Isaac was on the verge of becoming a full-blown hurricane Tuesday as it rolled over the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana, where residents of the low-lying coast left boarded-up homes for inland shelter while people in New Orleans waited behind levees fortified after Katrina. [Associated Press]
As tropical storm Isaac bears down on the Gulf Coast, there should be plenty of money — some $1.5 billion — in federal disaster aid coffers, thanks, in part, to a new system that budgets help for victims of hurricanes, tornadoes and floods before they occur. It’s a system that Paul Ryan, the Republican nominee-to-be for vice president, had hoped to scrap. [Washington Post]
The Republican platform slated for approval at the party’s convention includes expanded offshore oil-and-gas development, opening Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling rigs, and thwarting Environmental Protection Agency climate change regulations. [The Hill]
While there are still a few prominent TV weather announcers who publicly question the overwhelming body of global warming science, the American Meteorological Society has updated its official position on climate change. [Summit County Citizens Voice]
Here at the top of the world, the news that Arctic sea ice has reached a new low — the smallest footprint since satellites began measuring it three decades ago — is not much of a surprise. [Los Angeles Times]
The House, controlled by Republicans, has already approved measures that would all but kill Pentagon spending on purchasing or investing in biofuels. A committee in the Senate, led by Democrats, has voted to save the program. The fight will heat up again when Congress takes up the Defense Department’s budget again in the fall. [New York Times]
Australia will scrap its planned floor price for carbon emissions and will link directly with the European Union’s emissions trading scheme by 2018, Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said on Tuesday. [Reuters]
This year’s fickle monsoon has played havoc with millions of Indian farmers. [Washington Post]
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Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
An additional roundup of energy and climate news is posted at http://www.marcaccicomms.com/news/energy-and-environment-news-roundup-8-28-12/
The message is still not good enough.
http://www.channel4.com/news/defra-scientists-grim-warning-on-climate-change
Why is he even talking about 5C? That is off the scale. Modern global civilization is not going to survive 2C!
He should be talking about what we need to do to adapt to 2C.
Once that message sinks in, it will plainly/painfully obvious that part of that action will be to mitigate further GHG emissions as 2C is catastrophic in itself!