Welcome to edition #6 of This week in climate change.
The term "hitting bottom" is used to describe the turning point of an addict or alcoholic who gets clean and sober.
Coincidentally, the Deepwater Horizon was the record holder for the "lowest bottom" offshore drilling rig, nearly 3.5 miles down.
"This impressive well depth record reflects the intensive planning and focus on effective operations by BP and the drilling crews of the Deepwater Horizon," said Robert L. Long, Transocean Ltd.'s Chief Executive Officer. "Congratulations to everyone involved."
Don't strain a muscle patting yourself on the back there, Bob!
Has humanity hit bottom with its fossilized carbon fuel addiction?
We can only hope so.
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Climate news, Climate Diary Rescue, Climate Blog Roundup, Action Items and more below the fold.
This week in climate change is a new weekly series at Daily Kos devoted to climate change and related news. The hope is that we can engage in constructive debate about the issues raised by the topics presented, and coalesce around the action items proposed each week.
The diary for now will appear Wednesday afternoons, around 1 12:30PM Pacific.
I had this week's theme prepared before BiPM rolled out this nugget, I swear:
Moderator: Welcome to Oil Spillers Anonymous. Thanks for coming. First thing we'll do is go around the circle and introduce ourselves. I'm Kevin, your moderator, and I'm here because I once changed my oil back in 1978 and didn't dispose of it in an environmentally-friendly way. I beat myself up over it pretty bad, but I finally found the strength to forgive myself and atone by giving ten percent of my income to the World Wildlife Fund, Earth First, an' groups like that.
Group: Hi, Kevin!
THE LEDE
As with any major disaster (see: Haiti 2010), we get to a point of saturation/burnout with regards to bad news.
The Oilpocalypse has been well-covered at DKos, even on the front page. We know things are very bad and getting worse fast.
We specifically know
• The Loop Current will take oil beyond Florida Keys
• The dispersants chosen by BP are more toxic,less effective
• Tar Balls Oil Jelly has been found in Key West
Update: The oil/tar balls didn't come from Deepwater Horizon!
• The bendy straw "success" is a minor victory at best.
And so on.
The good news from Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive:
• The leak oil volcano impact will be "Very, Very Modest"
Whatever.
This is not Katrina.
This is not 9/11.
This is among the worst environmental catastrophes in modern human history.
As this crisis gets worse before it gets better, let us stay strong.
We cannot tune out.
It is time to seize the day, carpe fucking diem, and make some real changes in our nation's pathetic pattern of fossil fuel dependence.
There is still time.
There is still hope.
But it is up to YOU!
Hand-wringing will not suffice.
Call your elected officials.
Talk to your neighbors.
Work hard.
Obama is not a messiah.No one is going to save you fools.
We can change the world before it is too late.
GOOD NEWS
We on the political left, especially environmentalists, don't get enough good news lately. The past decade ("The Ohs") was our worst in 40 years. Let's try to briefly look at the minor victories more often before we find ourselves getting too down. M'kay?
I have been spending too much time getting down about the animals who are dying and suffering due to a certain man-made undersea oil volcano. This story about the myriad newly-discovered species and their photos really helped perk me up. I hope it does that same for you.
Spike-nosed tree frog and tame woolly rat found in Indonesian New Guinea
Conservationists offer latest dispatch from jungle paradise in Foja mountains that offers vision of life on earth without humans
Long-nosed tree frog is one of the new species discovered in Foja mountains rainforest on the Indonesian island of New Guinea.
Photograph: Tim Laman/NG |
Those who have been there call it a lost world and the closest thing on Earth to the Garden of Eden. Undisturbed for thousands of years, the mist-shrouded Foja mountains of Indonesian New Guinea offer a vision of a planet without human influence. Dripping with life, the pristine forested slopes harbour a bewitching display of spectacular species, many of which are new to science.
Today, conservationists offer the latest dispatch from this jungle paradise. An expedition to the remote mountains by experts from Conservation International and the National Geographic Society has revealed a stunning diversity of flora and fauna, including several expected new species.
