An Inconvenient Comment: November 2009

Sunday, November 29, 2009

RealClimate: Something Is X in the State of Denmark

November 29th, 2009

We received a letter with the title ‘Climate Change: The Role of Flawed Science‘ which may be of interest to the wider readership. The author, Peter Laut, is Professor (emeritus) of physics at The Technical University of Denmark and former scientific advisor on climate change for The Danish Energy Agency. He has long been a critic of the hypothesis that solar activity dominates the global warming trend, and has been involved in a series of heated public debates in Denmark. Even though most of his arguments concern scientific issues, such as data handling, and arithmetic errors, he also has much to say about the way that the debate about climate change has been conducted. It’s worth noting that he sent us this letter before the “CRU email” controversy broke out, so his criticism of the IPCC for being too even handed, is ironic and timely.

Read the rest of the post at the source…

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Friday, November 27, 2009

RealClimate: Where's the data?

November 27th, 2009

Much of the discussion in recent days has been motivated by the idea that climate science is somehow unfairly restricting access to raw data upon which scientific conclusions are based. This is a powerful meme and one that has clear resonance far beyond the people who are actually interested in analysing data themselves. However, many of the people raising this issue are not aware of what and how much data is actually available.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

RealClimate: Copenhagen

November 24th, 2009

The ‘Copenhagen Diagnosis‘, a report by 26 scientists from around the world was released today. The report is intended as an update to the IPCC 2007 Working Group 1 report. Like the IPCC report, everything in the Copenhagen Diagnosis is from the peer-reviewed literature, so there is nothing really new. But the report summarizes and highlights those studies, published since the (2006) close-off date for the IPCC report, that the authors deemed most relevant to the negotiations in Copenhagen (COP15) next month. This report was written for policy-makers, stakeholders, the media and the broader public, and has been sent to each and every one of the COP15 negotiating teams throughout the world.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Open Mind: Hack

November 22, 2009

Most of you are probably already aware that recently someone managed to hack into the computer system at CRU (the Climate Research Unit in Great Britain). They stole over 60 megabytes of personal emails, which was posted online.

Read the rest of the post at the source…

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RealClimate: The CRU hack: Context

November 23, 2009

This is a continuation of the last thread which is getting a little unwieldy. The emails cover a 13 year period in which many things happened, and very few people are up to speed on some of the long-buried issues. So to save some time, I’ve pulled a few bits out of the comment thread that shed some light on some of the context which is missing in some of the discussion of various emails.

Friday, November 20, 2009

RealClimate: The CRU hack

November 20th, 2009

As many of you will be aware, a large number of emails from the University of East Anglia webmail server were hacked recently (Despite some confusion generated by Anthony Watts, this has absolutely nothing to do with the Hadley Centre which is a completely separate institution). As people are also no doubt aware the breaking into of computers and releasing private information is illegal, and regardless of how they were obtained, posting private correspondence without permission is unethical. We therefore aren’t going to post any of the emails here. We were made aware of the existence of this archive last Tuesday morning when the hackers attempted to upload it to RealClimate, and we notified CRU of their possible security breach later that day.

RealClimate: A problem of multiplicity

November 20th, 2009

One thing a scientist doesn’t want to mess up is the problem of multiplicity (also known as ‘field significance‘). It’s just like rolling a die 600 times, and then getting excited about getting roughly 100 sixes. However, sometimes it’s much more subtle than just rolling dice.

This problem seems to be an issue in a recent by paper with the title ‘Evidence for solar forcing in variability of temperatures and pressures in Europe‘ by Le Mouel et al. (2009) in the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

RealClimate: A Treeline Story

November 17th, 2009

Some of the highest growing trees in the world are also the oldest—bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) from the Great Basin in the western United States (eastern California, Nevada and Utah). The oldest example is more than 4800 years old. Because of their longevity and growth at high elevations (where the growth of trees is generally known to be limited by temperature) bristlecone pines have been of particular interest to dendroclimatologists (paleoclimatologists who study tree rings to reconstruct past climate). Numerous ecological studies carried out at treeline sites all over the world show that temperature imposes a critical limitation on the ability of trees to produce new tissue; mean daily temperatures of 8-9°C are required, so recent warming will have particular benefits for those trees that have managed to eke out an existence for so long, living “on the edge”.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Climate Progress: DeLong and Deltoid: “The thing about a Roger Pielke Jr. train wreck is that you just can’t look away.” Plus Roger’s must-read post that Rabett called “The great Pielke meltdown.”

