by Peter Sinclair, via Climate Change and the Media

A basketball metaphor illustrating changing stats pairs with analyses from a range of experts and independent commentaries in a Yale Forum video capturing the stresses of the summer’s weather anomalies across the U.S.:

“Oh the weather outside is frightful.”

You can forget about the next line … chances of snow are nil for most of the United States for the next several months.

It’s the first line of the second verse that might be a bit more relevant, though not very comforting: “It doesn’t show signs of stopping.”

Holiday carolers and those behind the “Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow” lyrics could not have had the nation’s 2012 spring and summer in mind when they penned those words.

But the wildfires plaguing much of the nation’s west … the wilting and widespread droughts across much of the country’s “Grain Belt”… the blistering high temperatures across wide swaths of the country — all those play out in The Yale Forum‘s new video, “2012 Drought Update.”

The eight-and-one-half minute video couples historical footage with contemporary clips and news segments. In one of the latter, for instance, NBC anchor Brian Williams opens the network’s flagship news program with the words: “It’s now official. We are living in one of the worst droughts of the past 100 years.”

This month’s “This Is Not Cool” video shows NASA scientist James Hansen early and later cautioning about risks of “extreme droughts” in the nation’s breadbasket, such as those now commanding headlines. It captures Illinois Governor Pat Quinn warning of “the driest time” and “the hottest weather” in his state’s history. West Lafayette, Indiana, newscasters express concerns about the growing percentage of the nation officially designated as being in a “drought condition.”

‘It’s not looking good for corn’

NOAA climate scientist Tom Karl tells a national television audience that scientists increasingly “can actually say with some confidence that these events would not have been as strong or as intense if it were not for the greenhouse gases I the atmosphere.”

And a Michigan State University crop and soil scientist, Phil Robertson, cautions that “it’s certainly not looking good for corn.” Robertson advises that genetics and new planting strategies might help the agricultural community cope with chronic changes in weather. But it’s the variability of longer heat waves and hard-to-predict seasonal droughts — more difficult to predict and having more critical effects on crops — that Robertson says might pose particular challenges.

The video — which points to a 118 degrees F day in June in Norton Dam, Kansas — uses a basketball metaphor to illustrate how a warmer atmosphere has “raised the floor …. all plays are starting from a higher level.” Making for more slam dunks and illustrating how “the stats have begun to change.”

But they’re not of the crowd-pleasing variety. And no one is rooting for more of the kinds of slam dunks Midwest farmers are trying to defend against in the summer of 2012.

Peter Sinclair runs the Climate Crock of the Week blog. This piece was originally published at the Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media and was reprinted with permission.

by Roland Hwang, via NRDC’s Switchboard

A review of the latest government jobs data reveals an indisputable fact: the U.S. auto industry is making a remarkable recovery. While not the only reason as our new report demonstrates, there is also little doubt that higher fuel efficiency is playing a critical role in the auto industry’s revitalization.

Since June 2009, when the auto industry hit bottom, the U.S. auto industry has grown by 236,600 jobs.  Manufacturing of motor vehicles and parts has grown by 165,100 jobs, or 26.4 percent, easily outpacing the recovery of the economy as a whole (see Chart 1 below).  Recovery is so strong in three largest auto states, Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, that auto jobs directly accounts for an astounding 38 percent of the total jobs added in those states, or 66,300 jobs, since the auto industry hit bottom in June 2009 (see Chart 2 below).

Vehicle sales are up greatly year-over-year (see chart 3 below), and it is sales of fuel efficient vehicles that are driving overall sales growth as consumers rank fuel efficiency as their top priority in seeking a new vehicle.  In fact, the first half of 2012 set an all-time fuel efficiency record for new passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. at 23.8 mpg (see chart 4 below).

But unlike other periods of high fuel prices, consumers aren’t forced to purchase smaller vehicles to get higher fuel economy. Mainstream passenger sedans are getting to be more efficient than ever before as automakers compete to claim the “most efficient” title for that segment, and consumers and autoworkers win every time.

The fuel economy imperative is powering investments and job growth in the three largest auto states, Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana (see chart 4 below).  As mentioned above, 66,300 jobs have been added since the auto industry hit bottom in June 2009.

Automakers and suppliers are adding shifts to keep up with demand for the popular Chevy Cruze in Ohio and gearing up to build hot-selling hybrids in Indiana. Meanwhile, Michiganders are building Chevy Volts and Sonics while the state becomes a hotbed of electric vehicle and battery technology innovation.

In addition, there are many more indirect jobs the industry also supports that are creating opportunities for workers, companies and communities. Auto industry economists estimate that there are about four additional jobs created for each auto manufacturing job added, a calculation that is well-dramatized by a Bloomberg News report about how building the new fuel-efficient Dodge Dart is revitalizing a city in Illinois. When first, second and third shifts are added to produce vehicles or parts at a manufacturing plant, the benefits reverberate throughout the local community in jobs, local tax revenues, and indirect economic activity. Read more