Senate hearing on “Impacts of Rising Sea Levels on Domestic Infrastructures”

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Katherine O'Konski

Global warming contrarian Senators gave the April 19 hearing, held by the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, a wide berth, allowing an all-too-rare uninterrupted meaningful discussion between expert witnesses and elected officials.  Thanks to Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota), the hearing also confronted the need to address climate change as the underlying cause of rising sea levels. Continue reading →

Posted in Congress: Legislation and Oversight | 2 Comments

On some questions about blogosphere skirmishing

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Rick Piltz

Dealing with denialists in the blogosphere is part of the skirmishing within the 99%, we said to a class at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.  It doesn’t touch the power elite that makes the most consequential decisions in society.  They know well enough what climate science is telling them.  They also have interests to protect. Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Science Watch | 1 Comment

Climate Reality Check Coalition: Action, Action, Action!

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Katherine O'Konski

Photo: Climate Reality Check

On April 5 CSW tuned into another Climate Reality Check Coalition conference call, this time discussing upcoming events that climate activists and allies are organizing to draw public attention to the grave environmental problems we face today – in particular the stranglehold of the fossil fuel industry on our energy system.  Organizers discussed upcoming actions including:  Earth Day 2012, 350.org Climate Impacts Day, Alliance for Appalachia’s Week in Washington and Day of Action to End Mountaintop Removal, and Hands Across the Sand. The call included a lively discussion about tying a wide variety of actions into a coherent narrative of positive change. Continue reading →

Posted in Activism | 1 Comment

On the intellectually empty, politically motivated attacks on NASA climate scientists by former astronauts

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Rick Piltz

Earth image source: NASA

With the 2013 NASA budget endangered by upcoming votes in Congress, attacks on Earth Science (where climate research and observing systems are funded) are to be expected.  A denial machine letter signed by 49 former NASA administrators, astronauts, and engineers – i.e., folks who want to steer budget cuts away from human space flight – stoops to attacks on NASA climate scientists, essentially calling for them to be disowned and muzzled by their agency.  The letter signers collectively have zero climate science expertise or relevant publications, in contrast with the NASA climate scientists, who are leaders in climate change research with a mountain of peer-reviewed publications.  And endless impediments to honest discourse and meaningful action. Continue reading →

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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 →

Posted in Climate Science Watch, Whistleblowers | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Science Communication | 5 Comments

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 →

Posted in Assessments of Climate Impacts and Adaptation, Climate Science Watch | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in General | 1 Comment

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