Visitor T. Greer had a comment rejected on this Climate Progress story posted the day before AIC was created. I've reposted his rejected attempt in the comments.

October 24, 2009

Roger Pielke Jr. has written the most Titanic whine in the history of the climate blogosphere, “Giant Fish, Big Fish and Minnows of the Liberal Blogosphere.” And I do mean Titanic with a capital T.

Tim Lambert (aka Deltoid) calls it the “Pielke Pity Party.” Eli Rabett calls it “The great Pielke meltdown.”

Read the rest of the post at the source…

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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Open Season

Despite a recent discussion regarding the comment moderation policy that will be necessary for this forum if it's to be meaningful in the long-term, for the next couple days I'll be in generally desolate, internet-dead regions of Nevada, so I'm opening this forum to unmoderated comments until I get back. Let's see what happens, and sorry for any spam that makes it through...

RealClimate: It’s all about me (thane)!

November 12th, 2009

Well, it’s not really all about me. But methane has figured strongly in a couple of stories recently and gets an apparently-larger-than-before shout-out in Al Gore’s new book as well. Since a part of the recent discussion is based on a paper I co-authored in Science, it is probably incumbent on me to provide a little context.

RealClimate: Muddying the peer-reviewed literature

November 11th, 2009

We’ve often discussed the how’s and why’s of correcting incorrect information that is occasionally found in the peer-reviewed literature. There are multiple recent instances of heavily-promoted papers that contained fundamental flaws that were addressed both on blogs and in submitted comments or follow-up papers (e.g. McLean et al, Douglass et al., Schwartz). Each of those wasted a huge amount of everyone’s time, though there is usually some (small) payoff in terms of a clearer statement of the problems and lessons for subsequent work. However, in each of those cases, the papers were already “in press” by the time other people were aware of the problems.

RealClimate: Is Pine Island Glacier the Weak Underbelly of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet?

November 9th, 2009

It is popularly understood that glaciologists consider West Antarctica the biggest source of uncertainty in sea level projections. The base of the 3000-m thick West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) – unlike the much larger East Antarctic Ice Sheet – lies below sea level, and it has been recognized for a long time that this means it has the potential to change very rapidly. Most of the grounded West Antarctic ice sheet drains into the floating Ross and Ronne-Filchner ice shelves, but a significant fraction also drains into the much smaller Pine Island Glacier. Glaciologists are paying very close attention to Pine Island Glacier (”PIG” on map, right) and nearby Thwaites Glacier. In the following guest post, Mauri Pelto explains why.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Climate Progress: David Frum says “Conservatives Heart Nuke Power.” Too bad they don’t “brain” it.

November 7, 2009

I always thought it was conservatives who accused progressives of being driven by their heart and not their brain. A painfully uninformed David Frum wades into the debate over nuclear power with a post headlined, “Conservatives Heart Nuke Power“:

First Brad Plumer in the New Republic, then Matt Yglesias on his site have marveled at the supposedly strange enthusiasm of conservatives for nuclear power. What’s strange about it? It’s pure cold economic rationality. If you wish to move away from carbon-emitting electricity sources, nuclear is far and away the cheapest choice. If we’re not going to rely more on nuclear power, then the reduction in carbon emissions will have to imply some dramatic reductions in standards of living.

Climate Progress: Three reasons you should follow Climate Progress on Twitter

November 7, 2009

To follow Climate Progress on Twitter, click here. Here’s why you should:

It’s a modern, portable version of a news teletype.
I will be in Copenhagen and tweeting.
Your (online) neighbors are doing it!

Climate Progress: “Let’s Learn About Coal”: Industry front group distributes coloring book on the “advantages” of coal

November 7, 2009

This is a Think Progress repost. Click on cartoon to see the whole coloring book.

