Miscellaneous Articles
Media wakes up to Hell and High Water: Moscow's 1000-year heat wave and "Pakistan's Katrina"
BBC, Reuters, USA Today, Time link warming and extreme weather; Trenberth, Stott, and Masters explain the science
How hot is it? So hot that even the status quo media is waking up to the fact that human emissions of greenhouse gases are changing the climate and causing record-smashing extreme weather events, just as scientist predicted decades ago.
It happened to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers, and I have a roundup from other major media outlets — please add links to ones I missed.
At the end is a discussion of the science of Hell and High Water in pieces by NCAR's Kevin Trenberth, The Met Office's Peter Stott, and Jeff Masters — along with links for those who want to donate to help out in the "massive humanitarian crisis in Pakistan."
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As world burns, CNN skeptic Chad Myers finally admits global warming 'is caused by man'
One of America's most influential global warming skeptics, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers, has finally admitted that global warming is "caused by man." Brad Johnson has the story.
During the hottest year ever recorded, following the hottest decade ever recorded, Russia is burning under heat not seen for at least 1000 years. Heat waves have set records throughout the United States and throughout the world. A monsoon season of unprecedented intensity has displaced tens of millions of people across Asia, threatening the nuclear states of China, Pakistan, India, and North Korea. The largest iceberg to calve from Greenland in fifty years has added to its precipitous decline of ice mass since 1980. Decades ago, scientists predicted these consequences of burning fossil fuels and heating the planet.
Yesterday, in what CNN anchor Rick Sanchez billed a "good, smart conversation," Myers actually recognized the reality of a "consequential global warming caused by man," when not repeating climate-denier talking points:
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Monckton makes it up
If you look around the websites dedicated to debunking mainstream climate science, it is very common to find Lord Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount of Brenchley, cited profusely. Indeed, he has twice testified about climate change before committees of the U.S. Congress, even though he has no formal scientific training. But if he has no training, why has he become so influential among climate change contrarians? After examining a number of his claims, I have concluded that he is influential because he delivers "silver bullets," i.e., clear, concise, and persuasive arguments. The trouble is his compelling arguments are often constructed using fabricated facts. In other words, he makes it up. (Click here to see a number of examples by John Abraham, here for a few by myself, and here for some by Tim Lambert).
Here I'm going to examine some graphs that Lord Monckton commonly uses to show that the IPCC has incorrectly predicted the recent evolution of global atmospheric CO2 concentration and mean temperature. A number of scientists have already pointed out that Monckton's plots of "IPCC predictions" don't correspond to anything the IPCC ever predicted. For example, see comments by Gavin Schmidt (Monckton's response here,) John Nielsen-Gammon (Monckton's response here,) and Lucia Liljegren. Monckton is still happily updating and using the same graphs of fabricated data, so why am I bothering to re-open the case?
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Where Did the Carter White House's Solar Panels Go?
One of the 32 solar-thermal panels that captured energy on the roof of the White House more than 30 years ago landed this week at a science museum in China
The White House itself once harvested the power of the sun. On June 30, 1979, the Carter administration installed 32 panels designed to harvest the sun's rays and use them to heat water.
Here is what Carter predicted at the dedication ceremony: "In the year 2000 this solar water heater behind me, which is being dedicated today, will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy…. A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people."
For some of the solar panels it is the former that has come to pass: one resides at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, one at the Carter Library and, as of this week, one will join the collection of the Solar Science and Technology Museum in Dezhou, China. Huang Ming, chairman of Himin Solar Energy Group Co., the largest manufacturer of such solar hot water heaters in the world, accepted the donation for permanent display there on August 5. After all, companies like his in China now produce some 80 percent of the solar water heaters used in the world today.
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What is the future of coal in W.Va.?
CLARKSBURG - Coal mining in America is older than the nation itself.
The first documented mining of coal in North America was in 1748, when 50 tons were dug from a mountainside in the Pennsylvania wilderness. And while those first miners were certainly making a great profit, it's doubtful that they could have foreseen just what the future entailed for the rich black mineral that has become such an integral part of the national economy.
Yet while coal currently supplies half of the nation's electricity, there is an increasing amount of scrutiny of the industry and its practices. Environmentally conscious lawmakers want stricter regulations. Coal companies want to find ways to "clean" up the industry. Ordinary citizens are looking for alternative ways to supply power to their households.
In West Virginia, a great rift exists between those who want to continue to keep coal such a huge part of the Mountain State's economy and people who want to move toward green energy. And with the dispute over mountaintop removal practices, carbon emissions and mine safety becoming increasingly intense at all levels of government, the long-term future of coal is clouded.
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Rushing Too Fast to Online Learning? Outcomes of Internet Versus Face-to-Face Instruction
ScienceDaily (Aug. 8, 2010) - A combination of fiscal constraints and improvements in technology has led to an increased reliance on online classes of all types -- many of which use Internet versions of traditional, live lectures. Now a new study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) raises questions about that fast-growing trend in higher education.
"Online instruction may be more economical to deliver than live instruction, but there is no free lunch," said David Figlio, Orrington Lunt Professor of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University and primary author of the NBER working paper released this month. "Simply putting traditional courses online could have negative consequences, especially for lower-performing and language minority students."
The rush to online education may come at a greater cost than educators suspect, according to Figlio and study co-authors Mark Rush and Lu Yin of the University of Florida. The release last summer of a report by the U.S. Department of Education added to the growing trend.
"Our findings suggest that universities interested in exploiting economic efficiencies should carefully consider whether they want to put traditional lecture classes online," said Figlio. "Our study for the first time presents experimental evidence about the relative efficacy of face-to-face versus recorded traditional lectures.
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Weekend Without Oil To Help Teens Reduce Consumption
We've been focused on educating people about reducing their oil consumption (see our Minus Oil series), so when we heard from DoSomething about their Weekend Without Oil it was as if the idea had been plucked straight from our heads. With a goal of getting teens to reduce their oil consumption, the Weekend Without Oil will be held August 21 & 22nd, so mark your calendar!
Find out more about the Weekend Without Oil and how you can participate below.
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