I’m going with Mike from Austin who has a thoughtful post beginning:

This photo shows the storm surge at the Paris Road bridge during Hurricane Katrina. It has been circulating on the internet and has recently become the subject of some debate over its authenticity. I believe this photo to be authentic. This page explains why.

If anybody knows different, please speak up.

The 8500 delegates of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination (16 million members) “approved a resolution on global warming Wednesday that questions the prevailing scientific belief that humans are largely to blame for the phenomenon.” Sad.

The resolution “also warns that increased regulation of greenhouse gases will hurt the poor.” But that’s true only if the regulation is poorly designed, as I’ve noted before. The poor will, however, suffer the most from global warming.

This resolution puts Southern Baptists in the same league as Denyers like Michael Crichton and Planet Gore.

The contest is designed to foster young talented writers – and will feature 1200 word essays that tackle the question: “What does it mean to be scientifically literate in the 21st Century?” The essays will be judged by a panel of Seed editors and special guest judges. The winners will receive a monetary prize and have their essays published in the September/October issue of Seed Magazine.

Deadline is July 1. Details are here.

The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported today that “the global surface temperature for the combined January-May period tied with 1998 as the warmest January-May on record.” (And 1998 was the warmest year on record.)

May was the fourth warmest on record (the warmest ever over land) and followed on the heels of a warm April. So spring was very warm over most of the planet. Temperature anomalies are shown on the dot map below. The redder it is, the hotter it is.

For the spring, much of Siberia is a stunning 5°C (9°F) above average. This is worrisome because

• Siberia contains probably the world’s largest amount of carbon locked away in the permafrost.
• The permafrost is increasingly not so perma.
• Much of that carbon would be released as methane, which is 23 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

The NCDC reports other climate extremes for the year to date:

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That would be the Bahrain World Trade Center Towers, in the view of Ecogeek’s Jon Schroeder. The Towers main green feature is three wind turbines measuring nearly 100 feet in diameter. The building is designed to funnel the Gulf wind into the turbines.

The Middle East Times reports the turbines will deliver 1,100 to 1,300 megawatt hours per year, but this is just 11% to 15% of the strucuture’s energy needs.

So I doubt this will be the greenest skyscraper in the world. The owners aren’t touting any other green features. The Designbuild Network, which gave the building an environmental award, says “The building also incorporates a large number of other sustainable features.” But they only list these:

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The nation’s top climatologist believes “tipping points” is a valid term in the climate discussion. He notes that there is some “reticence” about the term.

In an email he explains, “A famous climate scientist hangs up on [Washington Post reporter] Juliet Eilperin when she uses the tipping point phrase.” He then defends use of the term strongly:

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