Climate Progress: Energy and Global Warming News for November 6: Philippines targets $2.5 billion geothermal development

November 6, 2009

Geothermal energy is a core climate solution (as discussed here). The U.S. currently has 3 gigaWatts (3000 megaWatts) of geothermal, one third of the world’s capacity, generating $1.8 billion electricity sales. The US Geological Survey estimates the US could generate 150,000 megawatts of geothermal. A major 2007 study by MIT on Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) found that it could be a provider of substantial baseload (24/7) power. MIT’s panel concluded that “with a combined public/private investment of about $800 million to $1 billion over a 15-year period” — “less than the cost of a single, new-generation, clean-coal power plant” — “EGS technology could be deployed commercially on a timescale that would produce more than 100,000 MWe or 100 GWe of new capacity by 2050.”

Climate Progress: Ecologist George Woodwell on Cape Cod Wind and Copenhagen: “We have poisoned our global habitat and must move rapidly to correct the trend.”

November 6, 2009

Today’s guest blogger is Dr. George M. Woodwell, founder, Director Emeritus and Senior Scientist at the The Woods Hole Research Center. He has published more than 300 papers in ecology. His “research has been on the structure and function of natural communities and their role as segments of the biosphere…. For many years he has studied the biotic interactions associated with the warming of the earth.”

Climate Progress: Sen. Baucus (D-MT): “There’s no doubt that this Congress is going to pass climate change legislation.”

November 6, 2009

Contrary to reports from many in the media, the prospects for a climate bill are as good as ever now that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has finished its work. E&E News makes that clear in a series of interviews with key Senate swing votes,”Senate moderates see an opening now that EPW gridlock is history” (subs. req’d):

Baucus insisted that the bill would cross the finish line, which would require both Senate passage and a successful conference with the House. “There’s no doubt that this Congress is going to pass climate change legislation,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be this year. Probably next year.”

Climate Progress: Road to Copenhagen, Part 4: A New Social Contract

November 6, 2009

As we approach the climate conference in Copenhagen, politicians are balking and diplomats are burning the midnight oil, deprived of sleep. But we can take heart. Some unlikely new heroes may come to the rescue.

Climate Progress: One error retracted, 99 to go. Superfreaknomics authors will, in future editions, correct their claim that Caldeira believes “carbon dioxide is not the right villain”

November 5, 2009

The outrage over — and debunkings of — the error-riddled book Superfreakonomics continue, even as coauthors Levitt and Dubner slowly concede their mistakes.
Perhaps the most scathing takedown to date comes from Raymond T. Pierrehumbert, the Louis Block Professor in the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago, on RealClimate, in an”An open letter to Steve Levitt.” Pierrehumbert accuses his U of C colleague of “academic malpractice in your book.”

Climate Progress: The GOP’s phony excuse for delaying the climate and clean energy bill

November 5, 2009

Since 2001, the Senate has debated at least eight energy or global warming bills where there was no analysis by EPA, Congressional Budget Office or the Energy Information Administration completed in advance of Committee deliberations.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Climate Progess: Media stunner: Newsweek partners with oil lobby to raise ad cash, host energy and climate events with lawmakers — while publishing the uber-greenwashing story, “Big Oil Goes Green for Real”

November 5, 2009

In September, I wrote a post “Newsweek gets duped by Big Oil — for real — in worst Big Media story of the year.” The Newsweek piece by Rana Foroohar was titled “Big Oil Goes Green for Real” with greenwashing lines like “So how should we take the spate of new green announcements from the world’s major oil firms?” Not.

Climate Progess: Energy and Global Warming News for November 5: China Sets Its Sights on Green Cars; New business group backs climate-change bill

November 5, 2009

China Sets Its Sights on Green Cars

The parent of SAIC Motor, the biggest automaker in China, plans to invest 6 billion yuan to develop and manufacture clean-energy vehicles over the next couple of years, Xinhua, the official news agency, has reported.

