The same Republicans who voted to retain billions in oil subsidies are now calling wind credits too "costly"
< Bought and sponsored by Big Oil >
And like clockwork, another Republican congressman decides manmade global warming isn’t real.
Tracks
From NASA’s Earth Observatory:
Farmers across the United States hoped for rain in July 2012 as a drought of historic proportions parched key commodity crops, including corn, soybeans, and wheat. On July 11, the United States Department of Agriculture announced that more than 1,000 counties in 26 states qualified as natural disaster areas—the largest total area ever declared a disaster zone by the agency.
The extent of the damage to crops is depicted in this vegetation anomaly map based on data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. The map contrasts plant health in the central United States between June 25 and July 10, 2012, against the average conditions between 2002 and 2012. Brown areas show where plant growth was less vigorous than normal; cream colors depict normal levels of growth; and green indicates abnormally lush vegetation. Data was not available in the gray areas due to snow or cloud cover. The image is based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a measure of how much plant leaves absorb visible light and reflect infrared light. Drought-stressed vegetation reflects more visible light and less infrared than healthy vegetation.
The most severe damage to crops appears to be centered on Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Crops in much of the upper Midwest—southern Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and western Tennessee—also show signs of strain. States in the Mountain West that are in the midst of a busy wildfire season—Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado—have also experienced marked declines in the health of vegetation. The drought has been less severe in Iowa, a key corn-growing state.
This drought, like all extreme weather events, has its direct cause in a complex set of atmospheric conditions that produce short-term weather. However, weather occurs within the broader context of climate, and there’s widespread agreement among scientists that the climate is changing due to human activity.
New government report: Rising Seas Threaten Hundreds of U.S. Energy Facilities. There was a senate hearing April 20, 2012 on sea level rise. Only one republican senator showed up. Interactive map, above. Excellent wrap-up from Climate Central:
New Report: Sea Level Rise Threatens Hundreds of U.S. Energy Facilities (PDF)
Interactive Map: Surging Seas, Sea Level Rise Analysis
News: Senate Hearing Focuses on Threat of Sea Level Rise
Watch: Archived webcast of Senate hearing
Read: Ben Strauss’ Senate testimony
Read: Senate testimony of five witnessesMore at Climate Central
…
Victoria Jackson: Only Communists And Fascists Believe In Climate Change – ”This is the opposite of capitalism. It is the opposite of free enterprise and what made America the greatest nation in the world. This bill would be supported by the occupiers, Valerie Jarett, Van Jones, Obama, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Communists, Fascists, Socialists, whatever you want to call it, it’s the government taking over. It’s the government picking the winners and losers. Even though it looks pretty on the outside it’s the way our country is being destroyed right now.” – Victoria Jackson, speaking in opposition to a proposed alternative energy bill in Florida.
Lunch break video: Chris Hedges — unfettered Capitalism and how the U.S. will cannibalize itself
The ethic of Capitalism: everything is a commodity to be exploited, including human beings and the natural world.
Partial transcript of the beginning:
CH: Unfettered or unregulated capitalism is about societies that cannibalize themselves. When capitalism is the dominant ideology, and as Marx understood it’s a revolutionary ideology, it turns everything into a commodity, including human beings. And of course natural reasouces. And it exploits these commodities until they are exhausted and they are destroyed. And that’s precisely what has happened. We have allowed all of the restraints, which were never heavy enough, on the capitalist system to be lifted. And built into capitalism is a self-destructive quality, a form of self annihlation. And that’s what we are undergoing at this moment. It’s a form of collective suicide, in a way, because the ramifications of this economic collapse are going to be played out far beyond the economic sphere. It’s going to deeply disrupt the social, cultural, as well as the economic life of ordinary Americans.
MM: And yet they’re trying to fix the problem with capitalism.
CH: Yes, well of course that is what’s so tragic: they’re trying to sustain an unsustainable system.
Watch all 9 minutes — it’s very good.
