Nature. Some people never learn...
The Independent:
It was the television programme that set out to show that most of the world's climate scientists are misleading us when they say humanity is heating up the Earth by emitting carbon dioxide. And The Great Global Warming Swindle, screened by Channel 4 on Thursday night, convinced many viewers that it is indeed untrue that the gas is to blame for global warming. But now the programme - and the channel - is facing a serious challenge to its own credibility after one of the most distinguished scientists that it featured said his views had been "grossly distorted" by the film, and made it clear that he believed human pollution did warm the climate.
Professor Carl Wunsch, professor of physical oceanography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said he had been "completely misrepresented" by the programme, and "totally misled" on its content. He added that he is considering making a formal complaint. Says Wunsch, "I am angry because they completely misrepresented me. My views were distorted by the context in which they placed them. I was misled as to what it was going to be about. I was told about six months ago that this was to be a programme about how complicated it is to understand what is going on. If they had told me even the title of the programme, I would have absolutely refused to be on it. I am the one who has been swindled. "While this sort of scandal would normally flare up and be forgotten, Durkin's timing is really bad this time around. This is the same Channel 4 that's still recovering from the Jade Goody Big Brother scandal, which resulted in accusations of racism toward a game show contestant and the channel itself. The resulting uproar sparked an international incident between the UK and India. This is pretty much the last thing they need. Martin Durkin may find it harder to get other programs produced in the future. Big loss.
If you go through right wing blogs, this video is all over the place. The gullibility of these people is amazing. Riehl World says, "[The video] contained more science in debunking Global Warming than I have yet to see produced by the Global Warming crowd." That's right, some video produced by a proven charlatan is more solid than the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which represents the international consensus on climate science. In fact, global warming skepticism is such a noncompetitive field that Durkin couldn't find enough of them to fill the air time for his show. He had to misrepresent climate scientists as critics. I've said it before. We can stop listening to these fools. The media has been especially irresponsible in giving cranks the same legitimacy as the science - a failing they're also guilty of with evolution. There are two sides to every story, sure. But where we are now, the two sides are reality and laughable nutcases. CNN, for example, doesn't need to find an honest to goodness flat earther to tell everyone the moon landings were a scam every time there's a story about NASA. Likewise, there's no reason to find some global warming denier to comment every time there's a climate story. Although, as this story shows, the skeptics are an endangered species. Martin Durkin couldn't even find enough of them to fill air time on a TV show. Global warming denial is not a growth industry.
The debate is over.
-Wisco
Wisco's bit is over and it is me again. I think people who are committed to making changes to reduce the impact of climate change tend to get side-tracked by global warming skeptics. If your time is limited, you may want to limit the time you spend trying to argue with skeptics or trying to find answers to all the lines the anti-climate changers come up with.
Are they scientists who have had their ideas published in scientific journals after being peer-reviewed by other scientists? No.
Do they have any report equivalent to the report written by hundreds of scientists and researchers from around the world and peer reviewed by another very large group of scientists? And is their report based on the peer-reviewed articles of scientists published in scientific journals? I don't think so and no.
The right-wing Republicans are just mad because the majority of Americans (and Canadians) are already quite concerned about this issue. You would think skeptics would have hung up the towel when President Bush did and started the new skeptic's rant: I believe climate change is happening, but it will cost too much money, ruin the economy and result in massive job losses to do anything quick about it. That is the same line Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is using in Canada. I think they should stop hanging around together in international meetings as President Bush has been a very bad influence on Prime Minister Harper.
Take a look at the IPCC website and part of one of the summaries or reports so you have some idea of the level at which these reports and summaries are prepared and reviewed.
www.ipcc.ch/
You will have a better idea after that about how to judge the current world-wide state of scientific thinking on climate change versus science fiction. The standard for published scientific thinking is peer-reviewed articles in credible, scientific journals, which is what the IPCC reports are based on. Anything less that aims to undercut climate change science is mere science fiction and opinion.