Climate Progress: Grist on the NYT’s “baseless hit job on Gore,” plus the story’s origin in a Fox News doctored video

November 5, 2009

Al Gore is in the spotlight again with his must-read solutions book — “Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.” And that means the daggers are out. But who would have imagined that one of the first pieces would be by the NYT’s John Broder, who repeats the false claims by “Critics, mostly on the political right and among global warming skeptics,” that “Mr. Gore is poised to become the world’s first ‘carbon billionaire,’ profiteering from government policies he supports that would direct billions of dollars to the business ventures he has invested in.” I’m going to repost a piece by Media Matters from May that looks at one of the despicable origins of this smear, “O’Reilly Factor guest host Laura Ingraham presented clips of Al Gore’s recent congressional testimony that had been edited to remove his statements that he donates the money he makes from his climate-related work to a non-profit organization.”

Climate Progress: Road to Copenhagen, Part 3: Re-Tooling Industry

November 5, 2009

In case we need more evidence that an urgent economic transformation is required to avoid catastrophic climate change, it can be found in a new study commissioned by World Wildlife Fund International.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

RealClimate: An open letter to Steve Levitt

October 20th, 2009

"Dear Mr. Levitt,
The problem of global warming is so big that solving it will require creative thinking from many disciplines. Economists have much to contribute to this effort, particularly with regard to the question of how various means of putting a price on carbon emissions may alter human behavior. Some of the lines of thinking in your first book, Freakonomics, could well have had a bearing on this issue, if brought to bear on the carbon emissions problem. I have very much enjoyed and benefited from the growing collaborations between Geosciences and the Economics department here at the University of Chicago, and had hoped someday to have the pleasure of making your acquaintance. It is more in disappointment than anger that I am writing to you now."

Climate Progress: The must-read solutions book — “Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis” by Al Gore.

November 1, 2009

The long-awaited sequel to An Inconvenient Truth comes out Tuesday. If you want a preview, Gore and the book are featured in an excellent Newsweek cover story, The Thinking Man’s Thinking Man.

Climate Progress: Meet trash journalist Keith Kloor

November 1, 2009

Friends, Rommans, countrymen, lend me your ears….
One of the oldest rhetorical tricks is to emphasize a point by pretending to deny it.

Climate Progress: Honey, I shrunk the GOP, Part 4: Moderate GOP candidate yields to angry conservative. Gingrich says if this keeps up, “we’ll make Pelosi speaker for life and guarantee Obama’s re-election.”

November 1, 2009

We’ve seen how GOP conservatives want to cleanse their party of moderates — see “Honey, I shrunk the GOP, Part 1: Conservatives vow to purge all members who support clean energy or science-based policy.” Even Lindsay Graham (R-SC), an American Conservative Union “Senate Standout,” among the 20 most conservative U.S. Senators in 2008, is being attacked for even daring to engage in bipartisan efforts to solve our climate and energy security problem (see Teabaggers try to “flush” Graham out of GOP, calling him “traitor” and “RINO” and “wussypants, girly-man, half-a-sissy”; Graham responds, “We’re not going to be the party of angry white guys”).

Climate Progress: Contest: Come up with a title for my book

October 31, 2009

My publisher and I still haven’t come up with a title that works. The problem is that there are a great many books on climate and/or clean energy solutions coming out right now many with similar sounding titles.

Climate Progress: Energy Secretary Steven Chu on home weatherization: Saving money by saving energy

October 31, 2009

The guest blogger today is the Nobel prize-winning Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, by way of HuffPost. As you’ll see, he’s the mirror image of Bush’s Energy Secretary (see “Bodman as Orwell: DOE erases ‘most successful’ weatherization program from website“).

I’ve always been a bit of an energy efficiency nut.

Climate Progress: Energy and Global Warming News for October 30: Coal industry knew of fraudulent letters; Senate GOP may try to stall climate bill

October 30, 2009

Coal industry knew of fraudulent letters

A coal industry association waited until several weeks after a major House vote on climate legislation to let lawmakers know that letters sent to them opposing the bill were fraudulent, according to a congressional investigation.

Climate Progress: Rep. Jay Inslee slams SuperFreakonomics: “People are still trying to write books to deceive the American public” on climate science.

