Sea creatures can’t develop in warming ocean
SYDNEY: Sea urchins and marine abalone – large sea snails – will not develop skeletons if the ocean continues to warm and acidify as predicted, new research has shown.
The results of a new study show that abalone and sea urchins born into ocean conditions 100 years from now will be unable to calcify their shells or grow their spines – suggesting that key sources of protein will be lost due to climate change in the future.
“We wondered about the impact of climate change on shelled marine animals since ocean acidification reduces the amount of carbonate ions, which they need to make their calcium carbonate skeletons,” said Maria Byrne from the School of Biological Sciences and School of Medical Sciences at Sydney University, Australia.
In a collaboration with researchers from the University of Wollongong and Southern Cross University in Queensland, Bryne investigated how simultaneous exposure to increased temperature and acidity affects development – from fertilised egg to juvenile stages – of sea urchins and abalone.
Climate change is resulting in oceans that are simultaneously warming, acidifying and increasing in dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2).
“We focussed on two ecologically and commercially important groups of marine invertebrates from South-Eastern Australia, which is a climate change hotspot where the ocean is warming several times faster than the global average,” said Byrne.
The researchers reared abalone and sea urchin embryos in ocean conditions projected for the years 2100 and beyond by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). These included three temperature (current ambient, plus 2 and 4 degrees Celsius) and three pH (current ambient, pH 7.8, pH 7.6) treatments, which were used in all combinations.
Abalone were particularly sensitive to change and did not do well in even slightly warmer and more acidic conditions (plus 2 degree Celsius/pH 7.8). The sea urchins fared better and some offspring made it to the juvenile stage in these conditions and the interaction between the two stressors indicated that slight warming reduced the negative effect of lower pH.
If the urchins were pushed to conditions projected beyond 2100 (plus 4 degrees Celsius) however, the juveniles produced were abnormal and had fewer spines.
“The embryos and larvae of certain marine shelled animals will have a difficult time surviving in tomorrow’s oceans, which will be seriously detrimental to the persistence of those species,” said Bryne.
“It is worrying to see how vulnerable abalone embryos are to near-future levels of warming and acidification, since this species has such commercial significance for fisheries. Similarly sea urchins are ecologically important as they function as grazers that structure habitats.”
“Considering that the oceans are on a irreversible track of change for the foreseeable future and are a key source of food and prosperity for humans, it is important to consider how we are going to meet the needs of growing human population. Marine invertebrates are a major food source – some species such as abalone are unlikely to adapt, while others such as some hardy oysters may persist.”
EPA administrator faces down GOP critics
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson faced down her Republican critics on Wednesday, defending her agency’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as critical to the public’s health.
Jackson’s appearance before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee marked the first time the administrator has testified at a hearing on climate change since the GOP took power. House Republicans have proposed legislation that would block the agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions.
One by one, Republicans on the committee railed against the pending regulations, arguing that climate rules would hurt the economy and kill jobs.
“Like cap-and-trade, these regulations would boost the cost of energy, not just for homeowners and car owners, but for businesses both large and small,” committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said in his opening statement. “EPA may be starting by regulating only the largest power plants and factories, but we will all feel the impact of higher prices and fewer jobs.”
In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA could regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act if it found that the emissions endangered public health and welfare. The Obama administration’s EPA made such a finding in 2009.
Obama admin says initiatives sparked boom of renewable energy projects on public land
The Obama administration today said accelerated permitting and financial incentives have helped fuel a booming interest in developing wind, solar and geothermal power on public lands but warned that future development will depend on a strong commitment from Congress.
At a renewable energy forum hosted by the Interior Department, Secretary Ken Salazar joined officials of major solar companies to tout the success of a Treasury Department grant program and loan guarantees from the Energy Department in spurring 12 renewable energy and transmission projects on public lands in 2010.
But Salazar warned lawmakers that investors will need dependable incentives and regulations to continue building. The Treasury grants were extended by Congress in December but expire at the end of the year.
“The package signed into law by President Obama in December is helping unlock the potential of solar, wind and geothermal and other projects,” Salazar said, flanked by the secretaries of energy and agriculture and the officials of six solar companies. “In particular, the 1603 renewable energy grant program under the Recovery Act has been an essential tool in deploying renewable energy resources in the U.S. over the past two years.”
Equally important, Salazar said, is Congress’ passage of an 80 percent clean energy standard as outlined by President Obama in his State of the Union address last month.
