Grizzly's blog

RAJENDRA PACHAURI, CHAIR of the INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE says, Even for a range of zero to one degree Celsius we have problems with water availability. We also have problems with ecosystems. Food security would certainly be at growing risk. Coastal areas are particularly vulnerable. And human health would also be affected by the impacts of climate change.

Both Russian and British scientists have this week reported discovering hundreds more methane "plumes" bubbling up from the Arctic seabed. (See http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/hundreds-of-methane-plumes-dis... ). The methane is being released from clathrates - crystal like cages of ice water molecules which trap methane molecules. As methane is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas this finding in an area of the globe which is already warming faster than virtually any other is cause for serious alarm.

Sod it! Just when my Aussie friends thought they'd got a good guy 'on side' -- Ross Garnaut the Oz's PM "Pocket Economist" has totally bugggered his near-final recommendations -- by selling out a deal.
Garnaut says that we've virtually *no* chance of solving climate change because, “It is too complex. The special interests are too numerous, powerful and intense.” He recommends that Australia should pursue a global climate deal that - even he admits – puts the world at risk of the disastrous climate change consequences he set out in his draft report.

I really enjoy disaster movies -- I mean I loved Deep Impact" and thoroughly enjoyed "The Day after Tomorrow". Even "Twister" was fun -- especially the cow! There was also “Independence Day” – although that might be more SciFi than ‘disaster’ genre wise. Anyhow, my question is -- can we somehow harness the fun folks get form attending such movie shows with a increased community awareness of climate change issues. I know Dear Old Al did a great job (& I mean that ) with "An Inconvenient Truth" but not many folks *enjoyed* that -- even though they may well have thought it was good.

I am not often moved to anger... mostly just to grizzling. However the pompous little commentary but Lawrence Krauss in 16 August New Scientist made me see red. Krauss -- who is presumably paid by New Scientist to share his views of SCIENCE tells a sad little story of how he has been misunderstood in the press -- especially in the American Physical Society's Forum on Physics and Society – of which he is outgoing chair. This (not very) august body ran a special issue on climate change (specifically on the IPCC’s fourth assessment report) earlier this year.

Elizabeth says of this really GREAT little video, "I made this stop motion to promote global warming awareness. Sometimes the simplest messages are the most powerful, so I've tried to present a child-like view of a serious problem. I enjoyed making this and I hope you enjoy watching it."
Go to http://www.vimeo.com/1562885 to view -- its REALLY good and well worth sharing

Hell and High Water: Global Warming--the Solution and the Politics--and What We Should Do by Joseph Romm, 2007, (cost is $16.47) is a pretty good read if you are coming new to triage as a climate change decision making mechanism. Look especially at Romm’s concept of ‘urban triage’… he says for example on page 90,
“As catastrophic sea-level rise becomes inevitable, we will be- come consumed by urban triage-how to decide which major sea- side cities can be saved and which cannot. Every seaside city will be threatened…”