Cancun Climate Conference Must Not Fail

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Like Copenhagen’s COP15, the next international climate talks have a lot of hopes pinned on them.

Greenpeace activists 2010

“If we do not keep momentum in Cancun and build on what was achieved in Copenhagen, then there is a risk that some key parties will start to simply lose interest in the international UN process,” said European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard at a pre-summit meeting in Mexico City.

“It’s probably going to be tough” in Cancun, Hedegaard told AFP, acknowledging that the goal of an internationally binding deal had slipped given the unchanging positions of China and the United States.

The two giants clashed at a UN climate meeting in China in October, accusing each other of blocking progress ahead of Cancun.

“In the end, what matters is that the world’s two largest emitters … that they also say: ‘Yes, we really want to do this,’” Hedegaard said.  . . . Hedegaard called for a practical approach and smaller goals, such as deals on deforestation, setting up climate warning systems, progress on financing, and encouraging the transfer of cleaner technology to poorer countries. . . . . “

Read more here. The two largest emitters of greenhouse gases at this point in time are the U.S. and China.  Per capita, the U.S. is far and away the highest emitter.

Mexico, the country hosting the conference this year in Cancun, has much more specific goals and talks about the importance of the talks more bluntly.

Mexico’s foreign minister said on Wednesday the U.N. climate talks she will co-host this month should zero in on immediate goals such as the creation of a Green Fund, as hopes fade for a sweeping result.

Failure to achieve even a “bare minimum” set of decisions would undermine the credibility of the already troubled negotiations on a broader climate pact, Patricia Espinosa said in an interview on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial meeting.

Prospects for the Nov 29-Dec 10 climate change talks in the Mexican resort of Cancun have dimmed in recent months because of near-deadlock in the 194-nation negotiations over how to share the burden in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. . . . . “

Read more here. In a related story, the China talks ahead of the Mexican conference didn’t go well either.

EPA at Work Despite Political Hurdles

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I have to give the EPA some credit this year: despite the political hurdles the right-wing politicians have thrown at them, they have continued to slog on with enforcing the Clean Air Act and try to do what they can about coal mining and emissions. I wasn’t too happy about their work on the BP oil leak and spills, or the misinformation they seemed to spread about where all the oil went — much of it is clearly still in the Gulf of Mexico.   Also not admirable was their misinformation about the Corexit during the oil leak. Now much of that oil is still under the water and no one knows the long-term effects of the dispersants.

Lately, however, the EPA has shown itself to be nearly in defiance of obstructionist politics in their attempts to get things done,  to ensure our environment isn’t completely trashed by the pro-business policies of our government. The pro-corporate policies are not just coming from Republicans either; President Obama himself is telling the G20 this week that faster U.S. growth is the key to fixing our economic problems. Unfortunately, more U.S. “growth” is what has caused the climate change mess we’re in.

A policewoman uses a blanket to try to cover activists from People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) as they protest outside a G20 Summit venue in Seoul November 9, 2010.   Holding signs “Save the Planet, Go Vegetarian”, activists from PETA staged a brief protest against what they say are hazards of meat production before police stopped and detained them outside a G20 Summit venue in Seoul.  From PlanetArk.

President Obama needs to understand the destructive role of economic growth to the environment, and how it adds to climate change.  At some point, when the economy has recovered enough that people have settled down and can think of other things, growth is going to have to stop being the main pursuit of governments.

The EPA is trying to deal with the results of growth.  This is recent EPA news:

EPA Finalizes Greenhouse Gas Reporting Requirements for Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting requirements for the petroleum and natural gas industries as part of the mandatory reporting program. The petroleum and natural gas industries emit methane, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and are one of the largest human related sources of methane in the United States.  Annual methane emissions from intentional venting and equipment leaks from these industries are comparable to annual emissions from more than 40 million passenger cars.   

The data collected through the reporting program will provide important information about GHG emissions from petroleum and natural gas facilities. While methane is a potent greenhouse gas, trapping more than 20 times as much heat as carbon dioxide, it is also the primary component of natural gas, a valuable fuel.  The data collected by the companies will help identify cost effective ways to minimize the loss [...]

Paleoclimate Shows CO2 is Cause of Heating

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It was  reported last week by the Journal Science that, based on paleoclimate knowledge of the Middle Eocene era, sea level rise and warming were caused by very high CO2 levels.  The heightened CO2 levels were from a source not yet determined, but perhaps the destruction of carbonized rocks in Asia or intense volcanic activity. Whatever the source, it’s not happening now, but people’s  modern day activities are having a similar effect on the climate via CO2 emissions.  This valuable information is why many climate change scientists like James Hansen rely more on paleoclimate evidence than on “climate models”.

