Physicist: “If temperatures change just a few tenths of a degree then this oh-so-thin ice cap is doomed.”

Memo to media:  Ignore the misreporting on the Arctic that focuses on sea-ice extent or area.  The big Arctic news is the staggering decline in multiyear ice — ice volume. No study has yet been published undermining our understanding that human emissions are the primary cause of that long-term decline — a decline that shows no sign of reversal.

The real news from the Arctic is the staggering decline in thicker, multi-year ice [red line] — as seen in the above figure from leading cryoscientists who authored the 2009 study, “Thinning and volume loss of the Arctic Ocean sea ice cover: 2003-2008″ (discussed here).  Studies that focus on trying to correlate sea ice extent (i.e. area) with variables that might reduce ice cover border on purely pointless right now because:

1. Trends in multi-year ice — ice volume — are what matter most in terms of the long-term survivability of the Arctic ice in the summer (see New study supports finding that “the amount of [multi-year] sea ice in the northern hemisphere was the lowest on record in 2009″).
2. It now appears that an unfortunate trick of Nature helped hide the ongoing decline of Arctic ice from satellite and other measurements — measurements that suggested two-dimensional recovery of sea ice extent in 2009.  See the study “Perennial pack ice in the southern Beaufort Sea was not as it appeared in the summer of 2009.”

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What normal people can buy from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History for 1/1000th of their net worth.

David H. Koch, the right-wing scion of the Koch Industries pollution fortune, has purchased a permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History bearing his name for the equivalent of $86. Newsweek’s evangelical reporter Eve Conant raved that Koch’s $15 million have helped pay for a “fabulous” exhibit at the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins:

It turns out today was the opening ceremony of the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, a new (and I would say, fabulous), $20.7 million permanent exhibit showcasing 6 million years of human evolution. Some $15 million of its budget came from Koch.

Koch’s contribution has worked to greenwash the image of Koch, who has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, into a climate denying, radical right-wing pollution agenda:

Randall Kremer, director of public affairs for the Natural History Museum, says they are thankful for Koch’s gift. “There are not many philanthropists who have given as much as Koch to arts and science. I think his interest lies in the scientific verification of a whole range of things.”

Fifteen million dollars is less than one one-thousandth (0.000857) of David H. Koch’s $17.5 billion net worth. The median middle-class family’s net worth is about $100,000, as this chart from the Pew Research Center shows:

Koch’s $15 million tax-deductible gift is the equivalent of $86 for real working Americans — enough to buy a scorpion sculpture and a woolly mammoth puzzle at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History gift shop.

If only progressives had a clue about messaging!

The success of health reform creates momentum for Democrats that is almost certain to help advocates of climate change legislation.

So begins the EnergyGuardian story (subs. req’d) by reporter and Fox News contributor Jeffrey Birnbaum.  Similarly, BusinessGreen reports:

The chances of US climate change legislation passing this year received a major boost after President Obama secured victory in his historic battle to pass healthcare reforms late last night.

Certainly, failure on the healthcare security bill would have been bad news for Obama’s entire agenda.  And if progressives can pass a mono-partisan health security bill that isn’t popular with the public, passing a bipartisan job-creating climate and energy security bill that is quite popular with the public should be a no-brainer.  Should be.

I know what you’re thinking — what the heck is this “healthcare security bill”?  Everybody else calls it “healthcare reform.”  And that’s the problem — another example of dreadful progressive messaging, which I touched on back in September [see "Can Obama deliver health and energy security with a half (assed) message?"].

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UK to launch $3 billion green investment bank

The Labour government will unveil a 2 billion pound ($3 billion) “green” investment bank in Wednesday’s budget to help Britain’s transformation to a low carbon economy, a government source said on Sunday.

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People here because of the NYT link might want to start with “An Introduction to Climate Progress.”   My bio is here.

I’m quoted in today’s NY Times article on Calera.  The “Silicon Valley start-up says it has found a way to capture the carbon dioxide emissions from coal and gas power plants and lock them into cement.”  I wrote about the company — and its critics — last April (see “Exclusive: Does carbon-eating cement deserve the hype?“).

The hype is still there, as this absurd quote from Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla makes clear:

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Sometimes blog posts have immediate impacts.  On Thursday, March 18, I wrote a piece on the Climate Response Fund that reflected concerns raised to me by many leading climate experts:  “Exclusive:  Chief sponsor of landmark climate manipulation conference maintains close financial ties to controversial geo-engineering company.”

CRF’s Board responded with a statement on Friday, specifically addressing these concerns:

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Climate policy in Tokyo, Seoul, Brussels, and Washington

America sold the rest of the world on capping carbon and trading emissions.  But just as it is being embraced worldwide, the very phrase is an “anathema” here — an ironic turn of events that economist Robert Stavins discusses in this repost from Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Relations Blog.

As I write this, I’m on board a flight from Seoul, South Korea, to San Francisco, California, on my way home to Boston, having spent the week of Harvard spring break meeting with senior government officials, academics, and leaders of civil society in Tokyo and Seoul on behalf of the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements. Reflecting on these meetings in Asia and recalling meetings I’ve previously had in Brussels and Washington, some important opportunities and ironies about national and international climate policy come to mind.

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Game-changing through natural gas, wind, and solar in Colorado

Colorado is moving away from coal toward low-carbon energy. Tom Kenworthy, CAP Senior based in Colorado, has the story.

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