A round-up of the top climate and energy news.
According to Craig Allen, a research ecologist with the United States Geological Survey in Los Alamos, New Mexico, forests in the region have not been regenerating after the vast wildfires that have been raging for the last decade and a half. [NY Times Green]
Dr. Allen, who runs the Jemez Mountains Field Station at Bandelier National Monument, says those forests are burning into oblivion and grasslands and shrublands are taking their place. “Rising temperature is going to drive our forests off the mountains,” he said.
Already choking through one of the worst wildfire seasons in recent memory, Colorado found itself dealing with a new series of blazes this week, driven by a relentless heat wave that has threatened to further fan the flames. [New York Times]
The Koch brothers’ attempted takeover of the libertarian Cato Institute has come to an end, at least for now. [Los Angeles Times]
If you think there are flooding problems in the North Shore now, just wait — it’s going to get a whole lot worse, according to a study released Sunday by the U.S. Geological Survey. [Salem News]
The cold financial climate of the last three years has made little impact on public attitudes towards global warming, according to a new Guardian/ICM poll. [Guardian]
With the cost of solar photovoltaic cells falling — prices dropped by 50% last year and are now a quarter of what they were in 2008 — renewable-energy advocates say India is ripe for a solar-power revolution. And it could use it. [Time]
As the climate changes, scientists are documenting measurable shifts in the natural world — from a tremendous loss in Arctic sea ice and an increase in extreme weather like drought, floods and heatwaves, to the migration of plants and animals to new latitudes. [National Public Radio]
The billions of pounds the Bank of England is pouring into banks in a bid to get lending flowing should have strings attached to ensure that much of the liquidity is directed towards greening the economy, the UK’s former chief scientific adviser has urged. [Guardian]
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Other energy and climate headlines are available at http://www.marcaccicomms.com/news/energy-and-environment-news-roundup-6-26-12/
Our Western forests are in a fire deficit, due to decades of fire suppression. This means that when fires hit, they often blacken everything, including the soil.
We need a holistic forest policy, applied to private lands as well. We can start by withdrawing tax incentives to clearcut in short rotations, and to import clearcut old growth from Canada. I discussed this with two Congressional committees, Government Management and Oversight and Interior Appropriations, in 1998. Big surprise: nothing happened.
Nasty combination: hot dry weather, already stressed trees dry because of drought and a massive fuel load because of decades of fire suppression.
This year’s shaping up to be another rough one. Looks like the effects of climate change are accelerating.
US Geological Survey staff have a paper in Nature Climate Change, “Hotspot of accelerated sea-level rise on the Atlantic coast of North America”
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1597.html
The link above is to the article in full.
The paper touches on how ocean currents alter sea-level over vast stretches. The paper shows a 12 year lag between a first phase of atmospheric temperature increase with related snow melt and a second phase of shift in shoreline sea level attributable to change in currents.
I’d be delighted if Climate Progress would review the paper in more detail.
Forest fire related question:
Is the carbon in the charcoal produced by a forest fire permanently sequestered as it would be if it were biochar plowed into the soil? Is this a possible upside to forest fires? A climate forcing?
Wouldn’t we need to know more about the fire?
The really hot wild fires vaporize much carbon, even organic soil can burn along with the standing biomass. Slower cooler fires leave more carbon as solids on site. Areal extent of the fire and slope can affect whether the burnt material stays there or is sloughed off in rain and mudslides. If it goes into an aquatic system there are other fates.
Briefly, no.
Has to be buried which is rarely the case in a forest fire.
The ugly part face of adaptation comes to Colorado Springs.
Can we seriously survive another 1C ?
Flood one year burn then next….
Colorado wildfires worsen, 32,000 flee homes
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/27/us-usa-wildfires-idUSBRE85L1DD20120627
“This is the worst fire season in the history of Colorado,” ….
from the air he saw many homes destroyed in a glowing landscape that looked “surreal.”
Coloradans will now be convinced about GW….
Insurance companies must be pretty nervous. Now not only cant you get insurance for flood prone property, you wont be able to get insurance if its anywhere near trees.
Photos at Denver Post are astounding. Like something from an overwrought disaster movie.
Temperature records are phenomenal, too. Early, high, bunched up.