Wind energy experts: regulations slow development
Clearing up the regulatory hurdles that are slowing development of electricity transmission lines would provide a significant boost to U.S. wind power development, industry officials said Wednesday.
The American Wind Energy Association is holding a two-day workshop in Omaha focused on the challenges of transmitting power to places that need it. The biggest regulatory barriers have to do with who pays for high-voltage transmission lines and who decides where the lines will go.
Wind power may play a significant role in helping the nation reduce its dependency on coal, natural gas and nuclear power. President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union address last month that he wants 80 percent of the nation’s electricity to come from clean sources by 2035.
Cheryl LaFleur, one of five commissioners on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, told a group of about 250 people at the conference that energy transmission development is a priority. The commission is in the middle of reviewing a rule that will help resolve questions about how the lines are paid for.
Md. governor readies offshore wind power mandate
Maryland utilities would have to sign multi-decade contracts to buy offshore wind energy under a proposal Gov. Martin O’Malley could introduce as soon as Thursday.
A draft of O’Malley’s offshore wind bill, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, would require the state’s four utilities to sign fixed-price contracts of at least 20 years with offshore wind developers who are expected to build wind turbines a dozen miles off the coast of Ocean City.
The measure will likely cost Maryland ratepayers an additional $1.60 a month on their utility bills, said Malcolm Woolf, director of the Maryland Energy Administration.
The wind turbines would take years to develop.
“If all goes well, we’re hoping to have wind turbines spinning in 2016,” Woolf said Wednesday.
Under the O’Malley proposal, Maryland’s Public Service Commission would help negotiate the purchase of 400 megawatts to 600 megawatts of wind power generated by offshore turbines.
EXCLUSIVE: White House to cut energy assistance for the poor
President Obama’s proposed 2012 budget will cut several billion dollars from the government’s energy assistance fund for poor people, officials briefed on the subject told National Journal.
It’s the biggest domestic spending cut disclosed so far, and one that will likely generate the most heat from the president’s traditional political allies. Such complaints might satisfy the White House, which has a vested interest in convincing Americans that it is serious about budget discipline.
One White House friend, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said earlier today that a Republican proposal to cut home heating oil counted as an “extreme idea” that would “set the country backwards.” Schumer has not yet reacted to Obama’s proposed cut. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., declared: “The President’s reported proposal to drastically slash LIHEAP funds by more than half would have a severe impact on many of New Hampshire’s most vulnerable citizens and I strongly oppose it.” A spokesman for Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., declared similarly: “If these cuts are real, it would be a very disappointing development for millions of families still struggling through a harsh winter.”
In a letter to Obama, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., wrote, “We simply cannot afford to cut LIHEAP funding during one of the most brutal winters in history. Families across Massachusetts, and the country, depend on these monies to heat their homes and survive the season.”
Groups argue against proposed PNM rate increase
Several renewable energy and consumer advocacy groups have come out against a proposed rate increase for customers of New Mexico’s largest electric utility.
Western Resource Advocates, New Energy Economy, the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy and others have filed statements of opposition with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission over Public Service Co. of New Mexico’s revamped request for a rate increase that would average nearly 11 percent for residential and business customers around the state.
The utility, a subsidiary of PNM Resources Inc., initially asked for an increase of about 21 percent but settled on the lower rate after negotiating with commission staff, the attorney general’s office and others. The commission must still hold public hearings prior to approving the request.
Opponents consider the proposal “a backroom deal” and contend it violates consumers’ due process rights.
New clean air rules could create 1.5 million jobs: report
Looming U.S. rules that power utilities face on air pollution could create nearly 1.5 million jobs over the next five years, according to a report.
Engineering, construction and pipefitting are some of the professions that could see a rise in jobs as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules push utilities to invest in new capacity and pollution controls, said the report “New Jobs – Cleaner Air”. The report was commissioned by Ceres, a coalition of environmentalists and institutional investors.
Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have slammed the EPA’s looming air rules on utilities as “job killing”, saying they could push older coal plants into early retirement and raise electricity prices.
