Climate Change This Week: Norway Divests, Siberia Melts, and More!

Not enough is known to predict why the high pressure system occasionally allows an atmospheric river to sneak in and water California, though reports Andres Thompson at Climate Central. The latest river is far from significantly easing California drought.
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Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.

OO Climate Change Elevator Pitch: Eric Rignot
of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab is one of the globe's most accomplished glacier experts.

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Atlantic Halibut, a commercial fish. Credit Joachim S. Muller at Flickr

OO Climate Change Triggers Threats To Marine Ecosystems
A two-way migration of fish species between the northern Pacific and Atlantic as oceans warm could have drastic ecological and commercial impacts, as dramatic as when the Isthmus of Panama was open, thousands of years ago, which also allowed a Pacific-Atlantic exchange.

OO Global Warming Means Heavier Rain, and Snow:
Case in Point, Boston
- much warmer than usual sea surface temperatures helped double the local air moisture - and it all came down on Boston and beyond, shattering snow records... ignore the first video, which gets water vapor formation all wrong...

A Good Example of a Bad Science Video: Alluringly Simple -- and Wrong
"Why Global Warming Causes Bigger Storms"

Yes, warmer waters means more water vapor and ultimately heavier storms -- but the video gets water vapor formation all wrong. When water surface molecules heat up enough to break loose from other water molecules, they go into the air as water vapor. Expanding space between warming air molecules is irrelevant. Minnesota Public Radio, get your science right!

Now, if they had melted blue ice cream on top of the popcorn....

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Matilde Gattoni
@@ Everyday Climate Change at Instagram
Bringing you the face of climate change daily

A woman collects rainwater as the man-made water crisis grows in Yemen. Heavily dependent on oil revenues, due to dry up by 2017, its exploding population will double by 2035, and is rapidly outstripping its poorly managed and now scarce water supply. Poverty, mortaility, and unemployment are high: no wonder the country is a political mess.

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Clarissa the Solar Panel, by cartoonist First Dog on the Moon. Courtesy of The Tree, treealerts.org

OO The 2 Trillion Dollar Question, asks Clarissa the Solar Panel, is: why do we vote for leaders who fritter away $2 Trillion on climate changing fuels, when we now know there's a better way that's far cheaper?

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source: Daily Climate

OO The Perfect Medicine for Climate Change: Birth Control, Say Experts - giving more women who want access to birth control to limit their family size - in both rich and poor countries could be a hugely effective way to curb climate change.

OO China Outcompetes US in Clean Energy Investments in 2014

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SOLAR KEEPS DANCING

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Flickr

OO Off-Grid Solar Firms Raised $42 Million in the First Month of 2015 - that's two-thirds of what was raised in all of 2014.

OO Using Outer Space Ultra-High Efficiency Solar Cells on Your Rooftop to make a concentrated PV rooftop system is the latest breakthrough for a group of researchers.

OO Viriginia: Dominion V Power Plans 400 MW of Solar - as solar costs continue to decline, large-scale projects are the most cost-effective way to deploy solar power, the utility finds.

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NREL

OO This New PG&E Program Will Allow Customers to Go 100% Solar

Related Headline:

OO California: Utility To Allow Customers To Get All Their Electricity From Community Solar

OO Minnesota's Great Leap Into Solar Begins - as legislation leads to an explosion in solar development.

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OO Apple Plans a Solar-Powered Command Center in Arizona

OO World Bank Intends to Lend $500 Million
to Power Grid for Solar Infrastructure

OO China's Hanergy to Build Solar-Powered Cars -the market potential is huge, says the firm.

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Check it out here, right now!

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GOOD CLEAN NEWS

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OO Wind And Solar Energy Have Tripled Since 2008 - clean energy progress has been immense on a number of fronts, says a new report.

Related Headline:

OO An Illustrated Guide to the State of America's Clean Energy Sector

Some Takeaways:

- oil and coal consumption have declined slightly; renewables have increased slightly
- wind and solar dominate the increase in renewables
- clean energy investment has increased 500% since 2004
- electric vehicle sales increased 25% in 2014, but still are less than 1% of car sales


OO US Government Energy Consumption at the Lowest Level Since 1975

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China continues to green itself.

OO China To Create Carbon Market And Cap Emissions

OO Norway To Cut Climate Pollution By 40 % By 2030 - but will it stop producing fossil fuels?

