Tradition!

The Washington Post is establishing a firm 21st Century tradition: when it comes to Global Warming, take guidance from Faux News, "Fair and Balanced".

Multiple times in the pastweek, both in reporting and on the editorial page, The Washington Post continued a seemingly iron tradition of coloring Global Warming science by ensuring that skeptics and deniers have their say as well, without providing any indication to the 'regular' reader that serial skeptics received a silver platter invitation to the Post's pages to spread their deception.

Prior to the industrial era, the atmosphere was at about 280 parts per million of carbon dioxide.  Now, we are about 387 and growing at nearly 2 ppm per year.

The 'old' (a few years ago) scientific consideration was that it seemed we could stabilize, without utterly catastrophic risk, at 450 ppm or below.  This is the guiding thinking behind cutting carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050.

Jim Hansen, NASA and one of the strongest voices in climate research, came out with work stating that we must fall to 350 ppm to avoid catastrophic climate change, considering the impacts that we are already seeing globally.

Across the world, people are passing around with great excitement the news that there might be a bug that will create oil. And, not just bio-derived oil, but carbon-negative oil. One little bug, too small for the naked eye to see, and all our problems are solved!

Worried about anything? Forget it. Solved!

Or ...

Last month, to far (FAR) less attention than it merited, the House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act with $20 billion for greening public schools across the nation.

Taking aggressive action to green schools is about one of the smartest steps the nation can take, action that should go beyond bipartisanship to true unity of action as it is a win-win-win-win strategy along so many paths:
   

Save money for communities and taxpayers

   

Create employment

   

Foster capacity for 'greening' the nation

   

Reduce pollution loads

   

Improve health

   

Improve student performance / achievement

And, well, other benefits. In the face of these benefits, "The White House threatened a veto, saying it was wrong for the federal government to launch a costly new school-building program."

Robert J. Samuelson simply doesn't believe in America, in American ingenuity, in Americans ability to rise to challenges and solve problems.

From an acquaintance,

This week's Newsweek magazine carries a column by Robert Samuelson, titled Just-Call It Cap-and-Tax. Samuelson likes to say he's not an economist. In this column, he certainly showed that to be the case.

Join me after a fold for a stroll through some of Samuelson's reckless truthiness.

Coal is NOT Clean.
Coal IS Dirty!

Introducing the Clean Coal Body Slam.  Kevin Grandia of DeSmogBlog has put together an amazing team with a clear (not clean) agenda:

For a while now,
whenever I mentioned the term "clean coal" people would roll their eyes and groan, "clean coal," usually followed by a rolling of the eyes or a mock gagging, eyes bulging expression. Most people know coal isn't clean, but that hasn't stopped the coal industry from trying to convince us otherwise.

When it comes to Global Warming impacts, Alaska is on the front lines.  It is also on the front lines of continued Republican efforts to confront reality directly ... and deny it!  

Several Republican members of the Alaska State Legislature drove through, almost beneath the radar scope, a $2 million funding for a conference on Global Warming.  This conference, however, is not intended to be an honest discussion about Global Warming's impacts on Alaska and what Alaskans might do in the face of these impacts (both in terms of changed energy/other usage to reduce contributions to Global Warming and amelioration measures to help Alaska/Alaskans deal with Global Warming).  No, instead, it is an effort to put together a lavish environment to fete and give prominence to pseudo-scientists that seek to obfuscate reality and inhibit action to deal with Global Warming.

John McCain's speech and policy constructs on Global Warming have gotten a bit of attention from the Energy Smart blogging world. The following are few of the worthwhile discussions to date.

My six-year old son is addicted to the Berenstein Bears. One of his first successfully read books: Ready, Get Set, Go which teaches adjectives and suggests that no one is best at everything.  How many times read between us?  10? 25? Maybe 50? As any parent can tell you, a favored book like that becomes imprinted in your brain.

"Good, Better, Best ..."  is the tag line in Ready, Get Set, Go.   Well, in the past few days, we've seen an example of this in reverse, something more from the film world. When it comes to politics and energy, we've had a display of Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest.

Clinton, McCain, Bush.  

Energy Dumb. Energy Dumber, Energy Dumbest.

Yet again, George the W graces America's television screens.

Yet again, George the W peddles truthiness masquerading as serious policy concepts.

Yet again, George the W works to undermine American and Global security and prosperity.

Yet again ...

On April Fools Day, the US Chamber of Commerce issued a memo that suggests that they want to make April's Fools of all Americans through their continued efforts to distort discussion about energy issues in a way that takes the truth out of truthiness.   And, what is impressive (and depressing) is how the Chamber's distorting material brings out April Fools who live in the black hole of denial.

In Pay to Play on Climate Change, the Chamber's President and CEO, Thomas J. Donohue, moves quite directly into the Delayer mode of reacting to climate change issues.  He does not address the fact of Global Change or its (serious) implications, but asserts that there is not the public support for reacting to Global Warming while pursuing truthiness, by distorting the issue, rather than truth.

