Posted on February 27th, 2009 by admin
Let me start by explaining that I am not a lover of cap and trade. The systems that have been proposed to date are simply taxes on certain types of energy so that other forms seem to be more competitive. They also tend to reward industries that can have a flexibility in energy sources while punishing industries that have to purchase high BTU energy sources. Finally, they can reward industries and organizations that did nothing to improve their energy use – they were just lucky enough to use less carbon. To make cap and trade look better, you may also see it referred to carbon trading or carbon offsets but a rose is a rose, regardless of its name (or in this case – a tax is a tax, regardless of its name). Read more... (859 words, 1 image, estimated 3:26 mins reading time)
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Filed under: Greenhouse gas, Politics
Posted on February 26th, 2009 by admin
There is no question that our climate has changed slightly compared to 20 years ago. Most of the data points to increases of temperature and the most significant (and obvious if you are in the Arctic) is the diminished amount of ice in the Arctic Ocean. While there is some question as to the cause of this melting (see my ocean currents article), there is little question that it is occurring.
This article discusses some of the observations that scientists have seen regarding the ice melt and some possible repercussions. The article is somewhat refreshing though in that it focuses on what can be observed rather than focusing on what might be causing the warming. Since it was so evenly reported, I felt it was of significant interest to my readers. Read more... (464 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)
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Filed under: Getting warmer, Greenhouse gas, Weather science
Posted on February 25th, 2009 by admin
It looks like we are going to have to wait for awhile now for better data on what is really going on with our atmosphere and climate. The satellite that NASA sent up to study the flow of carbon dioxide developed technical difficulties and crashed.
Once again, we see that our ability to travel outside of our world is still quite experimental and we struggle to do it with the repeatability of plane flights. If I was a conspiracy fearing individual (which I am not) I would question if scientists deliberately sabotaged the flight so that real data that could prove or disprove climate models could not be gathered. Such speculation is obviously foolish though. Read more... (425 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)
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NASA satellite searching for global warming clues crashes near Antarctica
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Filed under: Greenhouse gas, Technology, Weather science
Posted on February 23rd, 2009 by admin
Dilbert is trying to do his best to reduce his carbon footprint but he may have gone a bit over the top on his efforts. Click on the image to go to the Dilbert site and see it as full size.
Dilbert, cartoon
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Filed under: Greenhouse gas, The ridiculous!
Posted on February 6th, 2009 by admin
A little lightheated fun to start your weekend! You should be able to see the full size image by right clicking below and selecting to view the image.
snowmen
Popularity: 12% [?]
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Filed under: The ridiculous!
Posted on February 3rd, 2009 by admin
This is absolutely wonderful news. There is no question that we don’t fully understand the complexities of our atmosphere. Our models which predict doom and gloom are woefully inadequate (which doesn’t make them incorrect – it just leaves room for extreme doubt).
Perhaps this study will solve one of my mysteries in the global warming discussion and that is that North America actually appears to sink CO2 rather than emit the gas. We know that carbon dioxide is increasing from man’s efforts due to the isotope nature of the CO2 in the air but we still struggle understanding how CO2 spreads through the atmosphere. Read more... (292 words, estimated 1:10 mins reading time)
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NASA Prepares to Launch Satellite Designed to Study Global Warming
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Filed under: Greenhouse gas, Technology, Weather science
Posted on February 2nd, 2009 by admin
As a quick followup to my earlier posting on the 1,000 year irreversibility status of global warming. The folks over at RealClimate also did a story on this subject but they tried to make the distinction that “irreversible” does mean “unstoppable”. I think they are trying to play with words a bit but I will let you decide for yourselves. As I read the abstract of the study (below), I do not think that they are following the same logic that the original authors followed. That is okay though since science is all about discussing the different hypotheses and then testing them. Read more... (331 words, estimated 1:19 mins reading time)
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Not cool anymore – followup (Irreversible climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions)
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Filed under: Getting warmer, Greenhouse gas, Human fault, Politics, Weather science
Posted on February 2nd, 2009 by admin
I really can’t comment on the news that it will take 1,000 years to recover from today’s carbon dioxide pollution better than Mr. Taranto of the Wall Street Journal. Read more... (924 words, estimated 3:42 mins reading time)
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Filed under: Getting warmer, Human fault, Politics, Weather science