SHORTER RESPONSE
The debate about climate change is over and that it has been for the most part from the impact of what mankind has been doing since industrialization in the mid 1800s is over. The winner is science (not science fiction). To back up my statement, I am relying on the huge peer-reviewed report (the last section of the four sections of which will be adopted and approved in Valencia, Spain, November 12-17, 2007), using peer-reviewed articles in the IPCC report, Climate Change 2007.
On one hand: There is the peer-reviewed Climate Change 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Association (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), put together or reviewed by hundreds of people. This report represents the current state of climate change science. The first section of the Climate Change 2007 report is 996 pages long, not including two of the four appendices (referred to in report as Annexes). Annex II lists the hundreds of coordinating lead authors, lead authors and contributing authors (I started to count the number of people included but got lost and gave up); Annex III lists expert reviewers and then expert reviewers from international organizations.
On the other hand: There are opinions by a fringe group of scientists who are ignored by mainstream scientists and sometimes are paid by or associated with or working for far-right wing, conservative Republican foundations or think tanks or far right-wing, conservative Christian groups or directly paid by oil and other polluting businesses. Some of the think tanks are attached to some universities. See the site Center for Media and Democracy, PR Watch and also the section called Sourcewatch for names of the lists of organizations and individuals that are known to belong to or paid by some of these organizations.
http://www.prwatch.org/
See also the book Banana Republicans by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber on the above site or more specifically:
http://www.prwatch.org/books/bananas.html
There are five other, great titled books listed there, about media manipulation by the far right-wing machine on various issues.
LONGER RESPONSE
My longer response to the skeptics or those who are undecided is from a blogger on Blogspot. Here is a great blog entry by Wisco on Tuesday, March 13, 2007, entitled 'Global Warming Swindle' is Ironically, a Swindle on his blog: Griper Blade, Grumblings From the Heartland:
http://griperblade.blogspot.com/2007/03/global-warming-swindle-is-ironically.html
The general address of blogspot is: http://www.blogspot.com/ . The blog entry also includes a response published in The Guardian from George Monbiot, the author of How to Stop the Planet From Burning.
Just pretend the following is indented to indicate Wisco wrote it and not me (technical difficulties, related to the fact that I am a techno-peasant).
A British video has been making the rounds of the right wing global warming denial crowd. The UK's Channel 4-produced video, titled The Great Global Warming Swindle, is pure crackpottery - porno for the Flat Earth Society. Among the claims made by this video is that global warming is a scam started by Margaret Thatcher to break the coal miners' union and move the UK to nuclear power. That the right has accepted this smear of a global figure they consider second only to Ronald Reagan shows you how desperate they are to find some reason to continue to believe they're not as wrong on climate change as they have been about pretty much everything since 2000 - or earlier.The video was directed by Martin Durkin. Durkin's history is bad. He's basically the British version of John Stossel. In 1997, he produced a documentary, titled Against Nature, which was nothing but an anti-evironmental screed. The claims made in that video quickly fell apart as interviewees for the piece complained that they were taken out of context and misrepresented as critics of environmentalism.
George Monbiot, The Guardian:
Mr Durkin has often been acused of taking liberties with the facts. In 1997 he made a series for Channel 4 called Against Nature, which compared environmentalists like me to Nazis, conspiring against the world's poor. No one would suggest that green claims should not be subjected to critical examination, but the people he interviewed were lied to about the contents of the programmes and given no chance to respond to the accusations the series made. The Independent Television Commission handed down one of the most damning verdicts it has ever reached: the programme makers "distorted by selective editing" the views of the interviewees and "misled" them about the "content and purpose of the programmes when they agreed to take part". Channel 4 was forced to make a humiliating prime time apology. After the series was broadcast, I discovered that the assistant producer and several of its interviewees worked for the rightwing libertarian magazine masquerading as Living Marxism, which has just been successfully sued by ITN. All the arguments Against Nature made had been rehearsed in LM. Another Durkin piece claimed to 'prove' that silicone breast implants were completely harmless. Now, Durkin is accused of doing exactly the same thing with The Great Global Warming Swindle as he had with Against Nature. Some people never learn...
