Coral Reefs Dying from Climate Change

by rebb

an earlier version was previously posted at intlawgrrls.com

As an avid diver, I wanted to cry when I read last week's announcement from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)  that coral reefs off the coast of Indonesia are being devastated by unusually warm sea waters. In what is being called "one of the most rapid and destructive coral bleaching events on record" large swaths of coral off the coast of Sumatra have died.

A world without coral reefs is too horrible to contemplate.  Not only would our destruction of coral reefs completely violate whatever social contract exists between generations, it would leave the world a sadder, uglier, and much poorer place.  We have to stop spewing carbon!!

continued at Daily Kos....

Judge quashes VA AG's subpoena of UVA/Michael Mann

by seesdifferent

The University of Virginia was given a was given a subpoena by VA Attorney General Cuccinelli, who wanted to investigate/imtimidate climate scientist Michael Mann (he of "hockey stick" fame) for possible fraud. The subpoena has now been quashed for lack of evidence.  

Judge Paul Peatross Jr. ruled that while the Virginia attorney general could investigate state grants awarded to scientists, Cuccinelli and his staff failed to demonstrate that such an investigation was warranted in this case. "The nature of the conduct is not stated so that any reasonable person could glean what Dr. Mann did to violate the statute," the judge wrote. "... The Court...understands the controversy regarding Dr. Mann’s work on the issue of global warming. However, it is not clear what he did that was misleading, false or fraudulent in obtaining funds from the Commonwealth of Virginia."

continued at Daily Kos....

Science Tidbits

by possum

The time is here once again.  Time to gather around and take a well deserved hiatus from all the politics of the day.  Science talk is here.  New discoveries, new takes on old knowledge, and other bits of news are all available for the perusing in today's information world.  Over the fold are selections from the past week from a few of the many excellent science news sites around the world.  Today's tidbits include an ancient galaxy is still producing stars, a bug with bifocals, a 200-fold boost in fuel cell efficiency, "spintronics" offers possible next generation computers, biosynthetic corneas, and the North American continent is a layer cake.  Pull up that beach chair and relax.  There is plenty of room for everyone.  Settle in for one more session of Dr. Possum's science education and entertainment.

continued at Daily Kos....

Celosia: Nature’s Prettiest Vegetable

by NourishingthePlanet

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet.

You may know it as that pretty ornamental flower in your garden, but did you know that Celosia could also be a delicious snack? This beautiful plant with flame-like flowers is actually a common and important food in parts of tropical Africa, its original home

continued at Daily Kos....

Broken food chains

by Steve Masover

I wrote in late May  about industrial food production, as an exemplar of a general thesis  that complexity breeds collapse. And here we go again: news in the U.S.  press this week skews heavily toward eggs contaminated with salmonella.  Not just one or two eggs. We're talking "recall of a half-billion eggs from two mega-farms in Iowa" according to Friday's San Francisco Chronicle.

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BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 97

by Gulf Watchers

Please rec the new Mothership #98 here. This one has expired.
The current ROV DIARY: Daily Kos Gulf Watchers ROV #346 - Watching and Waiting - BP's Gulf Catastrophe - Gulf Watchers Overnight / Tomtech

Rules of the Road

• We take volunteers for subsequent diaries in the sub diaries or ROV's as we have playfully coined them.
• Please rec this mothership diary, not the ROVs.
• Please be kind to fellow kossacks who may have limited bandwidth and refrain from posting images or videos.

PLEASE visit Pam LaPier's diary to find out how you can help the Gulf now and in the future. We don't have to be idle! And thanks to Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier for working on this!

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Hawai'i Underwater - A Photo Diary

by Haole in Hawaii

This is another in a series of diaries meant only as a brief respite from the stuggles and infuriations of the day and as a reminder that we share this planet with all manner of amazing critters.  These photos were taken during a handfull of dives over the past two weekends including a night dive last night at Pupukea Marine Reserve. I hope you enjoy your visit.

Lanikai Beach

continued at Daily Kos....

UPDATE: We just have to take it for ourselves. Nobody's going to help us.

by Muskegon Critic

Well...we did it.

We did our first ever pro-wind power parade in Muskegon during Roosevelt Park Day. Incidentally, Roosevelt Park is a 1 square mile city in Muskegon built around a factory, CWC Textron, in the 1940's. If you got a job there, the company would finance a house for you and give you a set of plans to choose from. A lot of little Cape Cods were built there. Well laid out, 1200 square foot homes. The theory behind the planned city was, a worker with a stable life was a better worker.

Yep. Long time ago.

Anyway, back to the parade.

Planned and organized by three members of our group, the West Michigan Jobs Group, we got on the ground and kept up rallying support for wind power. I gotta confess, I basically just showed up to the parade and brought literature, it was the three others who planned the whole thing.

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Sunday Train: Can Trains Help Win the Day in Australia?

by BruceMcF

Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence

It seems as if many people have been paying more attention to the Beckapalooza in DC ... and the whole furor had me initially confused, as originally I thought it was something to do with Beck the Mongolian Chop Squad ...

But last weekend, there was an election in Australia, and on the night it seemed like it could be the closest in Australian history. As the week went on, that proved to be the case. And I got to thinking, listening to the various independents that hold the balance of power, that there could well be an unlikely working partnership available, where trains could help delivered a progressive governing majority on the most improbable of foundations.

NB: the grassfire in a dry lake bed shot that I use on occasion is in fact from Australia, suffering what has been characterized as a long running drought, but what seems more likely to be a secular shift to a dryer climate.

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Time to blame climate change for extreme weather?

by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse

Scientists are working on linking extreme weather events happening today to climate change now. Scientists have been careful in the past to state the distinction between weather and climate change. As NASA states, some "scientists define climate as the average weather for a particular region and time period, usually taken over 30-years."   Some scientists and government officials have recently moved the ball forward, saying that the Pakistan floods and Russian fires might be linked to climate change.  Last week, atmospheric scientists met to discuss Attribution of Climate-Related Events or the use of simulations to calculate probabilities for extreme climate events now.

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