Related headlines:

OO Norway Sovereign Fund Drops Coal, Tar Sands, Gold-Mining Companies

OO World's Largest Sovereign Wealth Fund Dumps 40 Coal Companies

OO EU Policy-Makers Seek To Make Electric Transport A 'Priority'

Informed Leadership

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AP Photo/Mike Groll

OO Fracking Moratorium Sought In Maryland

OO France to Ax Coal Subsidies While EU Stalls

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WHAT WORKS

Speaking Out:

OO 14 High-Profile CEOs Want To Rid The Global Economy Of Carbon Emissions By 2050
"New jobs, cleaner air, better health, lower poverty and greater energy security."

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8,000 strong in largest anti fracking rally in Oakland, CA despite rain. Source: 350.org

OO Health Sector Should Divest From Fossil Fuels, Medical Groups Say - just as they did with tobacco decades ago.

OO Health Care Industry Has Moral Obligation To Divest From Fossil Fuels, report argues.

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The fate of Maine's lobsters is on the table.

OO Maine Report Warns Of 'Urgent' Need To Address Ocean Acidification
which threatens its lobster industry.

OO EPA Justifies Presidential Veto of Keystone Pipeline: Low Oil Prices, High Climate Cost

Related Headlines:

OO EPA: Keystone XL to Emit 1 Billion Extra Tons of GreenHouse Gases

OO EPA Gives Obama New Reason To Reject Pipeline: Low Oil Prices

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Source: solarpanelspower.net

OO Obama's New Budget Puts Billions Toward Fighting Climate Change

"The most costly thing we can do
is to do nothing,"

EPA Acting Deputy Administrator Stan Meiburg said.

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Deforestation continues worldwide, even as recent research indicates that trees are the cheapest way to store carbon. Credit Rhett Butler at Mongabay

OO Scientists, Conservationists Call For More Inclusive Efforts To Save Forests

OO Wales Says No To Fracking Until 'Proven Safe' - just like Scotland and Ireland said.

OO Australia: Greens Call forAll Coal Mines to Close in New South Wales

Good Ideas:

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Source: plusmaths.org

OO Low Energy Prices Offer Opening For Subsidy Cuts and governments in the Middle East and much of the developing world are doing so.

OO Money Versus Morals:
Why Economic Rewards Trump Polite Messaging in Efficiency
- money wins out, at least in Japan, in coaxing home energy efficiency gains.

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OO Low CO2 Emissions Tax Possible If Clean Technology Is Also Implemented

OO Lawmakers Propose Laws To Push Electric Car Ownership

Insights:

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The Arctic was warm during the Pliocene.

OO Ancient Climate Records
Back Current IPCC Predictions
- yes, Virginia, the future climate is going to be just as disastrous as IPCC scientists predict, judging from our fossil records.

OO How Termites Hold Back The Desert, Fighting Climate Change - with massive mounds that provide a moist refuge for plants in a dry landscape.

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Credit Matt Clark at Flickr

OO Global Warming May Spawn More Southeast US Tornadoes

OO Rise In Wildfires May Resurrect Chernobyl's Radiation - Climate change may help spur fires there that could release radioactivity locked in soils, letting them spread all over Europe. allow them to spread over Europe.

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WHAT DOESN'T WORK

Fossil Fuel Follies

OO Coal Companies Don't Pay Enough To Mine For Coal
On Federal Land, Report Says


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Source: Daily Climate

OO Great Barrier Reef Dredging Is Causing Major Damage, Study Finds From dumping fossil fuel waste coming from coastal ports; the reef has already lost half its corals over the past 3 decades from pollution and environmental hazards.

OO New York Banned Fracking, But 460,000 Tons Of Fracking Waste Have Been Dumped There

Clueless Leadership:

OO Australia: Wind Farms Face $13 Billion Wipeout From Political Impasse - as investments flee.

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WHY WE SHOULD ACT NOW: RISING RISKS

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Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual Temperatures, Feb 15, 2015

How unusual has the weather been? No one event is "caused" by climate change, but global warming, which is predicted to increase unusual, extreme weather, is having a daily effect on weather, worldwide.

Looking above at recent temperature anomalies, much of the US and the waters surrounding it are experiencing warmer than normal temperatures: the eastern Pacific warm spot continues to prevent much rain from reaching California, sending it into further drought, while unusually cold temperatures in the northeast combined with unusually warm coastal waters contribute to massive blizzards there.

Much of the areas surrounding the North Pole are experiencing much warmer than normal temperatures - not good news for our Arctic thermal shield of ice. Hotter than usual temperatures continue to dominate human habitats.

