Climate Change

Berkeley Law/CLEE Publish White Paper on Efforts to Suspend California’s AB 32

Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE) has today published, “California at the Crossroads: Proposition 23, AB 32 and Climate Change.” This white paper is intended to provide an objective, non-partisan analysis of California Proposition 23, an initiative measure that will appear on California’s November 2nd general election ballot. If enacted, Proposition …

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Good News from the Amazon

Recent satellite studies indicate a major decrease in the rate of deforestation in the Amazon.  The journal Science reports: The Brazilian government says that a preliminary survey by a low-resolution satellite shows that deforestation in the Amazon declined by 47.5% over the past 12 months. The figure is the largest decline since measurements began in …

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New million-dollar donation from out-of-state oil company helps the attack on California’s climate change law

According to a story in today’s Los Angeles Times, a new $1 million cash infusion from Kansas-based oil company Koch Industries –the second-largest private company in the U.S. — is buoying the campaign in favor of Proposition 23, which would block implementation of California’s landmark law to limit greenhouse gas emissions.  The company is owned by …

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EPA proposes fuel economy letter grade labels for cars

New labels proposed by the federal government would give new cars letter grades reflecting their fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions.  Electric cars and plug-in hybrids are expected to get the highest grades.  The rule isn’t final yet; the public can comment and make suggestions on the label design. Most of us are familiar with …

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The Not-So-Skeptical Environmentalist

  Bjorn Lomborg (a/k/a the “Skeptical Environmentalist”) has apparently had a change of heart regarding climate change.  According to the Guardian: The world’s most high-profile climate change sceptic is to declare that global warming is “undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today” and “a challenge humanity must confront”, in an apparent U-turn …

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Climate Change and El Nino

From dot.earth: Federal researchers have published work concluding that a particular variant of the periodic El Niño warmups of the tropical Pacific Ocean is becoming more frequent and stronger. The pattern appears to fit what is expected from human-driven warming of the global climate, said the researchers . . . The 2009-2010 El Nino event …

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Long Shot Challenges to the Endangerment Finding

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has filed another legal challenge, this time to EPA’s refusal to reconsider its finding that climate change endangers human health or welfare.  Although there is a large flurry of these challenges, they seem to be filed more for political reasons and to achieve delay than because of any prospect of …

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The Reverend Bayes Visits Russia

In a post last week,  I discussed how Bayesian analysis could help with determining whether certain events are due to climate change — and by the same token, how events can help reinforce the evidence for climate change. The Russian heat wave is a case in point.  As the Economist explains: According to Geert Jan …

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Tell Your Reverend To Go Jump In The Lake

Dan, your post is thoroughly persuasive to me, but I’m not sure that it would persuade many climate skeptics.  There are two reasons for this: 1)  You assume that there is at least a 50/50 chance of climate change occurring.  That is a highly conservative assumption — except for climate skeptics.  Most climate skeptics are …

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The Reverend Bayes Visits Lake Mead

Land Letter reports that Lake Mead has continued to recede in the face of an 11-year drought, as we are apparently heading into a La Nina period that will probably continue the drought.  This will put some pressure on adaptation measures, particular in terms of Las Vegas: For Las Vegas, which draws 90 percent of …

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