The new Know Nothings promise to ramp up their climate change denialism and anti-science political action, since the Republicans took over the U.S. Congress.  (I’m seeing more of the Know Nothings’ denialism online now than even two years ago).   For a dose of reality, here is what the Journal Science included in the November 5th issue (it’s the part the public can read without a subscription) about this:

Increased Atmospheric CO2 During the Middle Eocene

Even without humans, there are many processes that can change the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth’s atmosphere and affect global climate. On page 819 of this issue, Bijl et al. (1) provide the first direct evidence that very high CO2 levels occurred about 40 million years ago during the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO), one of the hottest intervals in Earth’s climate history. The hunt is now on for a geological cause for this event—and fingers are pointing at the Himalayan mountain belt.

School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3YE, UK.

Middle Eocene era, with the white outlines present day land masses. If we move back to a climate like that of the Middle Eocene, we will lose a lot of land mass to water.

Below is an article on Paleoclimate evidence explaining the above in more detail. It clearly shows that CO2 is the most probable culprit to explain global warming spikes in the past and present. From Solveclimate:

“… 40 million years ago, the world experienced an extreme spike in global warming. The heat was so intense that deep sea temperatures rose by about 4 degrees Celsius. This enigmatic sultry period, known as the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO), marked a 400,000-year-long heat wave in the midst of a long era of global cooling.

Now research published Nov. 5 in the journal Science suggests the rise in surface sea temperature occurred during a time when atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels were particularly high, according to a research team from Utrecht University and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research.

First reported by U.S. scientists in 2003, the MECO warming period has been documented by data from a smattering of sites around the world. “Our paper is among the first to show that CO2 concentrations and the temperature varied hand in hand in that time,” says Peter Bijl, a paleoclimatologist [...]

Volcanic Eruptions Change Rainfall

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Members of a rescue team walk among debris in Glagaharjo village, which has been hit by Mount Merapi eruptions, to search for more victims, in the Sleman district of Indonesia's central Java province November 8, 2010. REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas

The eruption of Mount Merapi in Indonesia is not big enough to stop climate change temporarily, as Mount Pinatubo did, but it may contribute to changing rainfall patterns in Asia.

Unfortunately southeast Asia, already suffering from flooding and torrential downpours, will probably see more of that in the months to come.

“The largest volcanic eruptions that took place on our planet most likely caused an important shift to appear in worldwide rain patterns, in the sense that certain areas got drenched more, whereas others were subjected to floods and excessive rain.

New data show that the phenomenon is a lot more widespread than originally thought, which means that the rain pattern disturbances affect a lot more regions on Earth than researchers first estimated.

The new work was carried out by researchers based at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which is located at the Columbia University, in Ithaca, New York.

Tree ring analysis experts there looked at the traces that about 54 large eruptions left in the rings of trees over the past 800 years, and determined that central Asia usually dries out following an eruption.  On the other hand, regions in southeast Asia, such as for example Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, get more precipitations than usual. These findings are the exact opposite of the ones made with climate computer models.

After analyzing tree ring data, the scientists determined that active volcanoes have been contributing to the surprising increased rainfall.

Read more here.

Elections and Climate Change Podcast

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The latest podcast can be found here. (These are the notes for that podcast.)  In large part the midterm elections were bought and paid for by special interests, including the fossil fuel industries, Big Coal, Big Oil. So, the outcome isn’t that unexpected, but it certainly makes for a dismal two-year political outlook for climate change legislation. Is this outcome going to sentence humanity to extinction, due to delays on climate change legislation, and less funding for renewable energy and cleaner transportation? Do we have a future?

If you are someone who trusts science more than religion and if you are someone who cares about things other than taxes, then this taking over of the U.S. Congress by anti-science right-wingers who care about nothing but taxes, is a big setback. The new leadership in Congress will be concerned with turning over much of the progress on renewable energy, EPA decisions, and all ideas on fighting global warming. Many Republicans don’t even believe climate change is happening. And last but not least, hear part of a talk Gwynne Dyer gave about climate change this summer. He’s the author of Climate Wars. Gwynne Dyer talks quite a bit about geoengineering. He assumes it will happen to buy us some time, but it might not be easy . . .

More than 190 nations agreed to ban geoengineering, but it’s already being studied around the world.

New Mexico Adopts Country’s Most Comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Rules

UNFCCC COP16 is starting soon. Here is the Mexican website for COP16, being held in Cancun this year. COP16 starts November 29th and runs through December 10th.

The GOP has already announced plans to attack the EPA and do other anti-science things.