While the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Council for Capital Formation take their dog-and-pony show of supposedly independent but fully deceitful analysis about global warming legislation around the country, reviews of the work are coming in from across the country. And, the common reframe:

Thumbs DOWN!

Cross-posted from Energy Smart.

The Wall Street Journal prides itself as America's business newspaper of record when, in fact, the editorial board clearly seems to have an anti (sensible) business agenda. Amid the booming "green" business market, they went forward and held what sounds like it was a highly interesting conference last week:  Eco:nomics.  Amid all of the interesting panels, presentations, and discussions, there is an interesting backstory that the WSJ is unlikely to front page:  business leader after business leader rejected the idea that dealing with global warming will have devastating impacts on the economy.

Eco:Nomics attendee David Roberts, of Grist, has done a quite insightful and downright witty post on Eco:Nomics: The decline and fall of the ideologues, subtitled "Delayers and doomsayers receive a chilly reception from pragmatic business leaders."

The Financial Times published what might be called an Open Letter from John McCain to Europeans:  America Must Be a Good Role Model.   The first questions through the gate, before reading anything other than the title:

• Does that mean that John McCain believes that American under George W Bush and Richard Cheney has not been a good role model?
• Does this mean that John McCain believes that George Bush's American does not live up to "our own high standards of morality and international responsibility"?

And, is willing to stand up and say this publicly?

One of the challenges in pursuing a greener economy ever quicker is the risk, the quite real and serious risk, that quicker could mean dirtier.  The Washington Post carried an expose of one of those risks on its front page this Sunday:  Solar Energy Firms Leave Waste Behind in China.    WashPost calls out Luoyang Zhonggui High-Technology Co, a producer of "polysilicon destined for solar energy panels sold around the world," for dumping a "bubbling white liquid" (silicon tetrachloride) in the middle of a village.

"The land where you dump or bury it will be infertile. No grass or trees will grow in the place. . . . It is like dynamite -- it is poisonous, it is polluting. Human beings can never touch it," said Ren Bingyan, a professor at the School of Material Sciences at Hebei Industrial University.

Yesterday, Illinois held a special election to fill the seat of the Dennis Hastert, the former Republican Speaker of the House, who resigned his seat.  Rather than a seemingly corrupt, extreme right-winger who (at times) makes other Republicans seem almost in the reality-based community, Illinois-14 will be sending someone of substance to the Congress, a man with serious scientific credentials and successful business experience.  Bill Foster is now Congressman Bill Foster.

In short: YEAH!

And, that is very true when it comes to the energy and environmental arenas. Oberweis would have been a disaster on, well, any energy or environmental issue that we can put on the table.  Foster should serve as a substantive voice to help guide US policy toward a prosperous, climate-friendly society.  He also is a successful businessman, which colors his positions both in good and, as will be seen, potentially dangerous ways.

In the face of the potential for catastrophic climate change and global warming, "geo-engineering" is an arena getting a little attention and some press, such as W Broad, NYT Times

Geoengineering is the deliberate modification of Earth's environment on a large scale "to suit human needs and promote habitability".

One can argue that all efforts to control carbon emissions (to reverse past emissions) falls within GeoEngineering, but that is not the general context of consideration, which often focuses on efforts that would, somehow, have a direct impact on Earth's temperatures (and not, necessarily, on carbon loads).

One step back question, which does not necessarily seem to occur in many conversation, is what principles should guide Geo-Engineering efforts and prioritization of their potential.

Diary rescue by Migeru

Black holes collapse on themselves, with a such a density that they change the path of light with no light escaping them.  In coming days, the Global Warming disinformation organization, the Heartland Institute ("the leading propaganda mill sowing confusion about climate science"), will convene a Global Warming skeptic/delayer/denier coven with the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change.  RealClimate asked a great question:

What if you held a conference, and no (real) scientists came?

For anyone concerned about a polite (an overly polite) shredding of a front organization's event, take the time to read it.  

John McCain gets much credit for his Straight Talk when it comes to Global Warming, speaking tough even in the face of a Republican Party that seems determine to reject reality.  The Republican Base seems to trust their hatred of Al Gore more than what the data, science, and the weather all around us (US) say to those focused on reality-based policy-making.  McCain is on the record as to the need to invest in renewable power to deal with Global Warming, even in face of special-interest opposition.

Yet ... yet ... repeatedly ... when given the opportunity to take action to go along with his Green Straight Talk Express, John McCain has boarded the Black Twisted Action Delay Machine and help inhibit (rather than help) a move toward an Energy Smart future.

And, when called on it, John McCain (or his staff director or ???) instructed his Senate Staff to lie about the issue.

The World Bank is an important institution, with many tremendous people working at it, with a valuable large charter in terms of changing the world for the better.

The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world.

 our mission of global poverty reduction and the improvement of living standards. ... we provide low-interest loans, interest-free credit and grants to developing countries for education, health, infrastructure, communications and many other purposes.

Sadly, as is all too known by anyone who pays attention, the World Bank's core charter (nor most actions) does not speak to sustainability nor to equity. The World Bank does not address ensuring that the path for generating wealth does not foster disaster for tomorrow.