More:
Lost world of fanged frogs and giant rats discovered in Papua New Guinea
The Bosavi woolly rat had no fear of humans when it was discovered
Photograph: Jonny Keeling/BBC
A team of scientists from Britain, the United States and Papua New Guinea found more than 40 previously unidentified species when they climbed into the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi and explored a pristine jungle habitat teeming with life that has evolved in isolation since the volcano last erupted 200,000 years ago. In a remarkably rich haul from just five weeks of exploration, the biologists discovered 16 frogs which have never before been recorded by science, at least three new fish, a new bat and a giant rat, which may turn out to be the biggest in the world.
The discoveries are being seen as fresh evidence of the richness of the world's rainforests and the explorers hope their finds will add weight to calls for international action to prevent the demise of similar ecosystems.
Is it just me? Or does the giant rat not sound like it is lifted directly from The Princess Bride? ("R.O.U.S.? I don't think they exist....AAAAARGH!")
Having had the pleasure of visiting some of the remote regions of eastern Indonesia myself, I can imagine what this real-life Fire Swamp in PNG must be like. It is one of the last truly wild places on Earth.
Knowing that some species are thriving out of view from human eyes give me hope that nature may still endure the onslaught of mankind's overpopulation and unprecedented expansion into previously wild corners of the globe.
It is crucial that our world's forests, and the wildlife therein, endure the onslaught being inflicted upon them by climate change. They are the coal mine and canary, but there is no chance to flee the mine when the canary kicks the bucket.
Photos of these incredible newly-discovered species from The Guardian's photo gallery will be peppered throughout this diary.
Yet MORE GOOD NEWSes
• 'World's biggest' forest protection deal for Canada
Tuesday, 18 May 2010 17:33 UK
By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News
Timber companies and environment groups have unveiled an agreement aimed at protecting two-thirds of Canada's vast forests from unsustainable logging.
Over 72 million hectares are included in what will become the world's largest commercial forest conservation deal.
Logging will be totally banned on some of the land, in the hope of sustaining endangered caribou populations.
Timber companies hope the deal will bring commercial gains, as timber buyers seek higher ethical standards.
The total protected area is about twice the size of Germany, and equals the area of forest lost globally between 1990 and 2005.
"The importance of this agreement cannot be overstated," said Avrim Lazar, president and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC).
• Forest loss slows, as China plants and Brazil preserves
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News
The world's net rate of forest loss has slowed markedly in the last decade, with less logging in the Amazon and China planting trees on a grand scale.
"It is good news," said the report's co-ordinator Mette Loyche Wilkie, a senior forestry office with FAO.
"This is the first time we've been able to say that the deforestation rate is going down across the world, and certainly when you look at the net rate that is certainly down.
"But the situation in some countries is still alarming," she told BBC News.
Yeah, a "decreasing rate of forest destruction" isn't exactly popping champagne good news, but it is good news.
Until we begin to re-forest the northern forests, and stop altogether the tropical forest clearcutting and incineration, I'll keep my corks where they are. But let's recognize that we may be turning a corner on this critical front.
OTHER NEWS
• Global drying continues:
Iraq's Drinking Water Drying Up, Sewage Pollutes Shrinking Rivers
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 14, 2010 (ENS) - Clean drinking water is an increasingly scarce resource for millions of people in Iraq, according to a new report released today by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The agency says its engineers are doing their best to improve access to safe water in the face of a volatile security situation in some areas and the rising price of fuel, which have put additional strain on already scarce services, as have population growth and displacement.
The Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, which supply most of Iraq's drinking water, are slowly dwindling and in some areas can no longer be used as a reliable source.
• Costa Rican Christiana Figueres Named UN Climate Change Chief
"Ms. Figueres is an international leader on strategies to address global climate change and brings to this position a passion for the issue, deep knowledge of the stakeholders and valuable hands-on experience with the public sector, nonprofit sector and private sector," said the secretary-general's spokesman Martin Nesirky in announcing the appointment.