![…
The primitive, Bible-thumping, climate-deniers may be the GOP’s useful idiots, but the world will move on despite them
David Brin shares some interesting and somewhat reassuring information about everyone in the world who is not an American Republican (tea)Party climate-change denier:
I regularly consult with various branches of our “protector caste”… from the military services and homeland security to several unnamed “agencies.” Naturally, I am encouraged by the fact that some of the most serious-minded men and women on the planet are very interested in well-grounded projections of diverse possible futures – not only mine, but those of several other “science & sci-fi guys.”
[…] Absolutely all of the top-elite officers of these services appear to be convinced, without a shadow of a doubt, about Human Generated Climate Change (HGCC). All of those I have met consider it to be both real and one of the greatest challenges of our time.
Ponder this:the US Navy is striving with great intensity to prepare for an Arctic Ocean that is nearly ice-free for large parts of the year. Canada is shifting most of its military budget northward.
The Russians have moved an entire division to the Siberian northern coast. And dig this. The Russian Navy’s top priority? Their pride-and-joy? SIX brand new, double-hulled, nuclear powered icebreakers they recently put in service. (The U.S. has one large, single-hulled, obsolete oil-powered breaker, soon to be retired. The U.S. Coast Guard operates three smaller, conventional ice breakers out of Seattle.)
A year or so ago, the Northwest passage opened so wide that a flood of cargo vessels raced through it from China to Europe. And prospectors are sifting for treasures on the sea floor, where Peary once spent a summer dragging sledges over ice-continents in search of the Pole.
What do all of these groups share in common? They cannot afford to let their view of reality be warped by willful delusion, just-so stories, Beckian rants and dogma, They don’t have the time for denialism.
[…] Perhaps no industry better understands the impact of global warming than the insurance industry whose job it is to analyze risk. See the video of the March 1st press conference. Marsh & McLennan, one of the world’s largest insurance brokers, called climate change “one of the most significant emerging risks facing the world today.” As Jules Boykoff put it in The Guardian, “Let’s be clear: insurance firms aren’t altruists; they’re capitalists. A rise in extreme weather means a fall in their profits. This is hardball economics based on risk analysis, not save-the-polar-bears stuff.”
[…] So, if all the men and women who must combine brains, education and professionalism with harsh practicality can see the desperate need to prepare, how do 40% of the citizens of a great nation enter denial so severe they’ll demean and ignore not only scientists and the insurance industry… but even the U.S. Navy? […] there is a word for people who refuse to take reasonable precautions, or even negotiate in good faith the cheapest and most efficient just-in-case precautions, demanding instead (at the behest of a couple of coal-billionaire brothers) that climate theory be absolutely proved in all levels, in all ways, before we take prudent, moderate measures to protect ourselves.
That word is imbeciles.
Continue…](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1tfg71Nib1qf10tro1_500.jpg)
…
David Brin shares some interesting and somewhat reassuring information about everyone in the world who is not an American Republican (tea)Party climate-change denier:
I regularly consult with various branches of our “protector caste”… from the military services and homeland security to several unnamed “agencies.” Naturally, I am encouraged by the fact that some of the most serious-minded men and women on the planet are very interested in well-grounded projections of diverse possible futures – not only mine, but those of several other “science & sci-fi guys.”
[…] Absolutely all of the top-elite officers of these services appear to be convinced, without a shadow of a doubt, about Human Generated Climate Change (HGCC). All of those I have met consider it to be both real and one of the greatest challenges of our time.
Ponder this:the US Navy is striving with great intensity to prepare for an Arctic Ocean that is nearly ice-free for large parts of the year. Canada is shifting most of its military budget northward.
The Russians have moved an entire division to the Siberian northern coast. And dig this. The Russian Navy’s top priority? Their pride-and-joy? SIX brand new, double-hulled, nuclear powered icebreakers they recently put in service. (The U.S. has one large, single-hulled, obsolete oil-powered breaker, soon to be retired. The U.S. Coast Guard operates three smaller, conventional ice breakers out of Seattle.)
A year or so ago, the Northwest passage opened so wide that a flood of cargo vessels raced through it from China to Europe. And prospectors are sifting for treasures on the sea floor, where Peary once spent a summer dragging sledges over ice-continents in search of the Pole.
What do all of these groups share in common? They cannot afford to let their view of reality be warped by willful delusion, just-so stories, Beckian rants and dogma, They don’t have the time for denialism.
