Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Hell is coming: Drought in the age of global warming

by DWG

"Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over."

-- Mark Twain (unverified)

Climate has always determined the availability of water resources. The human primate, proof of unintelligent design, has become a very potent force in depleting and destroying water resources. Together, it is recipe for disaster.

A study published in Nature last month showed that 80% of the human population lives in areas with severe threats to water security. A comprehensive review by Aiguo Dai at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) paints a grim picture of the effects of climate change on water resources during this coming century. Drought will be the hallmark of the 21st century.

The detailed analysis concludes that warming temperatures associated with climate change will likely create increasingly dry conditions across much of the globe in the next 30 years, possibly reaching a scale in some regions by the end of the century that has rarely, if ever, been observed in modern times.



continued at Daily Kos....

Drumming For The Planet: MA Climate Action, 11/6/10

by WarrenS

This is a repost of a previously published diary.

Three Traditions of Rhythm
Come Together to Beat Climate Change!

Saturday, November 6 — 7:00 pm

Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street, Boston



continued at Daily Kos....

Nourishing the Planet TV: Staying Tuned for More Innovations

by NourishingthePlanet

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet.

Nourishing the Planet research intern, Abisola Adekoya, explains how Farm Radio International is taking advantage of radio’s popularity throughout sub-Saharan Africa to improve livelihoods for smallscale farmers. By broadcasting shows about improved composting methods and organic fertilizer, for example, Farm Radio International is helping farmers to repair degraded soil, increase harvests, and improve their incomes.



continued at Daily Kos....

Gulf Watchers Wednesday Edition - 6 Months of Gulf Sorrow -BP Catastrophe AUV #411

by peraspera

You are in the current BP Catastrophe Morning Edition - AUV #411. ROV #410 is here.

Bookmark this link to find the latest Gulf Watchers diaries.

Please RECOMMEND THIS DIARY, the motherships have been discontinued.

The digest of diaries is here.

Please be kind to kossacks with bandwidth issues. Please do not post images or videos. Again, many thanks for this.

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!



continued at Daily Kos....

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

China stops our Green Revolution in its tracks

by gjohnsit

 The news media and the political blogs are enraptured with handicapping the political races. No one has time to worry about real issues anymore. This is the silly season, when immigrant nannies and comments from comedians become "important". When shady television hucksters are inexplicably taken seriously and hold huge political rallies.

 Yet the real world, the one that operates on tangible things that make an actual difference in our lives, keeps chugging along.
  While some of you were busy obsessing about political trivialities, the governments of the world were entering a global trade war. This development entered a scary stage yesterday when Brazil decided not to attend the coming G20 summit.

 However, that was nothing compared to China's latest move.



continued at Daily Kos....

US Croplands, Climate Change, Biofuels and, um, Science.

by NNadir

I don't know if you've ever had occassion to sit at the dinner table with religious fundementalists and discuss science.

I have.   (I have, in fact, sat in the laboratory, and discussed science with religious fundementalists, but let's not talk about that.)

One of the more fun conversations like this - dinner table, not laboratory - involved a family member, who I happen to know has never opened a science book seriously in her life - informing all of the members of our family that "everything in the Bible has been verified by science."  

This is not by itself even remotely interesting except to inform us on one level about the prestige of science, since in former times science was only considered valid if it conformed to religion whereas, subtly without all that much notice, religions now seek validity from science and not the other way around.

Science has become a cultural talisman worldwide.   As it happens, the paper from the primary scientific literature comes from the journal Science...



continued at Daily Kos....

Another international failure to regulate greenhouse gas emissions

by DWG

The Obama administration announced what appeared to be a breakthrough in international cooperation to reduce carbon emissions from the aviation sector. Here is the description from the State Department.

The United States welcomes the historic agreement today at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on international aviation and climate change. Delegates to the Assembly adopted an unprecedented global commitment to collective action among countries around the world —developed and developing—to limit and reduce carbon emissions from international aviation. ICAO recognized that further work is necessary to define the path forward on implementation and the United States affirmed its commitment to further efforts within ICAO.

An agreement "to limit and reduce carbon emissions from international aviation" would indeed be worthy of celebration because aviation emissions currently represent 5% of industrial emissions. Unfortunately, the agreement is mostly smoke and mirrors.



continued at Daily Kos....

Climate Hero Marshall closing in on Climate Zombie Burr

by A Siegel

In North Carolina, Democratic Party Senate nominee Elaine Marshall is closing on incumbent Senator Richard Burr.  While polling shows Marshall trailing some eight points, that is five points closer than just a week ago. North Carolinians are waking up to the election and taking notice of the stark contrasts between the two candidates.

One of those arenas of (extremely) stark contrast:  Clean Energy Opportunities and Climate Change Science.



continued at Daily Kos....

Monday, October 18, 2010

ecojustice: "where am i needed, how can i help?"

by boatsie

"Environmentalists often say that we are the one species the earth could very well do without. That's so well-accepted among the people of my tribe that it seems to go without saying.

"But what if it's not true?

"What if we have been designed, crafted, fed, modified, and adapted by the ecosystem (aka Mother Earth), so that both the human species, and all other life, can carry on? What if we are intended to discover and actually engage capacities that deep down we know we have, but rarely utilize?

"What if we've been given that special role all along?

"Imagine how important and how joyful the taking up of that responsibility could be, as well as daunting." Andy Lipkis. Catalyzing Rapid Response Climate Change



continued at Daily Kos....

Hawai'i Underwater and More - A Photo Diary

by Haole in Hawaii

Welcome to another one of these photo diaries meant as a brief respite from the stuggles of the day and as a reminder that we share this planet with all manner of wonderful critters...

Temple
Byodo-In Temple in Kaneohe
...and the occasional beautiful human-created space.  
(this is an infrared-HDR photo)



continued at Daily Kos....