For sheer amusement there is nothing like going to a climate denialist blog (i.e. Climate Change Fraud) and seeing the latest "proof" that NOAA is involved in a massive conspiracy to lie and defraud the American people about fake satellite data that shows global warming is a scam. The headline says it all: US Government in Massive New Global Warming Scandal – NOAA Disgraced
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Contrary to the impression you may have been left with after reading a recent Associated Press piece about the future (or lack thereof) of coal in this country, the reign of “King Coal” is ending.
If, while reading this snippet of an interview with Wisconsin GOP Senate frontrunner Ron Johnson, you feel the stupid starting to burn a bit, do not be alarmed.
It is probably just due to the sunspots:
A global warming skeptic, Johnson said extreme weather phenomena were better explained by sunspots than an overload of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as many scientists believe.
"I absolutely do not believe in the science of man-caused climate change," Johnson said. "It's not proven by any stretch of the imagination."
Johnson, in an interview last month, described believers in manmade causes of climate change as "crazy" and the theory as "lunacy."
"It's far more likely that it's just sunspot activity or just something in the geologic eons of time," he said.
Excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere "gets sucked down by trees and helps the trees grow," said Johnson.
Average Earth temperatures were relatively warm during the Middle Ages, Johnson said, and "it's not like there were tons of cars on the road."
He said he disagreed with any government spending to try to address global warming. A strong economy is the best way to preserve a good environment, Johnson said.
Never mind for the moment (as Eric Kleefeld at TPMDC noted) that sunspot activity has actually declined as of late.
Never mind that a group of scientists from the University of Guelph in Canada have released a study saying that there has been decline in tree growth despite increased CO2 levels, due to "warming induced stress."
Never mind that we have at present the conundrum of ever-increasing CO2 concentrations (up 36 percent since pre-industrial times) and ever decreasing trees (the total acreage of tropical forests is about half of what it once was).
What really matters here is that this little bit of "scientific logic" from Johnson is far from unprecedented. Indeed, there has been quite a trend developing with this guy. As Think Progress noted, this is not the first little bit of scientific theory to drop from the lips of candidate Johnson:
Unfortunately, Johnson’s anti-science, anti-environment views aren’t limited to his bizarre theory about sunspots. Last June, he claimed that global warming saved Wisconsin from turning into a glacier, saying he was “glad there’s global warming ... We’d be standing on top of a 200-foot thick glacier.” He has also told the press he is open to oil drilling in Wisconsin’s Great Lakes.
Interestingly, in the same interview where Johnson was pooh-poohing global climate change, he did manage to walk back the "drilling in the Great Lakes" thing.
Not because of the potentially disastrous effects on the natural wonders that are the Great Lakes, however. Johnson explained that "the Great Lakes oil reserves are too small to be worth drilling."
So, no drilling in the Great Lakes. But not because Johnson is concerned about the consequences of such action. Nope. No drilling in the Great Lakes simply because, in true Republican fashion, Johnson is concerned that the oil companies wouldn't make enough money off of it.
Please rec the new Mothership #85 here. This one has expired.
The current ROV DIARY: Daily Kos Gulf Watchers ROV #309 - No pressure; it's ambient - BP's Gulf Catastrophe - David PA
Rules of the Road
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!
Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.
Tonight's editor: ellinorianne
Please remember to rec the BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 83
All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.
In this weekly series we have been discussing the benefits of a vegetarian diet including: food safety , animal rights, better health, global food crisis, frugal living and the immense contribution of meat production to climate change/depletion of resources
Writing in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, Xiaobo Xue and Amy Landis examine which foods contribute most to ocean dead zones through nitrogen pollution and compared this with their carbon footprint, as established by previous studies. Red meat topped both footprint lists, making it the food with the greatest impact on both climate change and eutrophication: Eating a pound of beef creates about 22 lb of greenhouse gases and about 2.5 oz of nitrogen pollution. Cereals and carbohydrates had the smallest footprints, with each pound of food releasing only 3 lb of greenhouse gases and almost no nitrogen pollution.
The Pavlovsk Seed Repository and Gardens, located outside of Lennigrad, houses an extremely rare collection food crops seeds and living specimens of fruit trees including apple & cherry, berry plants (over 100 varieties of gooseberries and raspberries)and black currants, 9 out of 10 of which are found no where else in the world. During the WWII siege of Lenningrad, the Institute's scientists risked starvation rather than eat or allow starving residents to eat the repository's collection of wheat and potato seed. I had the privilege of meeting one of the scientists who risked death to save this collection at a Slow Food Presidia event in Turin many years ago. Through a translator, I thanked her for dedication and her fortitude. As we shook hands, I tried to imagine the physical and mental stress of having to choose between food today, and a nation's food supply in years to come. Having survived this brush with extinction, it was incredibly painful to hear that a Russian court recently ruled that the estate could be demolished to make way for a housing development.
Once again the time is here 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 mapping mammalian gene interactions, stone remains are Britain's earliest house, wax and soap help build electrodes for cheaper batteries, sensors more accurately measure the Chesapeake bay wetlands, and scientists discover oldest evidence of human stone tool use and meat eating. Pull up a comfy chair. There is plenty of room for everyone. Settle in for one more session of Dr. Possum's science education and entertainment.
It was a tough week in Tomorrowland, where everyone is above average, because the averages keep plummeting "faster than expected."
For a bit of Monday fun -- and for those 6 billion or so not paying close attention to what we're doing to ourselves -- below is this week's Pre-Apocalypse News & Info Quiz (PANIQuiz), about eco-collapse stories from the last seven days.
I wrote over the weekend about CNN's chief meteorologist publicly stating on air that he now accepts the evidence for man-made climate change, often referred to as Anthropogenic Global Warming or AGW for short. Another national weatherman, Stu Ostro, Senior Meteorologist at the Weather Channel, sounds to me even further divorced from his prior, more skeptical views, and he's made the switch, in his own words, based on evidence:
I changed my point of view from what it was in the days of the Fred Singer article, and would do so again if that’s what the evidence shows. But it does not. As I wrote back in 2006, global warming is not a religion. The chemistry, physics, and thermodynamics involved are science, not religion, nor are they liberal or conservative.
For those who don't know, Fred Singer is a noted AGW skeptic who arose from the well funded ranks of former defense industry scientists turned anti-environmentalists beautifully chronicled in the book Merchants of Doubt.
It's important to criticize those who attack science, and I'm happy to return the favor when anyone stoops to personally maligning scientists who are simply reporting their findings for our benefit. But it's equally important, if not more so, to recognize those with the professional courage and intellectual honesty to publicly change their view in the face of new evidence. Stu Ostro is clearly one of those folks and he's helping blaze a trail for his peers to follow.