But let’s not annoy the Denyers by saying this is due to global warming. No. Let’s instead imagine that there is a fabulously beautiful planet in a parallel universe where the people are foolish enough to pour billions of tons of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every year.

On that mythical planet we’ll call Unearth, they also constantly have record breaking heat waves and wildfires, which keep getting worse and worse — heck in an amazing coincidence, Unearth’s richest country, the United Unsateds, also set a record for acreage destroyed by wildfires last year, beating the previous record which had only been set in 2005.

Unearth scientists had also predicted global warming would have such impacts. But on Unearth, when they started happening, the media actually made the link, and everyone realized the scientists were right and took strong action to avoid catastrophe. You see on Unearth, the fossil fuel companies didn’t launch a massive disinformation campaign, and ….

A fantasy, I know, but a scientist can dream.

Nearly half of electricity from renewable resources by 2030: Berlin – Agence France-Presse (AFP). Pretty impressive considering that this country has so far refused to embrace even a 10% renewable target by 2020.

Building Coal Plants in Florida Proves Difficult – Reuters. Frightening factoid: “Companies are planning to build more than 150 coal-fired power plants across the United States, according to the National Technology Energy Laboratory.”

Democrats pledge climate will be top priority – Greenwire (subs. req’d). I’ll reprint the article below the fold here:

Read more

The latest on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles from Calcars.org on YouTube.

GLOBE-Net News has just published an article, “Searching for true Carbon offsets” that makes many of the same points I have been trying to make, only better. Here is the opening:

The fast-growing carbon offset industry is at risk of being discredited as operators struggle to prove their offsets are actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There is unease in the sector amid growing evidence that some carbon offset schemes are of dubious value. Some analysts believe too readily available offsets actually discourage companies from making the investments needed to reduce their greenhouse gas outputs. While the idea of purchasing credits to be ‘carbon neutral’ seems attractive, many are discovering that their dollars have not been well spent. There is an urgent need for a credible standard to differentiate the good from the bad.

Here are more highlights from the article:

Read more

On the problem with hydrogen cars:

A June 30 letter stating that we should consider using hydrogen fuel as an alternative to ethanol is misleading. My opinion on hydrogen fuel car is based on the book “Hell and High Water” by Joseph Romm, an MIT-trained physicist who managed energy-efficiency programs in the U.S. Department of Energy during President Clinton’s administration.

According to Romm’s analysis, the math for hydrogen cars simply doesn’t work out. There are two ways to create hydrogen, extract it directly from fossil fuels or split water molecules using electricity. For cars, the latter is the better approach.

Read more

A new report, “Greasy palms — palm oil, the environment and big business,” details how:

The international trade in palm oil is a key driver of rainforest destruction and a cause of human rights abuses on a massive scale.

As Reuters reports:

Indonesia has a total forest area of more than 225 million acres (91 million hectares), or about 10 percent of the world’s remaining tropical forest. But the tropical Southeast Asian country — whose forests are a treasure trove of plant and animal species including the endangered orangutans — has already lost an estimated 72 percent of its original frontier forest.

The report details the problem and offers some solutions.