Answering some questions about the whistleblowing experience

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Climate Science Watch

“People who are doing something behind closed doors that is an abuse of power should worry about whether what they’re doing will come out.  They shouldn’t feel safe in doing it.”  The Government Accountability Project’s American Whistleblower Tour 2011-12 made a stop in Houston, Texas, and CSW director Rick Piltz, GAP’s National Security and Human Rights director Jesselyn Radack, and Texas whistleblower Kenneth Kendrick spoke to and answered questions from a roomful of law students and others, as part of a day-long course in whistleblower legal issues. Continue reading →

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Hansen: Climate science and moral responsibility

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Rick Piltz

Calling climate change an issue of intergenerational justice on a par with ending slavery, James Hansen will argue in his lecture on being awarded the Edinburgh Medal that current generations have an overriding moral duty to their children and grandchildren to take immediate action, the Guardian reported.  Hansen et al.’s paper, “Scientific Case for Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change to Protect Young People and Nature,” is forthcoming in the Proceedings of the  National Academy of Sciences. “This situation raises profound moral issues as young people, future generations, and nature, with no possibility of protecting their future well-being, will bear the principal consequences of actions and inactions of today's adults,” Hansen et al. conclude. Continue reading →

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Assessing the risks of climate extremes in an already-stressed world

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Rick Piltz

In a world that is already very stressed, climate disruption becomes a stress multiplier that will affect vulnerable populations and assets in both developed and developing countries, we said in a brief response to a couple of questions from Al Jazeera English TV on the release of the IPCC Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events. Continue reading →

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The Hunger Games, climate change, and the 99%

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Katherine O'Konski

As a Hunger Games fan, I braved the crowds to catch the movie this past weekend along with another $155 million worth of fans – though I wasn’t crazy enough to go to one of those midnight showings.  CSW first became interested in the series because Suzanne Collins makes a brief but pointed reference to climate change in the beginning of the novel. Continue reading →

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General Motors pulls funding from Heartland Institute; Heartland responds

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Climate Science Watch

A GM spokesman confirmed that the company will stop funding the Heartland Institute, a well-known cog in the global warming denial machine. Heartland issued a response in which they complain about, get this:  the Huffington Post, Center for American Progress, 350.org, Greenpeace, and, of course, Peter Gleick. Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming Denial Machine | 1 Comment

New EPA greenhouse gas rule may effectively end new coal power plants

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Climate Science Watch

The Environmental Protection Agency is set to announce a proposed rule to strictly limit carbon emissions from new power plants, several news sources have reported.  Industry and environmentalist sources, the Washington Post reports, “say that the rule … dooms any proposal to build a coal-fired plant that does not have costly carbon controls.” The devil is in the details, as they say, and we’ll have to look closely at the proposed rule, but this looks like another step in the right direction for EPA.  And a move toward less coal in Obama’s ‘all of the above’ energy policy.

Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change Mitigation, Obama Administration | 1 Comment

Global Warming: What We Knew in ’82

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Climate Science Watch

Climate Denial Crock of the Week has posted a very interesting video that calls attention to “the contrast between what scientists already knew even 30 years ago, and the pathetically slow response to this gathering storm.”  The video draws on footage from a talk given by scientist Michael MacCracken at the Sandia National Lab in 1982, combined with a recent interview with MacCracken at a climate conference at the University of Michigan, with additional comments by Jim Hansen, Andrew Dessler, and others.  We’ve taken the liberty of reposting it here, with thanks to Peter Sinclair.  (Additional MacCracken links below.)

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A court victory for the evils of mountaintop removal coal mining: Arch Coal Spruce No. 1 mine permit reinstated

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Rick Piltz

Photo: Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition; Earthjustice website

Sierra Club, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Coal River Mountain Watch, and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy:  “We are deeply disappointed and concerned about the effect of today’s court ruling because mountaintop removal mining has already caused widespread and extreme destruction to the mountains, waters, and communities of Appalachia. The Spruce No. 1 Mine permit, in particular, was one of the largest mountaintop removal permits ever proposed in Appalachia…. We need EPA to be able to fully protect our waters.” We would add: to end this tangle of permitting decisions and litigation, we believe correct public policy would be to ban mountaintop removal mining outright.

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Posted in Global Climate Disruption and Impacts, Obama Administration | Leave a comment

Still drunk on oil: Obama’s speech in Cushing

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Rick Piltz

What would liberals be saying if President Bush – or hypothetically, a President McCain – had given the speech President Obama gave in Cushing, Oklahoma, on March 22?  “We’ve added enough new oil and gas pipeline to encircle the Earth and then some. We are drilling all over the place – right now.”  And of course, not a word about climate change in talking about why we might not want to expedite tar sands production with the Keystone XL pipeline. Continue reading →

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Update on the unresolved fight over who gets to read Michael Mann’s email

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Rick Piltz

University of Virginia

Legal skirmishing continues in the effort of the global warming denial machine to obtain 12,000 emails sent and received by paleoclimatologist Michael Mann when he was at the University of Virginia. Now that the Virginia Supreme Court has tossed out Attorney General Cuccinelli’s inquisition, next up is the American Tradition Institute’s demand for the same documents using the state’s Freedom of Information Act. Continue reading →

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