If you go to the homepage of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, you will find at the top one of the most amazing statements ever issued by that body:

The IPCC is currently starting to outline its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) which will be finalized in 2014.

2014?  How useless is that?

While glacial change may no longer be an apt term for what is actually happening to the world’s glaciers, it is an ironically apt term for what has happened to the IPCC.

Originally the assessments of the state of understanding of the science were going to be every 5 years, then that slid to every 6 years, and now we are apparently at 7 years between reports.

The Fourth Assessment should have been sufficient to jumpstart serious action (see “Absolute MUST Read IPCC Report: Debate over, further delay fatal, action not costly“).  But it ended up be out of date the minute the ink was dry for several reasons:

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Rep. John Tierney (D-MA), co-author of the Green Jobs Act, has announced the creation of the Green Jobs Caucus to support this “essential component of our country’s economic recovery.” In 2007, Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) and Tierney wrote the act to authorize “quality job training programs in the renewable energy and energy efficiency fields.” It was passed into law as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Funding for green jobs training followed the election of President Obama, who designated Rep. Solis as his Secretary of Labor. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law on February 17, 2009, appropriates $500 million for green job training.

Secretary Solis applauded the formation of the Green Jobs Caucus:

Training American workers in the renewable energy and energy-efficiency industries will provide economic security for our middle-class families while reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign fossil fuels. I was pleased to author the Green Jobs Act with Congressman Tierney, and I believe the Green Jobs Caucus can play an important role in Congress.

Founding members of the Green Jobs Caucus joining Rep. Tierney include Phil Hare (D-IL), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), and Henry Waxman (C-CA).

The Green Jobs Caucus is the second green economy caucus announced for the 111th Congress, joining the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, led by Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Steve Israel (D-NY).

Coral fossils in Mexican canal walls suggest a rapid increase in sea level 121,000 years ago.

The prestigious journal Nature is publishing important new research on “Rapid sea-level rise and reef back-stepping at the close of the last interglacial highstand” (subs. req’d, abstract below).  As Nature explains in a summary and author interview (subs. req’d):

Some consequences of climate change are already unfolding. Glaciers and ice sheets are melting, and sea levels are rising as a result. However, scientists aren’t certain by how much the rate of sea-level rise might accelerate; current predictions for increases until 2100 range from 0.3 centimetres to 1.4 centimetres per year. But Paul Blanchon, a geoscientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Cancºn, and his colleagues have learned that a sudden, catastrophic increase of more than 5 centimetres per year over a 50-year stretch is possible. On page 881, they describe their discovery that a sea-level jump of 2-3 metres already happened about 121,000 years ago. Blanchon tells Nature how and why it could recur [see below].

In other words, the Nature study says that during the during the last interglacial (the Eemian) evidence now suggests sea levels rose 20 inches per decade for five straight decades — a roughly 8-foot rise in a half century.

The Eemian was some 2°C warmer than current global temperatures — we will exceed that over most of the second half of this century on our current emissions path (see “Intro to global warming impacts“).

The authors conclude bluntly:

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Politico reports that interest groups and corporations have spent nearly $200 million dollars on TV ads since President Obama’s inauguration to manipulate American energy policy reform. According to an analysis by the Campaign Media Analysis Group, $199.5 million was directed from January 20th to March 31st to television issue ads on energy, the environment, and climate. $54.5 million of the ads were about oil and gas alone:

According to CMAG’s analysis, between Obama’s January 20 Inauguration and the end of March, most TV ad spending was directed toward energy and the environment, which saw $115.1 million worth of ads. The next biggest targets were gas and oil issues, which were the subject of $54.5 million in ad buys, followed by labor, stimulus and budget-related issues ($41.9 million), climate change ($29.9 million) and health care ($27.5 million).

Why is corporate America on track to spend one billion dollars this year on a television barrage about energy policy?

President Obama’s clean energy agenda, like his proposals for health care and labor reform, threatens the corrupt business model of the corporate right. Closing the carbon loophole with a cap and trade system will create a strong, healthy foundation for our national recovery — but pollution will no longer be free for Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries, and Peabody Coal. So they are trying to either block reform entirely, or — for those corporations that recognize the necessity of action — to ensure that their pollution is subsidized by the American taxpayer, through pollution permit giveaways or other handouts.

The website Calcars.org, run by my friend Felix Kramer as part of his non-profit work promoting plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEVs), first published this post.  For background on PHEVs, see “Plug-in hybrids and electric cars “” a core climate solution.”

At a moment when the future of two of the Detroit Three hangs in the balance, the new administration’s Automotive Task Force (ATF) is relying in large part on the expertise and strategic outlook of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for its evaluation of GM’s and Chrysler’s prospects. Whatever BCG’s expertise on the auto industry in general, we are concerned that in its understanding of future pathways, it offers a flawed analysis and predictions based on “business as usual.”

BCG acknowledges a theoretical possibility that the U.S. could make a rapid transition to plug-in vehicles, with GM leading the charge. But it concludes it probably won’t happen — based, we think, on narrow and short-sighted ways of thinking. Below, we analyze and critique a public report on plug-ins by BCG. We suggest there’s a divergence between BCG’s outlook and the forward-looking views of this Administration. We also include not-easily available background on the ATF in hopes that followers of this newsletter will make their voices heard to decisionmakers as they see appropriate

WHAT THE TASK FORCE SAID ABOUT THE GM VOLT

When President Obama unveiled the Automotive Task Force’s analyses of the auto industry, many people were taken aback at the ATF’s summary dismissal of the Chevy Volt:

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Valley fever blowin’ on a hotter wind.

Hotter temps and more intense dust storms are propelling an endemic disease across the Southwest United States….

Some health experts believe new weather conditions – hotter temperatures and more intense dust storms fueled by global warming – are creating a perfect storm for the transmission of coccidioidomycosis, also known as valley fever, a fungal disease endemic to the southwestern United States….

The number of cases in Arizona more than quadrupled from 1997 to 2006, according to a Mayo Clinic study. During that same period, incidence rates in California jumped from 2.5 to 8.4 cases per 100,000 people.

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Far from over-playing their hand to swell their research coffers, scientists have been toning down their message in an attempt to avoid public despair and inaction.

The global warming deniers and their enablers and some in the media want you to believe that scientists are exaggerating the threat — which is why conservatives and conservative-leaning independents believe just that (see “Gallup poll shows failure of media, conservatives still easily duped by deniers, scientists & progressives still lousy at messaging“).

But that is patently absurd.  I don’t meet 1 person in 50 who has any idea whatsoever of the incalculable misery — Hell and High Water — that we are in the process of inflicting on the next 50 generations on our current emissions path.

While the U.S. media largely downplays or ignores the threat (see U.S. media largely ignores latest warning from climate scientists and Study:  “The U.S. media’s decision to play the stenographer role helped opponents of climate action stifle progress” and here) — the European media is often much blunter, which is to say, more accurate.

Yesterday, James Randerson — the Guardian‘s environment website editor and a top UK science journalist — issued a powerful wake-up call based on the results of a recent poll of climate experts:

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As Yogi Berra said, “It’s d©j  vu all over again,”

The third time should have been a charm.  But in Kansas, up against a massive coal lobby and a partisan Congress, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has had to veto a proposal for new coal-fired power plants in western Kansas for the fourth time.

One news article summarizes that Sebelius and lawmakers “have battled over whether the plants represent practical energy policy and economic development, or whether the plants are an outdated and destructive energy source.“  (For more extensive coverage of the battle, see past Climate Progress posts here, here and here.)

Reflective of this summary, the reasons Sebelius gave for vetoing the coal plants yet again include:

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