ClimateScienceWatch

Promoting integrity in the use of climate science in government

Climate Science Watch is a nonprofit public interest education and advocacy project dedicated to holding public officials accountable for the integrity and effectiveness with which they use climate science and related research in government policymaking, toward the goal of enabling society to respond effectively to the challenges posed by global warming and climate change. See Details

Pay now, or pay more later… global climate adaptation price tag climbs, says new report

Posted on Monday, August 31, 2009

The financial costs of supporting the global population in a climate-disrupted world were significantly underestimated in a series of 2007 background papers for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other key reports, according to an independent critique headed by Martin Parry, the eminent scientist who headed the 2007 IPCC assessment report on climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation. The amount of money developed countries are willing to put on the table to help less developed, and typically more vulnerable, nations cope with and attempt to “adapt” to climate change impacts is one of the main factors that could make or break the upcoming international climate negotiations in Copenhagen. It’s time to assess the true costs and to be realistic about the consequences of inaction.

Obama on 4th anniversary of Katrina: We must be more prepared for future disasters and challenges

Posted on Monday, August 31, 2009

“On this anniversary, we are focused on the threat from hurricanes. But we must also be prepared for a broad range of dangers,” President Obama said in his August 29 weekly address, on Lessons and Renewal Out of the Gulf Coast. Amen to that, and while he is using the language of preparedness planning and implementation, the President should start applying it to the threatened impacts of global climate disruption.

Assessing the costs of adaptation to climate change: A critique of the UNFCCC underestimates

Posted on Sunday, August 30, 2009

Scientists led by a former co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warn in a new report that the UN negotiations aimed at tackling climate change are based on substantial underestimates of what it will cost to adapt to its impacts. The real costs of adaptation are likely to be 2-3 times greater than estimates made by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), say Professor Martin Parry and colleagues in a new report published by the International Institute for Environment and Development and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London. The report adds that costs will be even more when the full range of climate impacts on human activities is considered. These findings raise profound issues of climate change preparedness, national security, and international equity in the climate change treaty negotiations.

Warming in the Heartland: Is the nation’s “breadbasket” toast?—Another preparedness challenge

Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009

Yields of three of the most important crops produced in the United States – corn, soybeans, and cotton – are predicted to “fall off a cliff” if temperatures rise due to climate change, according to a paper published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Global warming impacts on agricultural production should be included in the adaptation component of the Senate climate and clean energy bill—and estimates of potential CO2 “offsets” in the agricultural sector should factor-in the potential crop loss due to climate change-induced heat stress and drought.

New Orleans pumps unsafe on Katrina anniversary, report concludes: Army Corps preparedness cover-up?

Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009

The mainstream media, including the New York Times and the New Orleans Times-Picayune, have not covered an independent evaluation recently released by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) that there are serious safety and reliability issues with hydraulic pumps that were installed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The Government Accountability Project (GAP) says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is misrepresenting the situation and failing in preparedness to protect New Orleans in the event of another hurricane.

A new user-friendly computer tool for visualizing climate change

Posted on Friday, August 28, 2009

The Nature Conservancy has announced a new interactive program, ClimateWizard, that allows anyone to click on any state in the US or any region of the world to see how temperature and precipitation have changed in 50 years and how they are likely to change by the end of this century. According to the analysis behind ClimateWizard, the Heartland will heat up the most by 2100— Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, followed by South Dakota, Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois. This clever tool makes it more possible for techies and non-techies alike to see how climate change is likely to affect us in our own backyards.

Senate should pass a climate bill with a comprehensive adaptation policy

Posted on Monday, August 24, 2009

Senators Baucus (D-MT) and Whitehouse (D-RI) submitted proposed climate legislation earlier this month that mirrors the Natural Resources Adaptation section in the House-passed Waxman-Markey climate and clean energy bill (H.R. 2454). The broad coalition of environmental NGOs behind these provisions is well-organized, politically effective, and has put forth a solid proposal that should stand up to Congressional scrutiny. However, it is imperative that any comprehensive climate and clean energy bill also include a more all-encompassing set of adaptation programs addressing all sectors—in addition to those included in the House bill.