Natural Repercussions:

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Global Warming Helps Block Atmospheric Rivers
That Water California
Atmospheric rivers have been mostly diverted from reaching California by a persistent high pressure Pacific system off California of the type predicted to occur under climate change in a 2005 study.

Not enough is known to predict why the high pressure system occasionally allows an atmospheric river to sneak in and water California, though reports Andres Thompson at Climate Central. The latest river is far from significantly easing California drought.

OO Winter Is Losing Its Cool Nights in US Cities - climate change is decreasing the number of below-freezing nights in most cities, even as it helps produce massive blizzards.

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Planetary Freezer Unplugged: Melting permafrost craters in Siberia. Credit Steve Jurvetson at Flickr

OO Climate Change Is Accelerating The Melting Of Siberia - one of the planet's largest storehouses of frozen greenhouse gases. Oh-oh.

OO A Fresh Look At Oceans Shows Earth's 'Unabated Planetary Warming'

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OO UN's World Meteorological Organization Chimes In:
2014 As Hottest Year
- a little over 1°F above the next hottest year.

OO 14 Of The 15 Hottest Years On Record Have Occurred Since 2000, WMO Says

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These are super cute little guys, that give off high little peeps when alarmed. Source: Daily Climate.

OO Disappearance Of Bunny-Like Pika Linked To Climate Change

Social Repercussions:

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AP photo/Hektor Pustina

OO PHOTOS: Albania In State Of Emergency After Historic Extreme Flooding - the second worst on record.

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Recognize the Big Apple? Just oa third of all glaciers have to melt completely for this to come true - and almost all glaciers are melting now...

OO Maps Show What Major US Cities Would Look Like With Future Sea Rise - created by Jeffrey Linn, aided by a background in geography and urban planning, they assume 100 or more feet of sea rise: not projected to happen by 2100, but it's likely that future children will face this and other disastrous problems, depending on how fast we stop carbon emissions.

OO Rising Temperatures Threaten US Mountain States

Related Headline:

OO Colorado: Climate Change Could Bring More Disease, Crop Damage, Fires
State-commissioned study sees 2.5 to 5.5-degree temperature increase by 2050.

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A child slave carries water. source kazakhnomad.wordpress.com

OO Climate Change Pushes India's Poorest Children Into Slavery - Disasters resulting from climate change are pushing poor Indian families into poverty and children trafficking.

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KEEPING CARBON STORED: FORESTS UPDATE
Forests: the cheapest way to store carbon

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Trees: Giant carbon storage creatures.

OO Scientists Seeking To Save World Find Best Technology Is Trees for sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere and storing it.

OO Communities Create Timber Company To Protect Sumatran Forest - planting, instead of logging trees, in and around villages.

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The dramatic Tongkonan houses in Sulawesi, Indonesia, are built from forest materials. Wikipedia

OO Sulawesi Communities Build Big, Unique Houses
By Sustainably Managing Forests

OO Indonesia: Despite Green Promise, Forestry Giant Destroys Forests, Peatlands - the culprit is Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd (APRIL).

@@ Video: Innovative Tourism Helps Protect Forests In Amazonian Peru

OO Indonesia: Community Managed Forests Have 11 Times Lower Deforestation Rate - than land outside their borders, says a new study.

OO Scientists Warn Investors On Cacao Company's Forest Destruction In Peru

OO Norway Asked To Divest From Forest-Destroying Company linked to a corrupt Malaysian official, who accrued wealth through destructive exploitation of Borneo forests in Sarawak.

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Papuan forests on the island of Papua New Guinea are home to Birds of Paradise that are found no where else in the world; when the forests disappear, so do the birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology

OO Rapid Development Threatening Traditional Farms, Forests In West Papua - a system of community protected areas and family agricultural rotation that have maintained their way of life and forests' health for time immemorial is now threatened by government-fostered development.

OO The Amazon's Oil Boom: Concessions Cover A Chile-Sized Bloc Of Rainforest - that will be threatened by large scale destruction by a potent combo of greedy governments and companies, if the previous history of fossil fuel and resource exploitation in rainforests there are any guide.

OO World Bank's Forest Carbon Program Falls Short on indigenous peoples' rights, says a new report, ready to fund projects without adequate safeguards for ensuring the community rights are respected.

There is, of course, much more news on the consequences and solutions to climate change. To get it, check out this annotated resource list I've compiled, "Climate Change News Resources," at Wordpress.com here. For more information on the science of climate change, its consequences and solutions you can view my annotated list of online information resources here.

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 crocus 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.

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