But the report, produced by researchers at University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute, said investments to comply with the Clean Air Act have been good for the economy. It quoted the Office of Management and Budget, which said in 2003 that every dollar spent on compliance with the act since 1970 has led to $4 to $8 in economic benefits.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh are losing fans in a key market. John Avlon on why listeners and station managers are sick of anti-Obama tirades—and who bucks the trend.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-09/glenn-beck-sean-hannity-ratings-drop-right-wing-talk-is-dying/full/full/
New Republic: The Wilting Climate Change Debate
But, all of the sudden, Inhofe seemed too bored to recap his now-familiar screed against climate science. Instead, he was content to leave it at, “There’s nothing conclusive in the science,” noting that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had been “totally debunked” by the great Climategate scandal of 2009. Never mind that three separate investigations have cleared East Anglia researchers of any wrongdoing. Inhofe simply cited The Daily Telegraph http://www.npr.org/2011/02/10/133647884/new-republic-the-wilting-climate-change-debate
…
VIDEO, Must See Historic Speech
Prince Charles criticises climate change denial
The Prince of Wales has warned that ignoring environmental concerns will damage the ability of countries to maintain economic growth.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12417515
ENVIRONMENTAL activist Tim Flannery has pledged to take the climate change message to the regions after being appointed to head Julia Gillard’s Climate Commission in a three-day-a-week role that will pay $180,000 a year.
The appointment of the 2007 Australian of the Year to the commission – promised by the Prime Minister during the election campaign last year – came as opposition climate action spokesman Greg Hunt said the organisation was there to explain the government’s policy to “push up power prices” and added to the government’s wasteful spending.
But Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the commission would enable people in the community to get access to information about climate change, climate science, international developments and the actions other countries were taking to deal with climate change.
The commission’s work will add to the material being published by the government’s climate change advisor Ross Garnaut and comes as the multi-party climate change commission is considering a mechanism to price carbon. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/flannery-vow-on-climate-change-debate/story-e6frg6xf-1226003975457
UK must cut carbon emissions, or face the consequences
Britain may be well placed to meet its carbon-reduction targets, but falling short could result in political chagrin, EU fines and damage to industry
Failure to meet the UK’s pledges to cut carbon emissions would likely result in fines for the government, a higher chance of dangerous climate change and reduced competitiveness for green British businesses.
Although the UK’s contribution to a warming planet is relatively small – around 2% of global emissions – it has a large historical responsibility and was still the world’s 10th biggest emitter in 2009, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Britain is committed to cutting its carbon emissions on three main fronts. The first commitment, to cut emissions by 8% on 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012 under the international Kyoto Protocol, is easy. A move from carbon-intensive coal-fired power plants to lower-carbon gas ones and the recent recession mean the UK is well on track to meet its obligations to the UN-brokered treaty. World leaders have so far failed to agree to a successor to Kyoto. http://www.guardian.co.uk/alternative-energy-crown-estate/cutting-carbon-emissions
Another gas explosion…. these seem to be happening more frequently…linked to climate change?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/10/pennsylvania-natural-gas-_n_821280.html
Poor people first policies should offset any reduction in energy subsidies for the poor; such as substantial energy and efficiency retrofits, green jobs, health care, transportation, education, etc.
High salinity levels may hurt farming
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=140659932662946&id=139434822741700
“Runoff is concentrating so heavily in the spring now because of climate change,” Arzeena Hamir, coordinator of the Richmond Food Security Society, told the Georgia Straight. “The melt is happening so early and so fast that—come later in the summer, as the river levels are starting to go down—what they call a ‘salt wedge’ is starting to come up the Fraser River.”
Hamir, a lifelong Richmond resident, is trying to get more farmers growing in her municipality, mainly through her role on the board of directors of the nonprofit Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Project. She said she started hearing about higher salinity levels in the river water two years ago.”
‘In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA could regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act if it found that the emissions endangered public health and welfare.”
Didn’t the Supreme Court actually rule that the EPA __MUST__ regulate greenhouse gas emissions if it found that they endanger public health and welfare?
NASA has January 2011 global temperature tied with 2006:
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt
January 2011 Global Temperature Anomalies Map:
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gistemp/do_nmap.py?year_last=2011&month_last=01&sat=4&sst=1&type=anoms&mean_gen=01&year1=2011&year2=2011&base1=1951&base2=1980&radius=1200&pol=reg
Another gas explosion…. these seem to be happening more frequently…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/10/pennsylvania-natural-gas-_n_821280.html
Soil science: Healing our planet’s ills from the ground up
Easing future societal and ecological pressures starts with protecting soil
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Under our feet and ubiquitous, lowly soil can be easily overlooked when it comes to addressing climate change and population growth. But in the January-February issue of the Soil Science Society of America Journal, a team of scientists say soil is an essential piece of the biosphere and more attention should be paid to protecting it. Strategies for doing so include refocusing and boosting research, and communicating its importance to the public.