The Independent:
It was the television programme that set out to show that most of the world's climate scientists are misleading us when they say humanity is heating up the Earth by emitting carbon dioxide. And The Great Global Warming Swindle, screened by Channel 4 on Thursday night, convinced many viewers that it is indeed untrue that the gas is to blame for global warming. But now the programme - and the channel - is facing a serious challenge to its own credibility after one of the most distinguished scientists that it featured said his views had been "grossly distorted" by the film, and made it clear that he believed human pollution did warm the climate.
Professor Carl Wunsch, professor of physical oceanography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said he had been "completely misrepresented" by the programme, and "totally misled" on its content. He added that he is considering making a formal complaint. Says Wunsch, "I am angry because they completely misrepresented me. My views were distorted by the context in which they placed them. I was misled as to what it was going to be about. I was told about six months ago that this was to be a programme about how complicated it is to understand what is going on. If they had told me even the title of the programme, I would have absolutely refused to be on it. I am the one who has been swindled. "While this sort of scandal would normally flare up and be forgotten, Durkin's timing is really bad this time around. This is the same Channel 4 that's still recovering from the Jade Goody Big Brother scandal, which resulted in accusations of racism toward a game show contestant and the channel itself. The resulting uproar sparked an international incident between the UK and India. This is pretty much the last thing they need. Martin Durkin may find it harder to get other programs produced in the future. Big loss.
If you go through right wing blogs, this video is all over the place. The gullibility of these people is amazing. Riehl World says, "[The video] contained more science in debunking Global Warming than I have yet to see produced by the Global Warming crowd." That's right, some video produced by a proven charlatan is more solid than the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which represents the international consensus on climate science. In fact, global warming skepticism is such a noncompetitive field that Durkin couldn't find enough of them to fill the air time for his show. He had to misrepresent climate scientists as critics. I've said it before. We can stop listening to these fools. The media has been especially irresponsible in giving cranks the same legitimacy as the science - a failing they're also guilty of with evolution. There are two sides to every story, sure. But where we are now, the two sides are reality and laughable nutcases. CNN, for example, doesn't need to find an honest to goodness flat earther to tell everyone the moon landings were a scam every time there's a story about NASA. Likewise, there's no reason to find some global warming denier to comment every time there's a climate story. Although, as this story shows, the skeptics are an endangered species. Martin Durkin couldn't even find enough of them to fill air time on a TV show. Global warming denial is not a growth industry.
The debate is over.
-Wisco
Wisco's bit is over and it is me again. I think people who are committed to making changes to reduce the impact of climate change tend to get side-tracked by global warming skeptics. If your time is limited, you may want to limit the time you spend trying to argue with skeptics or trying to find answers to all the lines the anti-climate changers come up with.
Are they scientists who have had their ideas published in scientific journals after being peer-reviewed by other scientists? No.
Do they have any report equivalent to the report written by hundreds of scientists and researchers from around the world and peer reviewed by another very large group of scientists? And is their report based on the peer-reviewed articles of scientists published in scientific journals? I don't think so and no.
The right-wing Republicans are just mad because the majority of Americans (and Canadians) are already quite concerned about this issue. You would think skeptics would have hung up the towel when President Bush did and started the new skeptic's rant: I believe climate change is happening, but it will cost too much money, ruin the economy and result in massive job losses to do anything quick about it. That is the same line Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is using in Canada. I think they should stop hanging around together in international meetings as President Bush has been a very bad influence on Prime Minister Harper.
Take a look at the IPCC website and part of one of the summaries or reports so you have some idea of the level at which these reports and summaries are prepared and reviewed.
www.ipcc.ch/
You will have a better idea after that about how to judge the current world-wide state of scientific thinking on climate change versus science fiction. The standard for published scientific thinking is peer-reviewed articles in credible, scientific journals, which is what the IPCC reports are based on. Anything less that aims to undercut climate change science is mere science fiction and opinion.
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