NASA’s Lacis: “There is no viable alternative to counteract global warming except through direct human effort to reduce the atmospheric CO2 level.”

A study by GISS climate scientists recently published in the journal Science shows that atmospheric CO₂ operates as a thermostat to control the temperature of Earth….

CO₂ is the key atmospheric gas that exerts principal control (80% of the non-condensing GHG forcing) over the strength of the terrestrial greenhouse effect. Water vapor and clouds are fast-acting feedback effects, and as such, they are controlled by the radiative forcing supplied by the non-condensing GHGs….

There is no viable alternative to counteract global warming except through direct human effort to reduce the atmospheric CO₂ level.

NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies has posted three articles on their website explaining two important new studies, “Atmospheric CO₂: Principal control knob governing Earth’s temperature” (subs. req’d) in Science by Andrew Lacis et al. and “The attribution of the present-day total greenhouse effect” (subs. req’d) in JGR by Gavin Schmidt et al.  Together they make a terrific tutorial on the critical role human-caused CO2 plays in climate change.

Schmidt is best known as a key contributor to the must-read blog, Real Climate.  Lacis may be best known as the NASA climatologist whose 2005 critique of the IPCC Fourth Assessment draft — “There is no scientific merit to be found in the Executive Summary” — was embraced by the anti-science disinformers until it was revealed he thought the IPCC consensus was in fact some watered down, least-common denominator piece of wishy-washiness that understates our scientific understanding, which it is (see “Disputing the ‘consensus’ on global warming“).

It may be obvious to CP readers and all those who follow the science, but the core conclusion of the Science article bears repeating again and again by all of us who communicate on global warming:

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This is the last of a four-part Wonk Room series examining the implications for climate and clean energy policy of the 2010 gubernatorial races. Read Part One, on heartland states, Part Two, on Tea Party candidates, Part Three, on Northeast races, or view the full governor-race compilation.

The Western Climate Initiative — a regional cap-and-trade compact between California, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Montana and four Canadian provinces — was established in 2007 and scheduled to go into effect in 2012. There are governors’ races in all the states except Montana and Washington. Republican governors in Arizona and Utah — who are cruising to re-election this fall — have already worked to scuttle their involvement. California’s contribution, the legislation known as AB 32, is under threat both from the Proposition 23 ballot initiative and from Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. The future of the compact rides on the governors’ races this November in California, New Mexico, and Oregon:

ARIZONA: Terry Goddard v. Jan Brewer
CALIFORNIA: Jerry Brown v. Meg Whitman
NEW MEXICO: Diane Denish v. Susana Martinez
OREGON: John Kitzhaber v. Chris Dudley
UTAH: Peter Corroon v. Gary Herbert

ARIZONA: Terry Goddard v. Jan Brewer

538 forecast: 4 percent Democratic pickup

Jan Brewer, who assumed the governorship when Democrat Janet Napolitano was chosen as Secreatary of Health and Human Services, officially recognizes the threat of global warming pollution but has pulled Arizona out of any effort to cap its pollution. In her executive order in February 2010 that announced Arizona would not participate in the Western Climate Initiative’s regional cap-and-trade program, Brewer admitted:

Arizona is a growing state whose greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been projected to rise, based on historical trends, as Arizona will experience population and economic growth in the future. [Executive Order 2010-06, 2/2/10]

The executive order also ordered the state to “review its adoption of the California Clean Cars Program, in light of national vehicle standards coming into place.” However, Brewer still wants the state to participate in the regional compact to “have a seat at the table” on climate issues.

Brewer promotes the state’s 15 percent-by-2025 renewable standard, and supports “adding more nuclear power to Arizona’s energy supply.”

Brewer’s opponent, Democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard, is much more concerned about the threat global warming poses to Arizona. Responding to the Supreme Court’s decision compelling the EPA to act on global warming pollution and the 2007 IPPC climate report, Goddard wrote that “it is abundantly clear that if more steps are not taken soon to respond to global climate change, Arizona will be among the places paying the biggest price.” In 2009, Goddard defended “the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to grant states the right to regulate global warming pollution from automobiles.”

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This is a ThinkProgress cross post.

On Election Day, California voters will be asked to consider a ballot measure that would essentially scrap the state’s landmark clean energy legislation, passed with broad bipartisan support in 2006, which has helped the state create thousands of green jobs and become a global leader in green technology. The campaign behind the measure, known as Prop. 23, has been funded almost entirely by Texas-based oil companies Valero and Tesoro, Ohio-based Marathon energy, and Kansas-based Koch Industries, owned by right-wing megafunders Charles and David Koch.

Last month, the state’s Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger blasted these out-of-state companies for meddling in California’s election, saying their involvement is motivated purely by “self-serving greed.” “Does anyone really believe that these companies, out of the goodness of their black oil hearts, are spending millions and millions of dollars to protect our jobs?” Schwarzenegger said, noting that proponents of the proposition say it will help create jobs.

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Silicon solar thin film manufactured for under $0.70 a watt by Swiss Company Oerlikon

First Solar, which broke the $1.00 a Watt price barrier last year, is currently the low cost leader in being able to produce (non-silicon based) thin film at $0.76 a Watt, and they have been rewarded with contracts from major utilities such as PG&E for solar thin film installations on a utility scale.

But now Swiss solar equipment manufacturing giant Oerlikon Solar has announced that their company can enable solar manufacturers to produce their amorphous silicon thin film modules at a cost under $0.70 per watt (‚¬ 0.50). Silicon is both more widely available and more sustainable than typical thin film solar; that contains rare earth minerals.

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From the land that gave us Sarah Palin — who in turn gave us Tea Party extremists like Miller — comes a TP story that deserves reposting by all progressive bloggers:
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Zambia hits 108.3°F, 18th nation to set record high this year

Following fast on the heels of NASA reporting the hottest January to September on record, NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center has released its State of the Climate: Global Analysis for September.  It finds:

For January-September 2010, the global combined land and ocean surface temperature was 0.65°C (1.17°F) above the 20^th century average of 14.1°C (57.5°F) and tied with 1998 as the warmest January-September period on record.

Meteorologist Jeff Masters, the source of the figure above, reports on the national records set this year:

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Former Vice President Dick Cheney has to be smiling. With one exception, none of the Republicans running for the Senate “” including the 20 or so with a serious chance of winning “” accept the scientific consensus that humans are largely responsible for global warming.

The candidates are not simply rejecting solutions, like putting a price on carbon, though these, too, are demonized. They are re-running the strategy of denial perfected by Mr. Cheney a decade ago, repudiating years of peer-reviewed findings about global warming and creating an alternative reality in which climate change is a hoax or conspiracy.

Dick Cheney Republicans — that about sums up the GOP today (see “Has anyone in U.S. history made more Americans less safe than Dick Cheney?” and below).

American conservatives are unique to the extent to which they have been bought and paid for by Big Oil, fossil fuel interests, and corporate polluters, as previously noted (see UK’s conservative Foreign Secretary: “You cannot have food, water, or energy security without climate security” and National Journal: “The GOP is stampeding toward an absolutist rejection of climate science that appears unmatched among major political parties around the globe, even conservative ones”).

It’s hard to see how the nation and the world can avert catastrophic warming as long as the GOP lives in an alternative reality somewhere other than planet Eaarth.

You may be wondering who the NYT says is the exception among Republicans running for Senate.  Their must-read editorial continues:

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