Climate tweets for 25 May 2014

The urgent voice who refused to be silenced on climate danger: Simple Climate 
http://simpleclimate.wordpress.com/2014/05/24/the-urgent-voice-who-refused-to-be-silenced-on-climate-danger/
[James Hansen, science]

Climate Code Red: The real budgetary emergency & myth of "burnable carbon" http://www.climatecodered.org/2014/05/the-real-budgetary-emergency-burnable.html
[science]

Why Oklahoma lawmakers don't want kids to learn about climate: @motherjones
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/05/oklahoma-climate-science-education-denial 
[education, science, denial]

RT Bill McKibben @billmckibben:
Wow! MA gubernatorial candidates endorse divestment! Good work @350Mass and all the others pushing hard! 
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/05/24/activists-gain-mass-candidate-support-for-fossil-fuel-divestment/
[investing]

RT Dana Nuccitelli @dana1981:
Who are the 'alarmists' here? Real conservatives value evidence | Deseret News 
http://po.st/Zb3Kot  via @deseretnews by @BarryBickmore1
[science, denial]

Top energy analyst charges @Shell with asset-stranding risk “naivety”: @jeremyleggett 
http://www.jeremyleggett.net/2014/05/10840/
[Jeremy Leggett, investing, divestment]

Climate Change and the Years of Investing Dangerously: @iimag 
http://bit.ly/1p1t6Ns
[divestment, carbon bubble]

RT Bill McKibben @billmckibben:
Mountain snows ever scarcer in Pakistan, making life impossible for farmers
http://www.trust.org/item/20140523110407-xj352/?source=fiHeadlineStory
[farming, food, water, agriculture]

RT CitizensClimateLobby @citizensclimate:
Great editorial in KC Star: Keep battling Kochs and allies to deliver clean, renewable energy 
http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/24/5042890/keep-battling-koch-industries.html
[Kansas, wind power, wind energy, denial]

RT ClimateNow @ClimateNow:
Athabasca glacier melting at ‘astonishing’ rate of more than five metres a year
http://bit.ly/1ppaVP6
[Canada, science]

Alabama's Climate Change Deniers Refuse to Save State: @BW
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-22/alabamas-climate-change-deniers-refuse-to-save-the-state
[denial, sea level]

Australians more worried about climate change, poll finds: @p_hannam @smh 
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/australians-more-worried-about-climate-change-poll-finds-20140523-38u81.html
[public opinion]

Climate tweets for 15 April 2014

RT Fossil Free ‏@GoFossilFree:
WWRD (What Would Rosie Do)? With that can-do spirit, she'd divest of course: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.267323880116076.1073741833.122088667972932&type=1 … We <3 this, @DivestSmith!
[investing, divestment]

Canada’s Climate Warms to Corn as Grain Belt Shifts North: @BW http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-04-15/canada-s-climate-warms-to-corn-as-grain-belt-shifts-north 
[food, farming, agriculture]

Climate scientist James Hansen says the heat is on: 
http://www.dailylocal.com/general-news/20140411/climate-activist-says-the-heat-is-on
[science]

What’s devastating wild moose population in New England?: @NewsHour http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/alarming-decline-wild-moose-new-hampshire/
[wildlife]

Casanare drought raises Colombia climate fears: @BBCNews http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-27020209
[water, food, farming, agriculture]

Drought threatens one of Asia’s favorite crops: tea: 
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101575001
[food, agriculture, water]

Bombshell: Study Ties Epic California Drought, ‘Frigid East’ to Manmade Climate Change
http://thkpr.gs/1iVyRo4
[science]

RT Fossil Free ‏@GoFossilFree:
Such. A. Cool. Banner. MT @backboneprog Great day at Seattle University! Divest from fossil fuels now! 
http://pic.twitter.com/ivHvUjEVvL

How open data is being used to hack climate change: @guardian http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/apr/14/climate-change-flooding-open-data 

RT Things Break ‏@thingsbreak:
.@bjornlomborg Why are you comparing the annual [damage] cost to the [cumulative mitigation] cost? I mean, I know why, but why do you think you won't get caught?

New Jersey's Coastal Assets Threatened by Global Rise in Sea Level: @NJSpotlight http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/14/04/13/new-jersey-s-coastal-assets-threatened-by-global-rise-in-sea-level/?p=all
[flooding]

Climate tweets for 13 March 2014

Must-Read: By the Way, Your Home Is on Fire: The Climate of Change and the Dangers of Stasis http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/22400-by-the-way-your-home-is-on-fire-the-climate-of-change-and-the-dangers-of-stasis 

Going, Going ... New Mexico Snow | Open Mind 
http://tamino.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/new-mexico-snow/ 
[drought, water]

How Dry Will It Get? New Climate Change Predictions: @LiveScience http://www.livescience.com/44065-climate-change-means-less-rainfall.html 
[drought, flood, science]

.@AlGore speaks on drastic climate change at talk in S. Africa: @mailandguardian http://mg.co.za/article/2014-03-13-climate-change-making-everything-more-extreme 

Scientists fear 4degC rise possible: @RNZ_news http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/238670/scientists-fear-4degc-rise-possible 
[science]

California drought to drive up food prices in long term: @mercnews http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_25322583/farm-fork-california-drought-drive-up-food-prices 
[agriculture, farming, water]

Sea Level Rise Predictions Have Little Effect On Florida Real Estate: @KUOW http://kuow.org/post/sea-level-rise-predictions-have-little-effect-florida-real-estate 
[flood]

RT Kate Sheppard ‏@kate_sheppard: Hansen: "We're screwing our children, grandchildren, all future generations if we think we can use those unconventional fossil fuels."