“The article is a call to better engage with each other and with those concerned about the coming stresses to the planet,” said soil scientist Cesar Izaurralde of the Joint Global Change Research Institute in College Park, Md., a collaboration between the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., and the University of Maryland. “A better understanding of soils is needed to help us weather the changes, many of which will be around for future generations to contend with.” http://biochar.me/science/26-soil-soil/77-soil-science-healing-our-planet-s-ills-from-the-ground-up.html
More detail on the study of the Australia coral cores …..
Lough’s study looked at coral rings over three periods of roughly 100 years each. She said rainfall in the late 17th century and into the 18th century was probably a bit above the long-term average and was reasonably variable. She said the next 100 years from 1785 to 1884 was a bit drier and less variable.
“Then we seem to see a signal from the end of the 19th century up until 1981 of more rainfall but also more variability, so that the wet years tend to be wetter and dry years drier and that the frequency of such extremes increases.”
Subsequent weather records over the past 30 years backed up the move towards more extremes, she said, with the past several years in Townsville being very wet. Townsville is in northeast Queensland, which was badly affected by Cyclone Yasi last week.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/10/climate-corals-idUSL3E7DA0V420110210
According to NASA GISS, January was warmer than December. Not only that, it was the warmest January on record for a moderate-strong La Nina, as shown in the list below (moderate-strong = ONI of 1 or higher for December-February, which we will certainly have this year):
1974: -0.14
1976: -0.08
1989: +0.03
1999: +0.16
2000: +0.38
2008: +0.17
2011: +0.46
It was also only 0.06°C cooler than January 1998 – during the strongest El Nino on record.
GISS data: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt
ENSO data: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/ensostuff/ensoyears.shtml
Michael T. @ 6 -
Looking at the map , I am reminded of Jupiter with that blob of purple looking like the “Great Red Spot”.
At Wits End -
Madrid – The day is filled with sunlight, but the mountains near Madrid are no longer visible, having faded into the dark smog that hangs above the Spanish capital as pollution levels soar.
Madrid and Spain’s second-largest city Barcelona exceed the European Union’s safe contamination limits by far, according to Paco Segura from the environmentalist group Ecologistas en Accion.
In Madrid, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels as high as 380 micrograms per cubic metre have been measured in some places over the past week, while the EU limit only allows for a maximum of 200 micrograms during 18 hours in an entire year, Segura told the German Press Agency dpa.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/366656,big-cities-feature.html
With A-List Help, Glory Aims to Unravel Uncertainties About Aerosols
Feb. 10, 2011
Engineers and technicians at Vandenberg Air Force base, Calif., are preparing the Earth-observing satellite Glory for launch on Feb. 23. In orbit, the satellite’s two science instruments will study key aspects of the climate that will help make it possible to produce more accurate global and regional climate models.
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20110210/
TRMM Satellite Totaled Cyclone Yasi’s Heavy Rainfall In Queensland
TRMM showed that most of central Queensland received on the order of 50 to 100 mm (~2 to 4 inches) of rain. That’s because one of the biggest contributors to tropical cyclone rainfall is how fast the storm is moving. Yasi moved rapidly across the region leaving little time for the rain to accumulate.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/TRMM_Satellite_Totaled_Cyclone_Yasi_Heavy_Rainfall_In_Queensland_999.html
Methane gasses from landfill fuel homes
One person’s trash is another person’s treasure…or in this case, energy.
Short Mountain isn’t your typical landfill with overflowing trash and bubbling gasses; instead, Emerald People’s Utility District reuses and recycles those gasses back into area homes.
The landfill vacuums the gasses from the garbage and sucks them into a generator. The energy and heat made from the generator itself while breaking down those gasses then produces electricity to homes.
Doing this is not only green for the environment, but saves green in EPUD’s customers’ wallets as well.
In 2010 alone, the landfill provided electricity for nearly 1,500 homes, 23% more than 2009 levels. Each year has produced more and more levels, due to a variety of factors.
“2010 was the first year we had an entire section of the landfill closed and sealed. Basically, before it’s sealed we can capture about 70% of the methane gas released; after it’s sealed we can get upwards of 92%. So that was a big factor. Also, Lane County has really improved their landfill practices in recent years and also the landfill is growing…and we’re able to lay more pipe and more wells,” said Hillary McBride from EPUD.
The Short Mountain methane power plant has produced more than 2 million kilowatt hours of electricity since 2005, powering about 1,100 homes a year. The generators run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So far in 2011, the plant has been operating above 2010 levels. http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/story/Methane-gasses-from-landfill-fuel-homes/4uN5KYOWKkm3YeE_D3WQUg.cspx
*****
Defense Establishment Approach Could Reboot Climate Change Debate
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — As the new U.S. Congress prepares to hold hearings on the politically polarized issue of climate change, and rising global oil and food prices begin to impact the economic recovery, a new report says a time-tested, apolitical approach could offer a clear and non-partisan path forward.