[…] Perhaps no industry better understands the impact of global warming than the insurance industry whose job it is to analyze risk. See the video of the March 1st press conference. Marsh & McLennan, one of the world’s largest insurance brokers, called climate change “one of the most significant emerging risks facing the world today.” As Jules Boykoff put it in The Guardian, “Let’s be clear: insurance firms aren’t altruists; they’re capitalists. A rise in extreme weather means a fall in their profits. This is hardball economics based on risk analysis, not save-the-polar-bears stuff.”
[…] So, if all the men and women who must combine brains, education and professionalism with harsh practicality can see the desperate need to prepare, how do 40% of the citizens of a great nation enter denial so severe they’ll demean and ignore not only scientists and the insurance industry… but even the U.S. Navy? […] there is a word for people who refuse to take reasonable precautions, or even negotiate in good faith the cheapest and most efficient just-in-case precautions, demanding instead (at the behest of a couple of coal-billionaire brothers) that climate theory be absolutely proved in all levels, in all ways, before we take prudent, moderate measures to protect ourselves.
That word is imbeciles.
![…
Sen. James Inhofe, pretty much came right out and admitted that the reason why he denigrates and attacks climate science is because the Bible told him not to worry- ”Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.”
Even mild global warming could completely melt Greenland’s ice cap - The Greenland icesheet is more sensitive to global warming than thought, for just a relatively small — but very long term — temperature rise would melt it completely, according to a study published on Sunday. […] Greenland is second to Antarctica as the biggest source of locked-up water on land. If it melted completely, this would drive up sea levels by 7.2 metres (23.6 feet), swamping deltas and low-lying islands. [image: NASA]
Fourth Warmest Winter On Record For The U.S. - February is gone, and the non-winter of 2011 – 2012 is the history books as the fourth warmest in U.S. history, said NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center yesterday. The winter average temperature of 36.8°F was just 0.4°F cooler than the warmest winter on record, the winter of 1999 – 2000. If you lived in the Northern Plains, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast, it seemed like winter never really arrived this year–27 states in this region had top-ten warmest winters.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0s5vyYDLZ1qf10tro1_500.jpg)
…
Sen. James Inhofe, pretty much came right out and admitted that the reason why he denigrates and attacks climate science is because the Bible told him not to worry- ”Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.”
Even mild global warming could completely melt Greenland’s ice cap - The Greenland icesheet is more sensitive to global warming than thought, for just a relatively small — but very long term — temperature rise would melt it completely, according to a study published on Sunday. […] Greenland is second to Antarctica as the biggest source of locked-up water on land. If it melted completely, this would drive up sea levels by 7.2 metres (23.6 feet), swamping deltas and low-lying islands. [image: NASA]
Fourth Warmest Winter On Record For The U.S. - February is gone, and the non-winter of 2011 – 2012 is the history books as the fourth warmest in U.S. history, said NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center yesterday. The winter average temperature of 36.8°F was just 0.4°F cooler than the warmest winter on record, the winter of 1999 – 2000. If you lived in the Northern Plains, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast, it seemed like winter never really arrived this year–27 states in this region had top-ten warmest winters.
ABC News Explains Warm Winter, ‘Wild Swings In Weather’, Driven by Global Warming, Only Going to Get Worse - Scientist: “The planet is getting warmer and it will continue to warm, on average, as we go into the future.” ABC News: “That means we are in for more extreme weather, more Snowmageddon type winters and torrential downpours that can flood entire towns.” || Or, like, more tornado swarms in 11 states over 24 hours? WATCH ABC News report..
(Source: underthemountainbunker.com)
![Whales navigate Northwest Passage for first time in nearly 10,000 years
The team says the discovery has huge implications for the ecology of marine life in the region.
“[The findings] are perhaps an early sign that other marine organisms have begun exchanges between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans across the Arctic,” they say.
“Some of these exchanges may be harder to detect than bowhead whales, but the ecological impacts could be more significant should the ice-free Arctic become a dispersion corridor between the two oceans.”](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls5hs6HXkU1qf10tro1_500.png)
Whales navigate Northwest Passage for first time in nearly 10,000 years
The team says the discovery has huge implications for the ecology of marine life in the region.