October 30th, 2009

This is a repost from Wonk Room.
Yesterday, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) rebuked the authors of SuperFreakonomics for participating in a “continuing effort to deceive the American public” on the science of climate change. During an investigative hearing on forged letters sent by the coal industry to oppose climate action, Inslee condemned the industry’s effort to “hoodwink, defraud, and deceive the American public now to cover up the toxicity to the world environment” of global warming pollution. Inslee then turned to Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, criticizing them for “absolute deception” in their work on global warming:

Climate Progress: Republicans for Enviromental Protection push back on Big Oil’s attack on Lindsey Graham

October 30, 2009

A major denier group has started running falsehood-filled ads going after Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the conservative gamechanger who just made a climate bill likely. As Media Matters explains in their ad fact check:

Using false oil industry talking points, the Big Oil funded American Energy Alliance produced an ad attacking Sen. Lindsey Graham for his willingness to work with Democrats on clean energy jobs legislation. Contrary to the allegations made in the ad, legislation increasing our investment in clean energy technologies would create jobs in every state and help America become more energy independent, all for less than a quarter a day.

Climate Progress: Must-have PPTs: GOP witness details harsh impact Bush-Cheney policies had on U.S. manufacturing jobs

October 29, 2009

The US manufacturing sector has lost over 5.1 million jobs in the last 10 years. Output and investment per GDP has fallen consistently and imports have risen sharply. (See charts below) This is not the time to implement risky unproven climate policy. The US economy cannot afford to lose any more jobs or shutdown facilities. Approximately 40,000 manufacturing plants have closed during the seven years ending in 2008. We have lost eleven industries that we were once dominant since the late 1990s. By late 2008, the US trade deficit with China alone was running at close to $1 billion per day, amounting to more than $90 per month or more than $1100 per year for every American.

That’s from one of the strangest pieces of testimony you’re ever going to see — by Paul Cicio, Executive Director, Industrial Energy Consumers of America.

Climate Progress: During forged letter investigation hearing, coal industry lies under oath about its lobbying history

October 29th, 2009

This is a Think Progress repost.
Today, the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held a hearing investigating fraudulent letters forged by Bonner & Associates on behalf of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) to attack the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454). As the Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson has reported, ACCCE President and CEO Steve Miller lied under oath when he told the committee that his organization has never opposed clean energy legislation.

Climate Progess: Increasing competitiveness through clean energy: Taking on China’s broad-based effort to be the world’s clean energy leader

October 29, 2009

I hope you have been watching panel 3 of today’s Senate climate bill hearings. It has been incredibly informative about the international competitiveness issue, especially China’s aggressive efforts to become the clean energy leader and the complete turnaround in the thinking of Chinese business and policymakers since Chinese President Hu Jintao’s UN speech (see “Are Chinese emissions pledges a game changer for Senate action?“). I’ll do a post on it later. Here is the testimony of CAP president and CEO John Podesta. I have reprinted the extensive discussion of China’s efforts to forever seize leadership in clean energy, which we can only match if we pass the clean energy bill.

Climate Progress: Contrarian Chic: Why can’t the media tell the difference between an attack on dubious ‘conventional’ wisdom and an attack on genuine scientific wisdom?

October 29, 2009

The Atlantic Monthly named Freeman Dyson a “Brave Thinker” for the “contrarian view” he’s taken on climate change. They tout his quote, “I like to express heretical opinions. They might even happen to be true.”

Climate Progress: Energy and Global Warming News for October 29: Report slams low-carbon tar sands ‘myth’

October 29, 2009

Report slams low-carbon tar sand “myth”
Capturing and storing some of the carbon that would be released in the processing of Canada’s tar sands may not clean the industry up. To turn the vast but dirty resource into useable oil, Canada will have to spew vast amounts of greenhouse gases.

Climate Progress: Senate shocker: Second biggest U.S. coal producer believes in global warming and strong climate action

October 29, 2009

Ken Ward, Jr., the best journalist in West Virginia, has been following the landmark Senate climate and clean energy hearings at his blog, “Coal Tattoo: Mining’s Mark on our World.” I’m excerpting his latest piece.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Friday, November 27, 2009

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Monday, November 23, 2009

Friday, November 20, 2009

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Friday, November 13, 2009

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Sunday, November 1, 2009

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