IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Scientists warn while Americans yawn; Climate Thunder Down Under: it's fire season again in Australia, while their debate over climate change heats up ... PLUS: Sarah Palin 'goes rogue' on science ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Robert Redford's Sundance Channel to Air Climate Denier Propaganda; Oliver North: Will Deny Climate Change for Money; More Reasons to Worry About Asia’s Clean-Tech Push; GE Fires Up Rail Deals in China, Eyes U.S. High-Speed Rail Projects; Intel sees opportunities in wind, electric cars; US, China Climate Talks: Getting Warmer ...PLUS: 1971 Predictions of Energy Use in 2000: Who Got It Right? ....

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

• Scientists Warn: Natural Carbon Sinks Overwhelmed, Danger of 11 Degree Temperature Rise:
• Global temperatures could rise 6C by end of century, say scientists: Most comprehensive CO2 study to date is expected to give greater urgency to diplomatic manoeuvring before Copenhagen (Guardian UK) [emphasis added]:
  Global temperatures are on a path to rise by an average of 6C by the end of the century as CO2 emissions increase and the Earth's natural ability to absorb the gas declines, according to a major new study.

  Scientists said that CO2 emissions have risen by 29% in the past decade alone and called for urgent action by leaders at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen to agree drastic emissions cuts in order to avoid dangerous climate change.

• Carbon Sinks Losing Their Superpowers (The New Republic)
• Temperatures Set to Skyrocket (Mother Jones)
• Oceans' uptake of manmade carbon may be slowing: First year-by-year study, 1765-2008, shows proportion declining (Eureka Alert) [emphasis added]:
  
  The oceans play a key role in regulating climate, absorbing more than a quarter of the carbon dioxide that humans put into the air. Now, the first year-by-year accounting of this mechanism during the industrial era suggests the oceans are struggling to keep up with rising emissions—a finding with potentially wide implications for future climate.
• Australia's Prime Minister Blasts Climate Change Deniers:
• Australia’s Rudd slams the “deniers” and the “gaggle” of “conspiracy theorists” opposing climate action (Climate Progress)
• TRANSCRIPT: Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, on 'Australia, the region and the world: the challenges ahead' (Address to the Lowy Institute, 11/06/09)
• WATCH: Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, on 'Australia, the region and the world: the challenges ahead' (Lowy Institute):
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
• Make the kids pay: The economic effects of climate change on future generations (Grist)
• When Behavioral Economics Meets Climate Change, Guess What's Coming for Dinner? (Greenbiz)
• Australia Issues First-Ever 'Catastrophic' Fire Warning With Record Heat Wave:
• Australia issues 'catastrophic' fire warning (CNN)
• Australia: Fires rage in four states amid heatwave (New Zealand Herald)
• Extreme rating not alarmist: fire chief (The Australian)
• Australian Firefighters Urge Passage of Climate Bill (The Australian)
• Flashback: Australia's epic drought: The situation is grim (Independent UK, 4/20/2007)
• Americans Yawn: Climate Change Drops in U.S. Public Opinion:
• Apocalypse Fatigue: Losing the Public on Climate Change (Yale 360):
  Even as the climate science becomes more definitive, polls show that public concern in the United States about global warming has been declining. What will it take to rally Americans behind the need to take strong action on cutting carbon emissions?
• Fewer Americans See Solid Evidence of Global Warming: Modest Support for "Cap and Trade" Policy (Pew Research Center)
• Sarah Palin to Rush Limbaugh: ‘Are we warming or are we cooling?’ (Think Progress)
• Palin’s book spreads falsehoods about clean energy legislation (Grist)
• Sarah Palin Makes Another Fraudulent Claim About Alaska (Environment) (Truthout)
• The Fire this Time: Copenhagen and the War for the Future (GOOD Magazine) [emphasis added]:
  
  The world looks dramatically different if the year 2050 is one you’re likely to be alive to see. To younger people, Copenhagen isn’t some do-gooder meeting; it’s the first major battle in a war for the future.
  ...
  To be young and aware is to suspect that, in the end, the debate about climate action isn’t about substance, but about rich old men trying to squeeze every last dollar, euro, and yen from their investments in outdated industries.

  It is to begin to see your elders as cannibals with golf clubs.

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': More green news not covered in today's audio report...

• Robert Redford's Sundance Channel to Air Climate Denier Propaganda (Huffington Post Green)
• Oliver North Goes Off the Climate Deep End (Mother Jones)
• Flying Tigers: More Reasons to Worry About Asia’s Clean-Tech Push (Wall St. Journal)
• GE Fires Up Rail Deals in China, Eyes U.S. High-Speed Rail Projects (Earth2Tech)
• Intel sees opportunities in wind, electric cars (Reuters)
• US, China Climate Talks: Getting Warmer (Mother Jones)
• 1971 Predictions for 2000: Who Got It Right?: Energy Predictions for the Year 2000: The Executive, The Analyst, and The Professor (GreenTech History)

                 

Article Categories: Green News