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News: Archive for July, 2012

Scientists unlock ocean CO2 secrets key to climate: study – Yahoo! Weather

Tuesday, July 31st, 2012

‘SINGAPORE (Reuters) – From giant whirlpools to currents 1,000 km wide, scientists said on Monday they have uncovered how vast amounts of carbon are locked away in the depths of the Southern Ocean, boosting researchers ability to detect the impact of climate change.’

via Scientists unlock ocean CO2 secrets key to climate: study – Yahoo! Weather.

The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic – NYTimes.com

Monday, July 30th, 2012

‘CALL me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.’

via The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic – NYTimes.com.

NASA – Satellites See Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt

Saturday, July 28th, 2012

‘For several days this month, Greenland’s surface ice cover melted over a larger area than at any time in more than 30 years of satellite observations. Nearly the entire ice cover of Greenland, from its thin, low-lying coastal edges to its two-mile-thick center, experienced some degree of melting at its surface, according to measurements from three independent satellites analyzed by NASA and university scientists.’

via NASA – Satellites See Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt.

Also see Huffington Post story

VSPs of Energy – NYTimes.com

Friday, July 27th, 2012

‘…It should be obvious that Big Oil and Big Coal have a stake in having the public believe that there is no alternative to ever more drilling, digging, and burning.’

via VSPs of Energy – NYTimes.com.

Hans-Josef Fell Presents Global Cooling Plan at Intersolar

Saturday, July 21st, 2012
Hans-Josef Fell
‘I will not accept two degrees, because when we see the disasters on the world coming from zero point eight degrees today, we should not accept it.’ ~ Hans-Josef Fell

July 10, San Francisco

Hans-Josef Fell, member of the German Parliament (Green Party) and physicist, spoke at Intersolar in San Francisco about his new book Global Cooling: Strategies for Climate Protection.

He was joined by Stanford’s Mark Jacobson who wrote a forward for the book, and by Eicke Weber, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, who gave an enthusiastic though delayed introduction to the talk, highlighting Fell’s role in creating Germany’s feed in tariff.

Mark Jacobson
‘It is a large problem, but it is a solvable problem, and Hans-Josef’s book really tries to address this in a nice way’ ~ Mark Jacobson

Global Cooling outlines a strategy to reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere without nuclear power or natural gas, relying instead upon solar, wind, and hydro power. Fell also mentions the need to shift to ‘green chemistry’, since petroleum is a huge factor in conventional plastics, much of which is eventually incinerated and thus released into the atmosphere. He also advocates widespread adoption of feed-in tariffs, which contributed to Germany’s recent extraordinary growth in solar installations.

“We see together that everywhere in the world, big conferences, government conferences, they bring no solutions. We need new strategies, we need new ideas, and I believe new goals – not climate warming till two degrees, this is accepted mostly in the world, and it seems to be not reachable. But I will not accept two degrees, because when we see the disasters on the world coming from zero point eight degrees today, we should not accept it.”

“And I looked to the details, what could we make, the humankind, to protect our climate, and I found out it is possible to cool down the Earth in some decades, and it would be possible in an economic way, not a burden on the economy. And we find the right solutions, the right strategies, and the right friends who would work together, and one of the most important actors.. is the finance industry, the finance people.” ~ Hans-Josef Fell

“There’s an over 30% reduction in the actual energy we need just by converting to electricity and hydrogen because of the efficiency of electricity.” ~ Mark Jacobson

Report by James George

Japan – Estimate of a Cancer Toll – NYTimes.com

Friday, July 20th, 2012

‘A study by researchers at Stanford suggests that additional cancer-related deaths from radioactive materials released in last year’s accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant could be as low as 15 cases and as high as 1,300 — a range that highlights the uncertainties associated with any attempts to predict the disaster’s health effects.’

via Japan – Estimate of a Cancer Toll – NYTimes.com.

Dumping iron in the seas could slow global warming, say scientists (+video) – CSMonitor.com

Thursday, July 19th, 2012

‘Dumping iron in the seas can help transfer carbon from the atmosphere and bury it on the ocean floor for centuries, helping to fight climate change, according to a study released on Wednesday.’

via Dumping iron in the seas could slow global warming, say scientists (+video) – CSMonitor.com.

Infographic: Extreme Weather and Climate Change | Union of Concerned Scientists

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

‘Strong scientific evidence links climate change with increasing heat waves, coastal flooding, and other extreme weather events.’

via Infographic: Extreme Weather and Climate Change | Union of Concerned Scientists.

Radiation from Fukushima plant may kill about 130 people: research – latimes.com

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

‘Radiation released into the air by the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant most likely will cause the cancer deaths of about 130 residents of Japan, although the toll could possibly go as high as 1,300, Stanford researchers said Tuesday.’

via Radiation from Fukushima plant may kill about 130 people: research – latimes.com.

Japan’s largest anti-nuclear rally in Tokyo draws over 170,000 – The Japan Daily Press

Monday, July 16th, 2012

Despite the scorching heat on Monday, July 16th, more than 170,000 protesters marched through Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park to demand the government bring an end to Japan’s use of nuclear power. As anti-nuclear protests have been occurring nearly every week since the end of March, this easily marks the largest in the series, as well as one of the largest demonstrations in Japan’s history.’

via Japan’s largest anti-nuclear rally in Tokyo draws over 170,000 – The Japan Daily Press.