Would these scientists be paid no compensation if they didn’t find what the Republican legislators want?
That is not how real science is conducted — EVER.
There is bad news all around here, with the most alarming being the sudden rise in emissions of methane, a very potent greenhouse gas (25x that of carbon dioxide). If the arctic tundra has begun to seriously outgas, the outlook is very grim.
Greenhouse Gases, Carbon Dioxide And Methane, Rise Sharply In 2007. Science Daily
Carbon dioxide, methane up sharply in 2007-US govt. Reuters.
In British Columbia, a beetle upsets climate calculus. A record infestation of beetles is turning western Canada’s forests from a carbon sink into a CO2 source. By Peter N. Spotts. Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor.
Bad news beetles in Colorado: Tree killers could add to global warming. By Mike Saccone. The Daily Sentinel
I am posting this news because the winter of 2007-8 has been colder than normal in the United States, and once again some people are confusing the weather with climate, and in an irritatingly parochial way confusing the United States with the world.
Low temperatures and heavy snow in the United States and Europe were more than offset by high temperatures in Asia. The area of snow coverage in North America and Europe was the most extensive on record. Nevertheless, warm temperatures in March in Europe led to rapid snow melt. In Europe snow coverage for March was the lowest on record — the change was extreme.
In the United States, “Only Rhode Island, New Mexico and Arizona were warmer than average, while near-average temperatures occurred in 39 other states. The monthly temperature for Alaska was the 17th warmest on record, with an average temperature 3.8°F above the 1971-2000 mean.”
Global Land Temperature Warmest On Record In March 2008. Science Daily.
President Bush recently gave a speech announcing a new and friendlier Administration policy on climate change, or at least it was presented that way.
Closer analysis shows the speech had a lot of problems.
The [Annotated] Climate Speech. By Andrew C. Revkin. New York Times.
Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post was not impressed either. White House watch: Bush’s Third Climate-Change Fake-Out.
Grizzly bears are showing up in the high arctic and polar bears wandering south of the Arctic Circle.
These 3 starving polar bears were shot when they discovered food in a village far inland.
Lost polar bears hit NWT town. Animals’ arrival hundreds of kilometres south of habitat seen as sign of climate change. By Katherine O’Neil. The Globe and Mail.
Pine beetle infestation impacting salmon runs. Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun.
Just a reminder to those politicians and others who say we need a rapid plan to save the pines in Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, etc. The pine beetle infestation covers the pine forests from Alaska south to northern New Mexico. It will have varying impacts such as the salmon story above throughout the entire Rocky Mountains and many adjacent mountain ranges. No statewide or local program can save them, and in many places most are dead already.
Note: I am not speaking of pine in a generic sense (not to mean conifer). I mean lodgepole pine, white pine, whitebark pine, etc.
Giant Antarctic ice shelf breaks into the sea. UK Guardian. By Claire Truscott and agencies
Photo of collapse from National Geographic News.
Glaciers Are Melting Faster Than Expected, UN Reports. Science Daily.
Earlier. Hundreds Of Antarctic Peninsula Glaciers Accelerating As Climate Warms (June 6, 2007). Science Daily
Western Watersheds Project Blog Buffalo Field Campaign Blog Wild Again!! Demarcated Landscapes
