Climate Change News Roundup: 28 November 2010

by billlaurelMD

Looks like a duality of riches: CCNR#1

What elements of climate result in drought? And how is drought impacted by global warming?  Here's a diary on surface water balance, and then some recent findings from climate change researchers on drought that the "primer" on water balance will help you better understand why reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is a social, economic, and political imperative.

A graphic telling the tale is below. The original study by NCAR (Meehl et al, 2007) was published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

continued at Daily Kos....

Calling all bloggers! Climate Conference in Cancun.

by rb137

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, will be held from November 29 to 10 December 2010, and it includes the sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 16) and the sixth Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 6), among other regular climate meetings (see link).

This 12-day conference kicks off tomorrow, when delegates the world over will talk about climate financial aid, energy, deforestation, and attempt to forge a path to a comprehensive, international climate deal. Among the key objectives is focusing on the climate impact on developing countries, and pointedly launching a "Green Fund" as a primary source for aid to poor countries that suffer the brunt of climate change, as promised at Copenhagen. The need is expected to reach $100 billion by 2020.

continued at Daily Kos....

Dawn Chorus: Fall in New England

by juliewolf

I love living in Vermont.  Our birds aren't as exotic as the Southwestern Species, and we don't commonly get the coastal excitement that they do over in NH and MA, but we get birds that are adaptable to the cold.  Fall in Vermont is especially interesting because we get boreal birds passing through as well as some occasional surprises.  One surprise happened to me just the other day in the form of this Barred Owl

                               

I didn't photograph it for long, but apparently it's been hanging out in this one spot, not far from my house (I could walk there without too much hassle), for months.  

Below the fold, I'll share some of our other local Fall birds, as well as a fairly major surprise/life bird.

continued at Daily Kos....

Gulf Watchers Sunday - More Agencies Point Fingers at BP - BP Catastrophe AUV #432

by Yasuragi

You are in the current Gulf Watchers BP Catastrophe - AUV #432. ROV #431 is here.

Bookmark this link to find the latest Gulf Watchers diaries.

Please RECOMMEND THIS DIARY, the motherships have been discontinued.

Gulf Watchers Diary Schedule
Monday - evening drive time
Wednesday - morning
Friday - morning
Friday Block Party - evening
Sunday - morning

Part one of the digest of diaries is here and part two is here.

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

continued at Daily Kos....

Today

by Miep

Funny how these are called diaries. That dates back some.

This is a diary. It's about my life, today, maybe last few days. Also about a lot of stuff I've been thinking and writing about.

I hope y'all appreciate this.

continued at Daily Kos....

Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Thanksgiving weekend edition)

by Neon Vincent

Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, and the environment.

No featured story tonight, just this Thanksgiving greeting from the OND volunteer editors.

Science, space, and environment stories after the jump.

continued at Daily Kos....

Eighteen Month Follow Up On The OTHER Dangerous Fossil Fuel Spill, the One in Tennessee.

by NNadir

On December 22, 2008, about a month before the end of the disasterous Presidency of George W. Bush, a containment dam at the Kingston, TN coal plant ruptured, releasing 3.7 million cubic meters of dangerous fossil fuel waste into the Emory River, a tributary of the Tennessee River.

The Tennessee River is a major source of drinking water for cities in the region, and is the drinking water supply for 4.7 million Americans.

A paper published in "ASAP" form in the current issue of the scientific journal Environmental Science and Technology reports on the leaching of heavy metals and toxic nonmetals, from this dangerous coal waste now in the river.  The elements discussed are arsenic, selenium, lead, barium, strontium and boron, uranium, manganese and iron.

Here is a link to the paper.  

Environmental Science and Technology is a publication of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

continued at Daily Kos....

Major data error in critical global temperature data set

by A Siegel

Anthony Watts (Watt's Up With That) and others have long argued that there are quite serious problems with temperature records, problems that are so serious that they call into question what science is / scientists are telling us is happening in our planetary climate system due to human influence (through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but also land use practices and other actions).  

Let me be the first to write this: according to recent reporting, Watts and his compatriots look to have been absolutely right.  

There has been, over the last decade or so, a systemic bias in a critical global temperature system that has created a serious error in reporting that has not been understood by scientists until quite recently.

continued at Daily Kos....

Climate scientist takes on AM radio host and wins!

by Keith Pickering

Until a few months ago, nobody ever heard of John Abraham, an engineering professor at St. Thomas University in St. Paul. Maybe you've never heard of him. But he's shaping up to be perhaps the biggest hero of the fight against global warming, evah.

On Tuesday, John was a guest of Jake Judd, radio host and climate skeptic on KDLM-AM in Detroit Lakes, MN. But in less than half an hour, Judd was waving the white towel.

"All right, all right," Judd said. "No matter what side you are on, most people agree that Earth is warming and we have to do something about it."

continued at Daily Kos....

SHOCKER!!! 11-year old wants NOT A THING for her birthday!

by citisven

Happy Black Friday,

Allow me to introduce you to my friend Sylvie, who is spending this fall with her parents and two sisters in Kathmandu, where she celebrated her 11th birthday last week.

Here's how she got there:

We're taking our family back to South Asia for a Fall Semester Sabbatical! Ever since our 2007 Fulbright semester in India, we've been saving up and planning for our return. We will enroll our own daughters, and teach at Manasarovar Academy, a charity school in Kathmandu serving children of Tibetan refugee families. Paul was granted unpaid leave from his teaching job, and Karen departed one month early from her summer park ranger position.

Their blog is worth checking out in its entirety, for inspiration on how a family of very modest means can offer their kids amazing experiences and opportunities.

I'd like to share the story of how sometimes the greatest gift can be to free a bird.

continued at Daily Kos....