Inaction on Climate Change Putting Decades of Human Progress at Risk

McGill Study Asks “Are We Adapting to Climate Change?”

Download the PDF press release here
Find the scientific article in Global Environmental Change here
Download the scientific article as a Word document here

Pentagon: “Climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked” Earth will take 100,000 years to recover from global warming Only 47% of Republicans Think Global Warming Is Happening — If only denying its existence would make it go away. Sixty-three percent of Americans believe that global warming is happening. Here is Yale Study.

You can download the podcast at the link at the beginning.

Obama talks Climate Change in India

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President Obama spoke about  jobs, nuclear energy, and climate change during his recent trip to India.  Climate change may be a topic that is considered “dead” in Congress and the media, but it’s still on the mind of Obama.  (It will have to be dealt with no matter how bored the media is with the subject.)  Here is the excerpt from his speech where he discusses climate change and jobs.  These were his remarks on November 7th to the Joint Session of the Indian Parliament in New Delhi.

Obama in India November 2010

“. . . . Since taking office, I’ve, therefore, made our relationship a priority.  I was proud to welcome Prime Minister Singh for the first official state visit of my presidency.  (Applause.)  For the first time ever, our governments are working together across the whole range of common challenges that we face.  Now, let me say it as clearly as I can:  The United States not only welcomes India as a rising global power, we fervently support it, and we have worked to help make it a reality.

Together with our partners, we have made the G20 the premier forum for international economic cooperation, bringing more voices to the table of global economic decision-making, and that has included India.  We’ve increased the role of emerging economies like India at international financial institutions.  We valued India’s important role at Copenhagen, where, for the first time, all major economies committed to take action to confront climate change —- and to stand by those actions. We salute India’s long history as a leading contributor to United Nations peacekeeping missions.  And we welcome India as it prepares to take its seat on the United Nations Security Council.

In short, with India assuming its rightful place in the world, we have an historic opportunity to make the relationship between our two countries a defining partnership of the century ahead.  And I believe we can do so by working together in three important areas.

First, as global partners we can promote prosperity in both our countries.  Together, we can create the high-tech, high-wage jobs of the future.  With my visit, we are now ready to begin implementing our civil nuclear agreement. This will help meet India’s growing energy needs and create thousands of jobs in both of our countries. . . . .

We can pursue joint research and development to create green jobs; give India more access to cleaner, affordable energy; meet the commitments we made at Copenhagen; and show the possibilities of low-carbon growth.

. . . .

Together, we can strengthen agriculture.  Cooperation between Indian and American researchers and scientists sparked the Green Revolution.  Today, India is a leader in using technology to empower farmers, like those I met yesterday who get free updates on market and weather conditions on their cell phones.  And the United States is a leader in agricultural productivity and research.  Now, as farmers and [...]

Futurism News Bulletin, xix

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What do bejeweled vaginas and Marinetti have in common? Read more

Craig Schuftan [...] linked the Italian Futurism movement to Gwen Stefani‘s Hollaback Girl, through the use of unlikely sounds for music (Bassling)

Let’s Murder the Moonlight! examined in Jane Brox’s new book: Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light

Article on Italian Futurism and the African Diaspora

“Futurism, 100 years of inspiration” on the exhibit at the National Art Museum of China

Group la Chambre des Machines reenacted Luigi Russolo’s Intonarumori at the Sonar Chicago Festival (Sept. 9-11, 2010)

Tom McCarthy, author, references futurism in his new novel C

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Tracking nanoparticles could help in developing treatment for pulmonary disease

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Using a real-time imaging system, scientists have tracked a group of near-infrared fluorescent nanoparticles from the airspaces of the lungs into the body and out again, providing a description of the characteristics and behavior of the particles that could be used in developing therapeutic agents to treat pulmonary disease. The findings could also offer a greater understanding of the health effects of air pollution.

Nanotechnology in the automotive industry

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The automotive sector is a major consumer of material technologies - and nanotechnologies promise to improve the performance of existing technologies significantly. Applications range from already existing - paint quality, fuel cells, batteries, wear-resistant tires, lighter but stronger materials, ultra-thin anti-glare layers for windows and mirrors - to the futuristic - energy-harvesting bodywork, fully self-repairing paint, switchable colors, shape-shifting skin. The basic trends that nanotechnology enables for the automobile are: lighter but stronger materials; improved engine efficiency and fuel consumption for gasoline-powered cars; reduced environmental impact from hydrogen and fuel cell-powered cars; improved and miniaturized electronic systems; and better economies. This article provides an overview of a large number of efforts and applications involving nanotechnologies in the automotive industry.