BPSDB
- Lots of bad news
- Where we are, a summary
- Some Good news
- Denier Watch
- Some Debunking
- The solution
Lots of bad news
Tibetan glaciers rapidly melting speaks for itself in terms of ‘what’. The ‘why’ it matters is that a billion people from China to Afghanistan depend on the melt waters to feed themselves for at least part of the year. Factor in “China’s crops at risk from massive erosion” “Over a third of China’s land is being scoured by serious erosion that is putting its crops and water supply a risk.”
Now consider that Global Warming Is Changing Organic Matter In Soil “From the perspective of agriculture, 
we can’t afford to lose carbon from the soil because it will change soil fertility and enhance erosion” Coupled with changes in precipitation and heat stresses the prospect for agriculture is grim indeed.
Well, you can understand why George Monbiot would say “The planet is now so vandalised that only total energy renewal can save us“, which he posted on his blog as we have only One Shot Left.
Where we are, a summary
James Hansen has prepared a letter “Tell Barack Obama the Truth – The Whole Truth” which Barry Brooks describes as “It is perhaps the single best succinct summary of the problems and solutions of global warming and related issues that I’ve read.”
Joseph Romm has replied with An open letter to James Hansen on the real truth about stabilizing at 350 ppm Brooks has some discussion of the proposals here, here and here.
Confused yet? I liked Rook’s analysis Fixing the Climate: “On the Scale of WWII but Longer” which helped me to understand it all as well as putting it into the correct perspective.
The fact is the challenge we face is enormous and immediate, yet we are quibbling with Deniers and trying to get people to reuse shopping bags. I am also inclined to agree with Fred Pearce “We must plan a survival strategy for our species” that it’s actually bigger than that.
Some Good news
According to the BBC we do have a ‘World mandate’ on climate action, and new Secretary of State for Climate
Change and Energy, Ed Miliband says We need eco-extremists. Ask and it shall be given unto you, at least ‘It’s Getting Hot in Here’ “Climate Protests Escalate Worldwide” and WorldWatch “Direct Action in the Climate Movement on the Rise” think so.
Denier Watch
Politico is trying to push the “Global Cooling” meme Scientists urge caution on global warming and got the fastest debunking I have seen yet, taking it from Joseph Romm The Politico Pimps Global Cooling for Congressional Deniers, David Roberts Politico Reporter Erika Lovley Embarrasses Politico, Self, Profession of Journalism, Humanity.
Lovely also tried to pawn off ‘The Gore Effect‘ ie if Gore is to speak somewhere it gets cold, which David Roberts discussed with his aptly titled Politico’s journalist malpractice: ‘Reporter’ Erika Lovley pens two of the dumbest stories of the decade on climate science.
UPDATE from Brian D. It appears that Politico has apologized, or at least tried to. As can be expected, Romm isn’t terribly impressed.
‘The Australian’ continues their ‘War on Science‘ with “The price of dissent on global warming” which is just a repeat of the silly Bellamy story. I tried to post a comment linking my debunking of this one, but for some reason my comment never appeared. If anyone else has better luck please let me know.
Not satisfied with that piece of fiction they also repeat the idiotic global cooling meme in “Cold snap fails to cool protagonists of global warming.” Lambert is right in saying that theirs is a War on Science, as simple rank stupidity or gross incompetence are not sufficient to explain the barrage of nonsense that the Australian inflicts on the world.
Some Debunking
Bookmark these so you can use them on forums and social networks to respond to Denier spam.
Coby Beck continues to expand his excellent “How to Talk to a Skeptic” series with Hansen wants the sceptics thrown in jail about the misrepresenting of James Hansen’s call for the enforcement of law (also here). This dovetails nicely with Mark Hoofnagle’s Cranks cry persecution, Nisbet listens discussing the Denier’s constant snivelling that they are the victims of bullying by reality facts conspiracies.
Barry Brook does a very nice job on the “global cooling” myth with What Bob Carter and Andrew Bolt fail to grasp:”You see, most of the extra solar energy trapped by the Earth’s slightly thicker blanket of greenhouse gases has not gone into raising air temperatures. It’s poured into the vast oceans (which contain about hundreds of times the volume of the atmosphere) … Indeed, it has been shown that about 90% of this additional energy has be used to heat water and about 7% to melt ice. Only about 3% is left over to warm the air. So we shouldn’t be at all surprised if air temperatures show the weakest response to the enhanced greenhouse effect – at least in the short term.”
potholer54 has released the next in his climate change series “Climate Change — the objections” to look at the most serious possible alternatives to anthropogenic climate change.
What I think is interesting is that how some of what we would now consider Denier memes were originally valid cause for legitimate skepticism. It is only once they have been definitively shown to be false that they become of stuff of Denierism.
The solution
The Solution
from Guerrilla Promos
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Denier “Challenge” aka Deathwatch Update: Day 49 … still no evidence.
IMAGE CREDITS:
Desertificazione, desertification, desertifikation by pizzodisevo (sorry, the left hand hurts)
Perito Moreno Glacier – Patagonia, Argentina by Ole Begemann
It appears that Politico has apologized, or at least tried to. As can be expected, Romm isn’t terribly impressed.
I also applaud Potholer54; he’s managed to address climate change in such a way that appeals to both scientists and Deniers (by honestly emphasizing uncertainties). Apart from a few minor gaffes (for instance, Oreskes did not say that all of them explicitly agreed with the consensus, rather she said that zero papers sampled disagreed with the consensus — very different claims), this one continues that trend. I’m waiting for the next part on this.
You forgot one:
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=f0a1687c-decd-4c72-9d0e-7e6dd92d4ebe
There’s growing reluctance to make any kind of personal sacrifices or lifestyle changes for climate change.
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But it’s down from last year when the economy wasn’t in as much of a crunch as today. I think people are waking up that this is all a ploy for more taxes and control and less about the environment.
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GreenFyre et al
This is good reading.
The space is addressing many questions regarding the science, and also invites questions about the economic and political context creating the dynamics of discussion.
Pretty soon, we should be able to turn our minds to change.
“Use only what you need”.
It’s common sense. Most people in the world (including most Westerners’ grandmothers and grandfathers) have known this. It’s only recently that we have lost sight of it in such dramatic fashion.
I am seeing sisters stepping up. It will be interesting to see what sort of society we organize in response to this mess. It could result in some fundamental shifts.
Of course, if the men and the upper classes see us coming, it could be trouble. 🙂
As the great Alfie R. liked to say, “Each one teach one” (it was a pedagogical term before it was a rock album).
Cheers!
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All this says is that for the moment people are choosing short term indulgence over long term suffering…
Sometimes consumerists even opt in for short-term suffering.
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