Global Price of Climate Change Going Up was the message delivered to an international global disaster conference recently, reports Paul Cox at Aljazeera. Think trillions. As human populations expand globally, and climate change creates increasingly more extreme weather, expect that price tag to zoom...
Quote of the Week
"Forecasts of the rate at which the world will warm in the future may differ - but all the traffic is in one direction."
Edward, Davey, UK Secretary of State for Energy & Climate, June 3, 2013, at London's Institute of Physics.
via Climate Progress
Population Growth Nixes Sustainable Energy Gains notes a recent UN study, reports Laurie Goering at Reuters News. More people and prosperity mean more energy demands. Far more action on clean and sustainable energy is needed to curb worsening climate change.
MA Mamas Confront Leaders on Switching From Dirty to Clean Energy reports Lisa Bennett at the Huffington Post. Mothers Out Front ("mobilizing for a liveable climate") have organized around pressuring Massachusetts political leaders to divest from fossil fuels and choose clean energy as an alternative whenever the opportunity arises. Way to go, Ladies!
Another Big Tar Sands Pipeline Trying to Sneak into US, reports Lisa Song at InsideClimate News. The oil giant Enbridge is doing this stealthily, by building this US Keystone-pipeline-equivalent expansion in many small segments and phases out of the US public eye. But US approval is needed for the feeder line from Canada - go get'em, 350.org!
Climate Change Mucks Up Feeding For Nesting Birds a new study indicates, reports Bob Weber at the Ottawa Citizen. Although spring is occurring increasingly earlier at nesting sites, birds are not changing their migratory schedules, thus missing out when food is most abundant - this could be linked to many declines among birds... bye bye, birdies! :o(
Mama swallow feeding fledgling -- open wide! Credit Marc Hoffman, at Songbirdphoto.com
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☼☼☼ On the Bright Side ☼☼☼
OO Airlines Agree On Plan To Offset Emissions
OO Solar Panels So Valuable, They're Being Stolen in Germany
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OO Green Orgs to Obama: Create National Monuments To Save Public Lands From Oil, Gas Drilling
OO Renewable Energy Gets A Rural Boost in Colorado
OO Colorado Solar Incentives Decline as Solar Becomes Affordable
Solar house, Credit Dennis Schroeder/NREL
OO US Importing Much Less Oil, Helping Close Trade Deficit
OO New Breakthroughs Could Lead To Cheap Batteries For Electric Vehicles
OO Electric Cars Are Getting As Cheap As Gasoline Rivals
OO World's Biggest Coal Company Turning To Solar Energy To Lower Its Utility Bill - alright, this is more ironic than uplifting, but I'm scraping the barrel here, folks...
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***** US Climate Change News *****
OO Massive Yearly Alaskan Ice Loss Contributes One Third of Sea Level Rise says a new study
OO Export of Southern US Forests For Dirty Energy Up 70 Percent In Past Year making the area the largest global exporter of wood pellets; the Natural Resources Defense Council and others have begun a "Forests Aren't Fuel" campaign to stop this ...
OO US Puffins Starving As Oceans Warm and Food Fish Move - a story similar to other declining puffins around the world...
A Tufted puffin in Alaskan waters ... note the red, white and blue... credit Rhett Butler, Mongabay.com
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OO GOPs Trying To Prevent EPA from Regulating Coal Ash - how nice, for coal companies...
OO GOPs Want to Discuss "Drill, Baby, Drill" Again ... well, they have to fill their time in Congress with something, since they won't act on clean energy or climate....
OO GOPs Want Taxpayers to Pay for Future Destroyed Homes in New Flood Zones - letting us pay for those who choose to live in newly identified flood zones... your taxpayer dollars at work, folks!
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OO Scientists: Key Parts of State Dept Keystone Review Are 'Without Merit'
OO TransCanada Fixing Flaws Already Present in Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline Sections and that's before the tar runs through it...
OO Climate Change, Budget Cuts Could Make This The Most Dangerous US Hurricane Season Ever invest in flashlights....
Remember Hurricane Sandy? from the good folks at Forecast the Facts
OO New Mexico: Major Wildfires Burn, Fueled by Record Drought
OO Second Round of Midwest Spring Flooding Starting
OO Extreme Weather Will Have Major Effect on US Agriculture by 2025 even as extreme drought is doing so now
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OO Social Cost of Climate Change Up to Double What US Govt Thought says the new government estimates
OO Lack of Climate Change News Coverage Fuels Public Ignorance - you probably know more about the British Royals than climate change, and that's no coincidence ...
OO Americans Waste 40 Percent Of Their Food, Worsening Climate Change - wasting the dirty energy that went into making that wasted food
via Climate Progress
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OO Continued Natural Gas Leaks Undercut Climate Benefit of Switching from Coal
OO Alaska Lobby Trying to Open Arctic Wildlife Refuge to Oil Drilling
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<<<< Climate Change Round the World >>>>
OO Indonesia: Sumatran Rainforest To Mostly Disappear Within 20 Years as human exploitation destroys yet another natural carbon storage system...
These mother and baby Sumatran elephants face a bleak future... credit Rhett Butler at Mongabay.com
OO Canada Oil Output Will Double By 2030, If Pipelines Built
OO Britain: Climate Minister Slams Media and 'Deniers' noting "it's the science, stupid"
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OO Record Flooding in Central Europe Cause 1000s to Flee
OO Bangladesh: Thousands Fleeing Homes Due to Drought and Floods - the face of current climate change...
OO Mediterranean: Climate Change, Human Pollution Make Jellyfish Surge, Threatening Environment, Tourism - fried jellyfish, anyone? Mmmm!!!
Credit Rhett Butler at Mongabay.com
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(((((((( Seeking the Science ))))))))
OO Intense Thunderstorms More Likely To Batter A Warming World say speakers at an international conference on severe storms
OO Humans Are Not Like Slowly Boiling Frogs - We're Like Slowly Boiling Brainless Frogs - well, that's the way we're acting, anyway; regular frogs try to jump out of warming water...
OO Hawaii Getting Muggy As Trade Winds Drop although this climate change has yet to be connected to human activities - nonetheless, it's changing island life...
OO Abrupt Tropical Climate Change Could Be Amplified, Prolonged - by reinforcing feedbacks, based on historical stalagmite records
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☼☼☼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 in the Media @@@
Via Climate Nexus
OO @@ WEEKLY CLIMATE CHANGE VIDEO SERIES!! @@ Entitled "In Case You Missed It" via the good folks at Climate Nexus on Vimeo - select headlines delivered in less than 90 seconds with good graphics. Cool watching -- spread the word!!
@@ Laughs: Right Wing Media Need a Science Class from Media Matters 4 America - worth it if only for the shocked face of scientist Bill Nye as a right wing host seriously asks him how the extinct lunar volcanoes are related to climate change here on Earth, and there are other goodies, as well - definitely a must-see!
@@ Our Forests Aren't Fuel - deforestation at its worse, depriving the US of natural carbon storage ecosystems so a relatively few can get rich quick, selling the wood for burning - ie, contributing to climate change!
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To help you understand just what science does and does NOT do, check this out!
Every day is Earth Day, folks, as I was reminded by this wonderful weevil from Irian Jaya that Rhett Butler of Mongabay so generously shared with me. 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.