Ocean Warming, Ocean Warning: Global ocean surface temperature in July warmest on record

Posted on Friday, August 21, 2009

Earth’s average ocean surface temperature in July was the warmest since recordkeeping began in 1880, breaking the previous high mark established in 1998, according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. An El Niño natural climate variability pattern is currently superimposed on the human-driven global warming trend. The undersea storage of vast amounts of heat has serious implications for humanity’s future.

Mercury contamination, mainly from coal plant emissions, pervasive in fish nationwide, USGS finds

Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Contamination by mercury, a neurotoxin, was detected in EVERY FISH sampled in 291 streams across the country in a study released today by the U.S. Geological Survey. A quarter of the fish were found to contain mercury above EPA’s safe level for human consumption. The main source to watersheds is mercury emitted to the atmosphere and deposited by precipitation. Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of mercury emissions in the United States – in addition, of course, to being the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Oil lobby and its allies manufacture ‘astroturf’ rallies against climate legislation

Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The American Petroleum Institute, with an “eyes only” tactical memo, urged member companies to recruit their employees, retirees, vendors, and contractors to attend ‘Energy Citizen’ events across the country during the August congressional recess to show opposition to climate legislation. Other corporate and anti-tax interest groups joined in. Greenpeace released the leaked memo, the story was developed in the ‘netroots’ news media and blogosphere, then picked up and reported in the leading newspapers. Activist groups, bloggers, online alternative media, and good newspapers—all essential.

A memory of Robert Novak, 1931-2009, opponent of climate change mitigation policy

Posted on Tuesday, August 18, 2009

In his June 13, 2005, column (“Blair vs. Bush”) on the battle over climate and energy policy, columnist Robert Novak, who died this morning, wove a tale of how UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, 11 national academies of science, bipartisan cooperation in Congress, and whistleblower Rick Piltz were all, in effect, conspiring to pressure President Bush into adopting a “predatory” policy explicitly designed to weaken America. Thus, another case of Novak’s internal contradiction between the serious reporter and the political ideologue.

NY Times editorial echoes our view that Obama must speak out on climate change threat

Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009

An August 10 editorial in the New York Times (“A Real Bill for the Climate”) calls on President Obama, as we have done, to start communicating the urgency of the climate change problem and its threat to the planet, and get beyond the easy “green jobs” message that his administration and its supporters have been using to sell climate legislation. Right now, Senators are putting a combination of political warfare, anti-government-problem-solving ideology, and fossil energy interests ahead of dealing with the problem

Part 2: John Holdren Senate testimony on new directions for climate research and information service

Posted on Sunday, August 09, 2009

In July 30 Senate testimony, President Obama’s science and technology adviser John Holdren addressed the need for new directions for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, national climate change assessment, and the development of a National Climate Service—all along lines we have been advocating.

Part 1: John Holdren Senate testimony on climate change science and policy

Posted on Sunday, August 09, 2009

In July 30 Senate testimony on the relationship between climate research, assessment, and policymaking, President Obama’s science and technology adviser John Holdren presented the kind of articulate, rational, mainstream perspective that we have been accustumed to hearing from him for many years. The reality of his views and actions gives the lie to the cynical and paranoid attempt to vilify him currently circulating in some of the right-wing online media and blogs.

Health care death threat against Rep. Brad Miller, an ally on climate change and govt accountability

Posted on Saturday, August 08, 2009

The Associated Press reported on August 7 that Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC), who supports an overhaul of the health care system, apparently had his life threatened by a caller who is associated with the right-wing thugs who have been suppressing discussion of health care reform at town hall meetings. Miller, who chairs the Investigation and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Technology, has repeatedly earned our praise for his efforts on behalf of scientific integrity and government accountability, his opposition to the global warming disinformation campaign, and his support for whistleblowers.

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