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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Baby, it’s HOT outside: the hottest 12 months on record; “Corn growers in Hell,” melting runways, and more impacts of extreme weather; Better late than never: More Americans believe in science again (But not ABC’s George Will!); PLUS: ExxonMobil CEO admits climate change — but, conveniently, he’s not concerned about it … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
7/10/2012
‘Green News Report’ – July 10, 2012 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – July 10, 2012 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Conservation groups sue over Arctic spill plans; BP Gulf Oil Spill has lasting impact; Building costs rise at US nuclear sites; Canada’s scientists revolting; UK: Freak storms, flash floods, record rain; GA lawmakers overturn fracking veto by 1 accidental vote; Ocean acidity major threat to coral reefs; Copper pollution hurts salmon … PLUS: What happens when we can’t stop 10 degree warming? … and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED IN TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Must-See Video Compilation Of Extreme Weather: ‘Welcome To The Rest Of Our Lives’ (Peter Sinclair, Climate Crock of the Week):
- George Will Mocks Deadly Record Heat Wave:
- VIDEO: Heat Wave Brings Blast Of Hot Air From George Will And Other Climate Change Deniers (Burnt Orange Report)
- Why George Will Is Wrong About Weather And Climate (Media Matters.org):
“Weather is not climate” is a bad mantra, for the same reason that “Did climate change cause the heat wave?” is a bad question. In reality, weather is the data that, over time, reveal the climate. When someone asks if climate change caused a weather event, they are wrongly implying that the climate is an agent acting on a separate subject. But there are no weather events that are taking place outside the context of a changing climate, and as German climatologists Dim Coumou and Stefan Rahmstorf have said, “Attribution is not a ‘yes or no’ issue as the media might prefer. It’s an issue of probability.”
- Baby It’s HOT Outside: Hottest 12 Months on Record for U.S.:
- U.S. heat over the past 13 months: a one in 1.6 million event (Dr. Jeff Masters, Weather Underground):
Each of the 13 months from June 2011 through June 2012 ranked among the warmest third of their historical distribution for the first time in the 1895 – present record. According to NCDC, the odds of this occurring randomly during any particular month are 1 in 1,594,323. Thus, we should only see one more 13-month period so warm between now and 124,652 AD…
…
[Updated:] It has been pointed out to me that the calculation of a 1 in 1.6 million chance of occurrence (based on taking the number 1/3 and raising it to the 13th power) would be true only if each month had no correlation to the next month. Since weather patterns tend to persist, they are not truly random from one month to the next. Thus, the odds of such an event occurring are greater than 1 in 1.6 million–but are still very rare. I appreciate hearing from those of you who wrote to point out a correction was needed. - U.S. Sees Hottest 12 Months And Hottest Half Year On Record: NOAA Calls Record Heat A One-In-1.6-Million Event (Climate Progress)
- El Nino May Be On the Way, Altering Weather Patterns (Climate Central)
- U.S. heat over the past 13 months: a one in 1.6 million event (Dr. Jeff Masters, Weather Underground):
- Connecting the Dots of Climate Change, Extreme Weather: Americans Get It, Most of US Media Ignores It:
- VIDEO: Dr. Kevin Trenberth: What’s Causing Unusually Hot Temperatures in U.S.? (PBS NewsHour):
- VIDEO: MSNBC’s Hayes: Peddling “A Lot Of Wrong Information Seems To Be The Business Model Of A Lot Of Conservative Media” (Media Matters)
- Weird weather adds to ranks of global warming believers (USA Today):
As the economy slumped, Americans decided climate change wasn’t actually happening “” and even if it was, it wasn’t our fault. And now, after a flurry of wild weather “” deadly tornados, floods, droughts, an uncommonly mild winter and recent heat waves “” U.S. residents are back to believing that global warming is real. But we’re still hesitant to take the blame.
- STUDY: Media Avoid Climate Context In Wildfire Coverage (Media Matters.org):
Only 3 Percent Of Wildfire Coverage Mentioned Long-Term Climate Change Or Global Warming. The major television and print outlets largely ignored climate change in their coverage of wildfires in Colorado, New Mexico and other Western states. All together, only 3 percent of the reports mentioned climate change, including 1.6 percent of television segments and 6 percent of text articles.
- VIDEO: NBC Meteorologist On Record Heat Wave: ‘If We Did Not Have Global Warming, We Wouldn’t See This’ (Climate Progress)
- Corn Growers in Hell, Melting Runways: IMPACTS of Extreme Record Heat Wave:
- U.S. Corn Growers Farming in Hell as Heat Spreads: Commodities (Bloomberg News):
The worst U.S. drought since Ronald Reagan was president is withering the world’s largest corn crop, and the speed of the damage may spur the government to make a record cut in its July estimate for domestic inventories.