• Former Fugee Wyclef Jean posted at HuffPo about agroforestry & sustainability in Haiti.
Building an Agricultural Community: The Model Self-Sufficient Village in Haiti
Yéle Haiti, the charitable organization I started five years ago, is looking to build a permanent agricultural community, and I'm really pumped about this. It's going to be a farming community for about 5,000 people near Croix-des-Bouquets. The idea is to introduce simple and sustainable techniques for improved farming, education, health and other services that begin to spark changes at the community level in other parts of the country.
• Jupiter's Liberals Worried About Their Ammonia Footprint
GREAT RED SPOT, JUPITER—Alarmed by the growing quantities of harmful nitrides in their planet's atmosphere, Jupiter's liberals are encouraging their fellow sentient ammonia-helium tornado beings to take measures to reduce their ammonia footprint. "There are little things all of us can do to minimize our negative impact on our climate," thought-pulsed a spokesman for the progressive advocacy group Jupiter Action Coalition.
A striped possum, found by Muse Opiang and Gordon Buchanan, an animal which lets out a strong odour as a defence mechanism
Photograph: Ulla Lohmann/BBC |
CLIMATE BLOG HIGHLIGHTS
This is what "fantastic coverage of environmental issues" looks like.
This week featuring the following:
• Treehugger
• Solve Climate
• Grist
350-Passenger H Series. Image: MIT/Aurora Flight Sciences
MIT-Designed Futuristic Airplanes Use 70% Less Fuel Than Current Models
What will the airplanes of the future be like? This is the question that the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT tried to answer for NASA. The goal was to look 3 generations ahead of the current planes (that's around the 2035 timeframe) and improve substantially on current tech in the areas of fuel-efficiency, noise, NOx emissions, safety, etc.
Fierce Fight Expected Against Texas Oil's Effort to Derail California Climate Law
Defenders Up Against Deep Pockets and Fearmongering Over Higher Energy prices
by Leslie Berliant - May 18th, 2010
Within the next few days, the expectation here is that California's renewable energy and emissions reductions law, AB 32, is going to qualify for inclusion on the November ballot, with voters being asked to vote "yes" to suspend the law until unemployment improves or "no" to leave it in place.
The ballot initiative wants to suspend AB 32 until unemployment reaches 5.5% for 4 consecutive quarters - a level reached only twice in the state in the last 30 years. A "yes" vote would effectively kill the law.
With most of the money supporting the ballot initiative coming from Texas oil companies, local advocates met last week to galvanize efforts to turn back the influence of out-of-state fossil energy interests and preserve the landmark measure. Everyone expects a tough fight.
Big Green and little green clash over the American Power Act
by Jonathan Hiskes
Two hundred groups that might be called "little green" immediately condemned the climate and energy bill in a joint letter, calling it "greenwashing in the extreme." The coalition consists of regional environmental, peace, and religious groups -- such as Don't Waste Arizona, the Snake River Alliance, and the Turtle Island Restoration Network.
"This bill is just business-as-usual: taxpayer giveaways to giant nuclear and other energy corporations wrapped in the guise of doing something about our climate crisis," they wrote.
Big Green issued its own statement the same morning. It was neither an endorsement nor an attack on the bill. It was thoroughly -- impressively -- devoid of any clear opinion of the bill.
Common tube-nosed bat found by expert Alanna Maltby
Photograph: Ulla Lohmann/BBC |
DKOS CLIMATE DIARIES
• Stealing The Work Of A Better Diarist & Calling It My Own
by WarrenS
And, of course, it goes up on my blog. Which I hope you'll visit.
While you're there, steal some of my letters. Reverse the clauses, change the tenses, bung in a couple of synonyms, retool a few analogies, sign your name to it, and send it to someone.
I write a letter a day, almost always based on the work of a GOS diarist who has more knowledge of the issues than I. I do this kind of conversion work every night. I'd be very happy if I could multiply the impact significantly.