Degrees of Risk: Defining a Risk Management Framework for Climate Security, produced by the non-profit organization E3G, is the result of a series of closed-door meetings with national and international security, intelligence and defense officials. The report recommends using a risk management approach to break logjams and tackle climate change.
“The risk-management approach makes sense even if you have questions about the effects of climate change,” said E3G chief executive Nick Mabey, one of the report’s authors. “You don’t buy fire insurance because you know your house will burn down. You buy it because you don’t know it won’t.”
Risk management considers variables both known and unknown, analyzes threats and vulnerabilities, decides on an acceptable level of risk, and puts strategies in place in an effort to keep that risk within the acceptable range.
“It comes down to this: how much risk are we willing to take?” Mabey said.
Risk management is a methodology the national security community has long used when hard decisions must be made, but information about threats is incomplete, and the future is uncertain. It is an approach that is also commonly used in fields from disaster preparedness to financial services regulation. And a less formal version of risk management analysis plays into the calculations people make every day, when deciding where to live or whether to buy insurance.
“The scientific evidence that the climate is likely to change significantly in the next few decades is far more solid than the evidence that usually underpins security decisions in other areas, like nuclear proliferation or the actions of rogue states,” said co-author Jay Gulledge, PhD, who directs the Pew Center’s Science and Impacts Program and is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
“The national security community and the military are experts at risk management,” Mabey said. “We should take a page from their book when it comes to climate change. Risk management could offer a common-sense way for leaders across the political spectrum to tackle climate and energy policy.”
Risk management is an approach that must be tailored by decision-makers, but as a starting point, Degrees of Risk proposes a three-tier approach to planning:
* Aim to stay below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) of warming, which is the target committed to by the world’s major economies
* Build and budget assuming 3-4 degrees C (5.4-7.2 degrees F) of warming, which is what current international agreements would allow
* Make contingency plans for 5-7 degrees C (9-12.6 degrees F) of warming, which remains a real possibility, in part because international agreements are not binding http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/defense-establishment-approach-could-reboot-climate-change-debate-115729054.html
Take a page from the military: Risk management could reboot climate change debate http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-a-environment/143203-take-a-page-from-the-military-risk-management-could-reboot-climate-change-debate
1. Climate Change Policy: Expecting the Unimaginable Surprises Part 1 of 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-u3GzZkwf4
Cancer and Climate Change: Parallels in Risk Management http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyJjWapPGfQ
Sea Level Rise From Climate Change Could Turn New York Into Venice
Malcolm Bowman, an oceanography professor from Stony Brook University in Long Island, recently stood at the snow-covered edge of the Williamsburg waterfront and pointed toward the Midtown skyline. “Looking at the city, with the setting sun behind the Williamsburg Bridge, it’s a sea of tranquility,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine the dangers lying ahead.”
But that’s his job.
He said that as climate change brings higher temperatures and more violent storms, flooding in parts of the city could become as routine as the heavy snows of this winter. We could even have “flood days,” the way we now have snow days, he said. Bowman and other experts say the only way to avoid that fate and keep the city dry is to follow the lead of the Dutch and build moveable modern dykes. Either that or retreat from the shoreline.
Higher sea levels will give severe storms much more water to funnel toward the city. Bowman pointed first north, then south, to depict surges of water coming from two directions: through Long Island Sound and down the East River and up through the Verrazano Narrows toward Lower Manhattan. The effect could be worse than anything seen before. http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2011/feb/09/climate-change/
Evidence for Peak Oil or Now you know why China goes full force Green Tech.
Report: Chinese hackers targeted big oil companies, stole data
Several oil companies were targets of hackers seeking ‘proprietary’ data about global oil finds, cyber security firm AcAfee reported Thursday. All evidence points to cyber spies in China, it says
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0210/Report-Chinese-hackers-targeted-big-oil-companies-stole-data
I think this is related to your first item, but I’m not sure how closely. Saw it on “Hot Topic,” traced it over to Skeptical Science.
http://www.skepticalscience.com/NCSE.html
Climate Change on Ocean Ecosystems
A talk by Dr. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
Keiser Report: Eco-Eco Disasters (E120)
This week Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, talk about eco-eco disasters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KInB2rvgaY&feature=player_embedded
Resources running out …