- VIDEO: Heat Wave Threatens Corn Crop, Prices (ABC News)
- HEAT WAVE 2012: Road buckling continues, victim cautions drivers (WEAU-TV, Wisconsin)
- US Airways plane gets stuck in ‘soft spot’ on pavement at Reagan National (Washington Post)
- Metro says heat probable cause of Green Line derailment (Washington Post)
- Intense Storms Called a “Derecho” Slam 700 Miles of the US (AccuWeather)
- Midwestern Drought Intensifies: ‘I Don’t Remember Anytime It Was This Dry, This Early’ (Climate Progress)
- Planes, Trains & Automobiles: How Global Warming Could Derail Your Commute (Climate Progress)
- Biologist On The Midwestern Drought: ‘It’s Like Farming In Hell’ (Climate Progress)
- ExxonMobil CEO Acknowledges Climate Change, Doesn’t Care:
- Exxon CEO calls climate change engineering problem (Reuters) [emphasis added]:
Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday that efforts to address climate change should focus on engineering methods to adapt to shifting weather patterns and rising sea levels rather than trying to eliminate use of fossil fuels.
- Inside The Mind Of Rex Tillerson (Forbes)
- VIDEO: ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, “The New North American Energy Paradigm: Reshaping the Future” (Council on Foreign Relations)
- TRANSCRIPT: ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, “The New North American Energy Paradigm: Reshaping the Future” (Council on Foreign Relations) [emphasis added]:
[B]ecause we have a society that by and large is illiterate in these areas, science, math and engineering, what we do is a mystery to them and they find it scary. And because of that, it creates easy opportunities for opponents of development, activist organizations, to manufacture fear.
…
So our approach is we do look at the range of the outcomes and try and understand the consequences of that, and clearly there’s going to be an impact. So I’m not disputing that increasing CO2 emissions in the atmosphere is going to have an impact. It’ll have a warming impact. The — how large it is is what is very hard for anyone to predict. And depending on how large it is, then projects how dire the consequences are.
…
We have spent our entire existence adapting, OK? So we will adapt to this. Changes to weather patterns that move crop production areas around — we’ll adapt to that. It’s an engineering problem, and it has engineering solutions. And so I don’t — the fear factor that people want to throw out there to say we just have to stop this, I do not accept.
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…
- Conservation groups sue over Arctic spill plans (AP):
In a statement ahead of the lawsuit’s filing, the groups said the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement “rubber-stamped” oil spill response plans “that rely on unbelievable assumptions, include equipment that has never been tested in Arctic conditions, and ignore the very real possibility that a spill could continue through the winter.”
- Gulf oil spill had dramatic impact on microscopic life, study suggests (Mobile, AL Press-Register):
New research by an Auburn University professor and other scientists, though, suggests that significant changes had taken place in creatures too small to be seen by the naked eye. Those changes, professor Ken Halanych said, bear further study and could have big impacts that might not become apparent for years.
- AP IMPACT: Building costs rise at US nuclear sites (AP):
Licensing delay charges, soaring construction expenses and installation glitches as mundane as misshapen metal bars have driven up the costs of three plants in Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina, from hundreds of millions to as much as $2 billion, according to an Associated Press analysis of public records and regulatory filings.
- Canada’s PM Stephen Harper faces revolt by scientists: Scientists to march through Ottawa in white lab coats in protest at cuts to research and environmental damage (Guardian UK)
- As Mine Protections Fail, Black Lung Cases Surge (NPR):
A joint investigation by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) has found that … Incidence of [black lung] disease that steals the breath of coal miners doubled in the last decade, according to data analyzed by epidemiologist Scott Laney at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
- UK: Freak storms, flash floods, record rain ““ and there’s more to come (Guardian UK):
Britain’s miserable summer likely to continue for at least 10 days as forecasters put blame on the jet stream.
- Lawmaker Hits Wrong Button, Approves N.C. Fracking; GOP Refuses Do-Over (Wall St. Journal)
- Apple Walks Away from Green Certification (Treehugger):
By leaving the program, the Apple computers and monitors can no longer be purchased by the federal government and its agencies, which require that 95 percent of the electronics purchased be EPEAT certified.
“They said their design direction was no longer consistent with the EPEAT requirements,” Robert Frisbee, CEO of EPEAT said.
- Scientist: Ocean acidity major threat to coral reefs (USA Today) [emphasis added]:
The speed by which the oceans’ acid levels has risen caught scientists off-guard, with the problem now considered to be climate change’s “equally evil twin,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco told the Associated Press.
- Copper Makes Salmon An Easy Meal For Predators: Study (International Business News):
Copper leaching into a salmon’s habitat makes the fish more vulnerable to predators, according to new research from Washington State University.