• New front pager Turkana Laurence Lewis delivers the big news in
Hottest April, Hottest Jan-April, Hottest 12 Months On Record
The real problem is our dependence on fossil fuels. It doesn't matter where they come from, and it doesn't matter how they are drilled or mined. We cannot continue to burn fossil fuels. We have to create the technologies and the infrastructure, we have to educate the public and give people real alternatives, and we have to act as if we are in a crisis. Because we are. And it cannot be said often enough.
I for one, am glad to see another writer with a green bent on the front page.
Just sayin....
• jamess has been on quite a roll of late. He delivered a useful piece earlier today- Patchwork Quilts OK for Picnics, National Energy Policy NOT SO Much
Here's Roll Call for Solar and Wind Rebates you can get in your Neighborhood --
Why isn't there any ryhme or reason to this?
Solar & Wind Energy Incentives, Rebates, Tax Credits (click link for your State's programs)
Find-Solar.org
Other Env'al Series
The eKos Earthship has good discussion about env'al issues whenever it posts. Please show it some love with a rec whenever you catch it fresh and juicy.
The week in dirty coal by DWG
Alternative Energy Round-Up by mark louis
Sunday Train by BruceMcF
Climate Change News Roundup
EcoJusitce by various artists
Macca's Meatless Monday by beach babe in fl
Hike On! by by RLMiller
ECSTASY by various artists
As always, please list your own favorite climate diaries that I didn't list above in the comments below.
The king bird of paradise. Biologist Jack Dumbacher caught one as part of his study into the diseases held in the rainforest
Photograph: Ulla Lohmann/BBC |
INTO ACTION
• Thanks to 1Sky Campaign, we know there is a deadline for deafeting the awful "Dirty Air Act" proposed by Lisa "Murky" Murkowski:
http://action.1sky.org/...
Use this link to get your Senator's info and CALL NOW!
UPDATE:
Thanks to RLM in the commments, this list by Credo gives you the latest on who to call.
http://act.credoaction.com/...
Please do call ASAP. We may have less than 24 hours to stop this awful attack on our Clean Air Act!
• Via DWG:
The Appalachia Restoration Act (S. 696) is a bill in the U.S. Senate which will sharply reduce mountaintop removal coal mining and protect clean drinking water for many of our nation's cities.
Support the Appalachia Restoration Act by sending a supportive letter to your Representative in the House.... you can also use our free automated dialing tool to call their office, or send them an email with our new webform.
• From RLMiller
People who are concerned about [offshore oil should] comment online to the federal agency that has to listen. The MMS website for public scoping (agenda-setting) will accept comments through June 30. Tell them you're concerned about tourism. Tell them you're concerned about sea turtles and other vulnerable critters. Tell them you're concerned about safety. Just tell them!
A sample letter from the WWF HERE
The option is only available for a few more weeks! If you have yet to write, please do so NOW!
• Sen. Graham:
The last member of the GOP willing to act on climate change?
Or just a guy who likes attention?
Contact him to get him to once again support the bill he helped craft.
LINDSAY GRAHAM
SOUTH CAROLINA
202-224-5972 email
803-933-0112 864-250-1417 803-366-2828
508 Hampton Street, Suite 202, Columbia, SC
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What actions do you guys suggest? Leave items in the comments and I'll update the diary and include them here.
History and Schedule of TWiCC diaries:
(First 6 weeks by LaughingPlanet)
• Apr 14, 2010- New series: This week in climate change
• Apr 21, 2010- This week in climate change: ¡Viva Bolivia!
• Apr 28, 2010- This week in climate change
• May 05, 2010- This week in climate change: Nothing to see here edition
• May 12, 2010- GOP ♥ Terrorists & Big Oil, Hate Jobs
• May 19, 2010- This diary
• May 26, 2010- by boatsie
• June 2, 2010- by YOU?
Thanks for reading, recommending, and participating in the comments.
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