“[The findings] are perhaps an early sign that other marine organisms have begun exchanges between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans across the Arctic,” they say.
“Some of these exchanges may be harder to detect than bowhead whales, but the ecological impacts could be more significant should the ice-free Arctic become a dispersion corridor between the two oceans.”
“Al Gore is desperate for attention.”
—Fox News’ Dan Gainor, on Al Gore’s second attempt to educate people about climate change.
(Source: truth-has-a-liberal-bias)
![Tuesday morning reading
Is Jabba-the-Limbaugh really taking pot shots at Michelle Obama’s diet?
More Scoop On Palin: Her Reliable Media Mouthpieces: Bailey names names: Bill Kristol, Mary Matalin, former Bush aides Jason Recher and Steve Biegun, GOP officials Nick Ayers and Michael Steele, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck, Greta Van Susteren, Sean Hannity, and Bill O‘Reilly. Then this sentence: “We could normally expect them to repeat any coordinated message we sent.”
Budget baloney: Social Security isn’t to blame for deficit: Social Security isn’t responsible for the federal deficit. Just the opposite. Until last year Social Security took in more payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits. It lent the surpluses to the rest of the government.
Detroit Schools Closing: Michigan Officials Order Robert Bobb To Shut Half The City’s Schools: The Detroit News says the financial restructuring plan will increase high school class sizes to 60 students and consolidate operations. – Isn’t it great that the wealthiest 1% in our country got a tax break though? Thanks GOP-Teaparty!
Wisconsin: Is it merely the fact that certain unions (police, firefighters, state troopers) supported Walker that they’re now exempted from his plan to take away collective bargaining rights? Or is it something more?
Flailing: Gov. Walker (R-WI) has just announced that tomorrow evening at 6 PM he’ll deliver what he’s calling a “fireside chat” to discuss the impasse in the state.
Madison AFL-CIO threatens to go out on a general strike.
Oil soars past $105 on Libya violence: Experts warned that oil prices could rocket to record levels beyond $147 per barrel — if the unrest spreads to Saudi Arabia.
Terrible things are happening to the protesters in Libya.
Fifty million “environmental refugees” will flood into the global north by 2020, fleeing food shortages sparked by climate change, experts warned at a major science conference that ended [yesterday].](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lh0vdhFrQu1qf10tro1_500.png)
Is Jabba-the-Limbaugh really taking pot shots at Michelle Obama’s diet?
More Scoop On Palin: Her Reliable Media Mouthpieces: Bailey names names: Bill Kristol, Mary Matalin, former Bush aides Jason Recher and Steve Biegun, GOP officials Nick Ayers and Michael Steele, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck, Greta Van Susteren, Sean Hannity, and Bill O‘Reilly. Then this sentence: “We could normally expect them to repeat any coordinated message we sent.”
Budget baloney: Social Security isn’t to blame for deficit: Social Security isn’t responsible for the federal deficit. Just the opposite. Until last year Social Security took in more payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits. It lent the surpluses to the rest of the government.
Detroit Schools Closing: Michigan Officials Order Robert Bobb To Shut Half The City’s Schools: The Detroit News says the financial restructuring plan will increase high school class sizes to 60 students and consolidate operations. – Isn’t it great that the wealthiest 1% in our country got a tax break though? Thanks GOP-Teaparty!
Wisconsin: Is it merely the fact that certain unions (police, firefighters, state troopers) supported Walker that they’re now exempted from his plan to take away collective bargaining rights? Or is it something more?
Flailing: Gov. Walker (R-WI) has just announced that tomorrow evening at 6 PM he’ll deliver what he’s calling a “fireside chat” to discuss the impasse in the state.
Madison AFL-CIO threatens to go out on a general strike.
Oil soars past $105 on Libya violence: Experts warned that oil prices could rocket to record levels beyond $147 per barrel — if the unrest spreads to Saudi Arabia.
Terrible things are happening to the protesters in Libya.
Fifty million “environmental refugees” will flood into the global north by 2020, fleeing food shortages sparked by climate change, experts warned at a major science conference that ended [yesterday].