- Cooling a Warming Planet: A Global Air Conditioning Surge (Yale 360)
- We’re Already Topping Dust Bowl Temperatures “” Imagine What’ll Happen If We Fail To Stop 10°F Warming (Climate Progress):
Why is this bad news? Because the Earth has warmed only a bit more than 1°F since the catastrophic Dust Bowl “” and we are poised to warm an astounding 9-11°F this century if we stay anywhere near our current greenhouse gas emissions path.
- Goodbye to Mountain Forests? (NYT Green) [emphasis added]:
“Baby It’s HOT Outside: Hottest 12 Months on Record for U.S”
Desi, I hope you have read the articles and follow ups with regard to the 1 in 1,594,323 statistical calculation of the good Dr. Masters. If you did, then you know that he has caught a lot of shit for this little statistic. He had to post a retraction…and the excuse is that doing the analysis right is very complicated. NOAA also had to crawfish on this one. Lovely
I would encourage you to read a different analysis that totally debunks the good Dr’s work.
The real answer is more like 1 in 2.6.
In reality, I wish that everyone one accept Dr. Master’s number as the truth. Then we could all breath a sigh of relief knowing that this whole hot weather thing is only going to happen one more time between now and 124,652!! Whew!
Is it a good thing that global warming induced climate change is decided by the exceptional weather of the U.S.eh? in the minds of some?
I am sure the rest of the world (global) is waiting with bated breath for us to pontificate why they are experiencing the same lunatic weather changes that are killing and maiming hundreds of people regularly, destroying crops regularly, causing drought regularly, and causing the Navy to make plans for a big Singapore type port in Greenland.
Ditto for the U.S. Court system.
Denialism is not what is used to be.
Wow, “Davey”, Masters didn’t issue a retraction but a correction to the math as part of an illustration to the lay public (see update at end). Sadly, that doesn’t change the clear evidence that these dangerous, deadly events are predicted to be even more frequent and more intense, as we continue to load the atmosphere with heat-trapping carbon dioxide. That sure is funny!
@ #1
Your 1 in 2.6 source “is now saying that the odds are around 1 in a million.”
Or maybe “1 in 134381.”
http://tamino.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/thirteen/
Michael Tobis: “It is also necessary to explain to people that sometimes no useful answer is forthcoming.”
http://planet3.org/2012/07/09/u...million-event/
You know, Davey — it’s also kinda weird that you just completely glossed over the context of that illustrative but inaccurate statistic — that the last 12 months are the hottest on record for the US…
and the impact on crops
the impact on human life
the impact on the electric grid
the impact on the economy from losses in these extreme events…
and so much more.
It’s not a good thing for extreme weather to go from being 1-in-100 year or 1-in-1000 year events to once in every two or three years, which is what the scientific evidence indicates we’re headed toward.
Here ya go, Davey — a better calculation of the illustration, that also debunks your buddy, Anthony Watts.
How statistically unusual was the heat wave?:
Every one of these calcs about the last thirteen months is useless, by the way, cause it’ll soon be fourteen.
Desi,
Your original post was 1 in 1,594,323. It is wrong. Nobody has fallen behind that prediction because it was stupid. Is it 1 in 100,000 or 1 in 2.6 or something else? My point is that 1 in 1,594,323 fit your meme so you happily used it. You were not motivated to use Dr. Google in retort until my post.
You scour the internet using your keyboard and post whatever appears on your screen that appeals to you…I can only guess that is what you are doing. It is sensational and that is what you want.
If you want to change the world, do the diligence and pick just a few articles and vet them with your own intelligence and present them to us. We know how to use google.
Desi,
Post #5
Do you think conservatives, like me, hate the earth…the environment…?
We want to destroy crops?
We want to destroy the electric grid?
Do you think we want to suck the marrow out of the earth’s core and then move on to another planet?
Just curious.
Desi,
I did a calculation last week. In the last 6 years, I have backpacked, hiked, canoed, over 650 miles in the US wilderness. Over 400 miles in the boundary waters alone!
In Sep, I will prolly do another 50 miles in the BWCAW.
Nobody loves this earth more than I.
Nobody loves the truth more than I.
Been in the wilderness lately??
I was there for 12 days…two weeks ago.
Just sayin…
Desi,
After all…I am Davey!!
Davey @ #8… “Fit the meme”? What meme? That 1 in 1.5 million number came from the National Climate Data Center, the authors of the study. Again, they used it in an honest attempt to put last week’s record heatwave into context for non-scientists. Sure, it’s funny as hell that the NCDC used a dumb example, but it doesn’t change their overall conclusions in the study or the overall body of climate science. Masters updated his original blog item (linked above) to make note of the change.
For those who are interested in a better understanding of the scientific evidence of climate change, including the uncertainties, go to the SkepticalScience.com.