China's Choice: Cut Coal Or Dry Up says a new report highlighting how coal mining and combustion technologies there are drinking up scarcer water supplies, reports Coco Liu at ClimateWire via Scientific American. Coal burning is a vicious double whammy, spurring the climate change that is drying out China, as the process drinks ever scarcer water supplies....will China wake up in time?
Climate Change Not So Funnies: Climate Change Denying Congressman to Head US House Subcommittee on Climate Change From the good folks at Forecast the Facts, we have a petition asking him to promote climate solutions not denial - yup, despite the reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rep. Chris Stewart isn't sure if the science is sound enough... want to tell him otherwise - sign here!
Don't Care A Fig About Climate Change? Well, Figs and Rainforests Do! Recent research, reports Sindya Bhanoo at the New York Times, finds that tropical fig wasps die much faster at temperatures not much hotter than already exist in the tropics. Such wasps are the sole and special pollinators of hundreds of wild figs that are an important source of food for tropical wildlife, in rainforests and elsewhere. So when the wasps fry, so will tropical ecosystems....
****** Round the World *****
*** Melting Arctic Sea Ice Drives Extreme Weather, US Military Planning
*** New York State tells investors that climate change may hurt its finances
*** Buzzkill? How climate change could eventually end coffee worldwide.
***
*** How climate change threatens US and worldwide seas
*** Arctic ice hits annual maximum extent, 6th lowest on record
*** Coral reefs in southern Florida have declined by 50 percent over the last twenty years
*** Deep trouble: How sea-rise could cause havoc in South Florida
***
*** Climate change rewrites world wine list
*** US Northwest governors to feds: Clear the air before exporting coal.
*** Africa: Drier Climate Will Spread Diarrhoea
******
Scientist Predicted US Cold Winter from Arctic Ice Melt, reports John Vidal at the UK Guardian. Rutgers Institute scientist Jennifer Francis noted back in September (and we reported it here, BTW) that the record 2012 Arctic ice loss would ultimately allow Arctic cold air to plunge much further south, creating much colder weather in the US and Europe in the ensuing months - and it did.
Want to Fight Climate Change? Stop Paying Companies to Produce It - Duhhh!!!! This means properly pricing fossil fuels and not subsidizing their production and combustion, a recent International Monetary Fund report concludes, reports Brad Plumer at the Washington Post. That would save the world about $2 TRILLION yearly, it estimates. Could someone please smoke signal our Congress on this? Think how much clean energy that could buy, or chocolate easter bunnies ...
Ain't She a Beauty? This solar airplane will fly over the US this spring (Courtesy of Solar Impulse)
Global Warming Accelerating Towards A Climate Punch says new oceanic research, reports Dana Nuccitelli at Climate Progress via Skeptical Science. Oceanic measurements over the past 15 years show more and more global warming heat is being absorbed by the oceans, but as absorption slows in the deep, we'll be getting more climate change faster. Oh boy, are our kids in hot water now....
☼☼☼☼☼ On the Bright side ☼☼☼☼☼
☼☼ LED light bulbs are increasingly cheaper, greener and controllable
☼☼ US Tops Global List For 2012 Wind Power Installation
☼☼ Solar-powered plane uses its lightness to fly in the dark
☼☼
☼☼ Community Solar Comes to Orlando, Florida as It Continues Its Spread!
☼☼ Rooftop solar could power all Australia households, slash electricity prices
☼☼ Angola "planning 100MW wind farm"
☼☼
☼☼ Denmark hits 1,000MW of offshore wind, shows no sign of slowing down
☼☼ US DOE launches new clean energy manufacturing initiative
☼☼ European Union set to announce 30% by 2030 emissions reduction target
☼☼ US emissions decline, coal exports rise
☼☼
☼☼ German village offers blueprint for rural green energy
☼☼ Climate change coming to classrooms!
☼☼ Life After Oil and Gas - a clear alternative to the XL Keystone pipeline
☼☼☼☼☼
☼☼☼Acting Like You Care: The XL Keystone pipeline will make possible far more climate change, but President Obama might okay it anyway. Credo, 350.org and others are asking people to stand up and be counted as nonviolent resisters or help in other ways. I did. If you ever wanted to do something big for your future, now's your chance - here.
@@@ Climate Change at the Movies @@@
@@ Amazing video of exploding under-ice methane gas in Siberia
@@ Permafrost Methane Time Bomb, NBC News
@@ Permafrost: The Tipping Time Bomb
@@ Arctic Amplification, Loss of Earth's Thermal Shield - This has it all, folks, -- a must see!!!
@@
@@ Trouble in the Water: Acidifying Oceans Hinder Health of Northwest Shellfish
@@ Hunters, Anglers See First-hand the Impacts of Climate Change
@@@
☼☼☼☼☼ Want to know more about your state, and going solar in it? Check it out here!
Every day is Earth Day, folks, as I was reminded by this chysanthemum I photographed one spring. Making the U.S. a global clean energy leader will ensure a heck of a lot more jobs, and a clean, safe future. If you'd like to join the increasing numbers of people who want to TELL Congress that they will vote for clean energy candidates you can do so here. It's our way of letting Congress know there's a strong clean energy voting bloc out there. For more detailed summaries of the above and other climate change items, audio podcasts and texts are freely available.