RT Climate Reality ‏@ClimateReality: Nobel nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier: Arctic is the air conditioning of the world & the air conditioning is breaking http://bit.ly/1frpEls 

Sea-level rise threatening? No problem, say lawmakers

Much of eastern North Carolina is low-lying, level land that appears threatened by sea-level rise due to global warming, particularly if some of the more challenging scenarios scientists envision come to pass (more info here on one of these troublesome ideas, by noted climate scientist James Hansen and Makiko Sato).

The legislature of the Tarheel State, however, seems to be considering emulating the fabled approach taken by the medieval King Canute (or Cnut), who some chroniclers say went out to the sea's edge, ordered the tide not to come in, and nearly drowned. Recently, North Carolina's lawmakers elected to ignore a scientific report on the issue and may simply legislate a solution, according to Bill Chameides, dean of Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment.

Writes Chameides in the Huffington Post: "In late April a revised version of a bill from the state House surfaced in the Senate that would enshrine [the position of a group that has lobbied against the scientific report]. This new bill would:
- limit sea-level rise to historical rates circa 1900,
- specify that sea-level rise may be extrapolated linearly to estimate future rates of rise, and
- disallow consideration of scenarios with accelerated rates of sea-level rise.

"Should this legislation come to fruition, North Carolina would be planning for a sea-level rise of about one foot rather than the scientifically projected three feet by the end of the century. That leaves a whole lot of water unaccounted for. And it could leave whole communities up coastal creeks paying for roads and bridges that no longer make sense to maintain in the face of rising seas."

Fascinating approach.

Animal and plant species on the move

My latest letter to the editor (but one--the latest is yet to be printed, after which I'll post it here). Local papers offer an excellent opportunity for climate activism and education. The Valley News, for example, will basically print any letter of 350 words or less, and asks only that writers refrain from writing more than once every two weeks.  Pretty hard to beat.  The only defect is that they don't have a web version.

Letter to the Editor - Valley News (Lebanon, N.H.) - February 25, 2012 (Links added)

To the Editor:

A recent lengthy article ("Warm Winter Weather Has Wildlife, People Both Befuddled," Feb. 26) discussed the remarkably warm winter we are having, but failed to mention the obvious question of whether it is related to global warming.  In fact, the general tone was reassuring.  A conservation biologist was quoted as saying the unusual warmth could have "some short-term effects ... but it's not a huge concern in the long term."  Unfortunately, this is misleading, and here's why:

A study of some 1,400 plant and animal species, published in the journal Science in August 2011, found that on average, they are moving toward the poles (north in the northern hemisphere, south in the southern) at an average of 16-17 kilometers (10-11 miles) per decade, and that this pattern has persisted for at least the last 40 years.  Plants and animals are also migrating to higher elevations where that is possible, again apparently in response to a warming climate.  So, if you're befuddled or puzzled about spotting unusual wildlife or not seeing species you are used to seeing, that may well be why.

The article was a very good one as far as it went, but that wasn't far enough.  Please consider contacting one or two climate scientists the next time you are covering the topic of unusual weather.  Climate is the big picture, but inevitably it is going to affect our weather--as one well-known climate scientist, NASA's James Hansen, puts it, we are "loading the climate dice" in the direction of warmer and more extreme weather.

To those who are already concerned about this issue, I urge your support for Citizens' Climate Lobby and H.R. 3242, the Save Our Climate Act, which would tax carbon and return the proceeds to all Americans in the form of an annual dividend.

Thomas O. Gray

'Loading the climate dice': Why it's important

[UPDATED 6/23, 9:30 a.m.] Twenty years ago today, James E. Hansen testified before the Senate Energy Committee — in a room kept intentionally warm by committee staff — that the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels and forests was already perceptibly influencing Earth’s climate.

That's a quote from the New York Times' Andrew C. Revkin, dated June 23, 2008, memorializing a key 1988 turning point in the history of human-caused climate change. Dr. Hansen was then director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City. Revkin adds:

The video [shot by Revkin during a 2008 interview that is the subject of the article] begins with [Dr. Hansen's] explanation of a visual aid he created in 1988 with Jose Mendoza, an illustrator at Goddard in the days before PowerPoint: a pair of cardboard dice showing how humans were tipping the odds toward climate troubles. Notably, perhaps because of old glue, the paper black dots were falling off. (emphasis added)

The more I think about Dr. Hansen's metaphor, the more impressed I am.  In 1988, he was able to come up with a very simple explanation of how humans were affecting the climate--so simple that almost anyone could understand it.  My profession is communications, and I can tell you from long experience, that's not easy to do.

In addition to being simple, it's a very accurate (perfect?) description of a scientific phenomenon that is becoming more and more obvious as time goes on, and the perfect response to those who (1) point to a remarkably cold or snowy day as proof that global warming doesn't exist or (2) (accurately) state that any short stretch of weather doesn't prove the climate is changing.  No, a short stretch of record hot weather doesn't prove anything, but we are loading the climate dice, and it's exactly the type of weather that we'll be seeing more and more of as time passes, because we've changed the odds and the "old normal" no longer applies.

I'd like to encourage everyone who shares my concern about global warming, and about the remarkably poor job most mass media are doing of communicating the issue, to bring up the topic of "loading the dice" as often as possible.  It's simple, it's accurate, and there's not, to my knowledge, an easy and simple denier response.  Regrettably, after all this time, many newspaper and broadcast journalists still don't get this most basic explanation of the effect of human-caused climate change on weather.