UK gas and US coal
News
unclear what these will amount to
Climate and energy
news
Not in my backyard: US sending dirty coal
abroad
As US coal use falls, America is exporting pollution by
shipping cheap coal abroad, reports AP. Fossil fuel exports
threaten to undermine President Obama’s efforts to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, experts tell the news service. In 2012,
about nine per cent of worldwide coal exports originated in the US,
and the US has the largest recoverable coal reserves in the
world.
Climate change and air pollution will lead to
famine by 2050, study claims
“The world is expected to need 50 per cent more food by 2050”
a new report suggests. World population is expected to grow four
billion by the middle of the century, as food production becomes
more difficult due to rising temperatures and ozone pollution.
Climate change could reduce crop yields ten per cent a year by
2050, the report says.
Climate change CRUISE will tour melting
Arctic
A “luxurious month-long grand tour” will allow tourists to
cruise through the Arctic and observe “the devastation that mankind
has allegedly caused”. The cruise ship will be the first to
traverse the North-West Passage, only possible because sea ice in
the region has declined. “Mailonline is awaiting calculations of
the cruise’s environmental impact”, the report
concludes.
Threat of El Nino eases, says Australian weather
agency
Reuters reports: “Pacific Ocean temperatures have eased in
recent weeks and an El Nino weather event later this year is now
indicated by only a slight majority of climate models, the
Australian Bureau of Meteorology said on Tuesday.” While an El Nino
cannot be ruled out, if one does occur it is unlikely to be a
strong event, the ABM suggests.
Sold-Out Hearings for EPA Climate
Plan
Hearings on the US Environment Protection Agency’s proposed
rules to reduce emissions from the US power sector get under way
this week. Companies, environment groups and US citizens are all
keen to have their say, with many hearings already fully
subscribed.
Climate and energy comment
Nigel Lawson suggests he’s not a skeptic, proceeds
to deny global warming
Dana Nuccitelli, Skeptical
Science
Skeptical Science authors factcheck Nigel Lawson’s
presentation of climate science, and find it lacking. Debating
policy, they argue, “must be based on the full body of scientific
evidence. If policymakers reject inconvenient evidence and instead
latch onto a few fringe outlier studies … their proposed policies
will be misinformed and inadequate…”
New climate science
The early rise and late demise of New Zealand’s
last glacial maximum
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences
A new, comprehensive record of glaciation from New Zealand
between 28,000 and 16,000 years ago suggests that the largest
glacier expansion in the region did not coincide with the coldest
temperatures during this period. Contrary to suggestions ice
collapse was rapid in the region, the authors say glaciers
retreated slowly following the last glacial maximum.
Sea level rise and nuisance flood frequency
changes around the United States
Eight of the top 10 US cities that have seen an increase in
so-called ‘nuisance flooding’ – which causes such public
inconveniences as frequent road closures, overwhelmed storm drains
and compromised infrastructure – are on the East Coast, according
to a new NOAA technical report. This nuisance flooding, caused by
rising sea levels, has increased on all three US coasts by between
300 and 925 percent since the 1960s.
Upper-tropospheric moistening in response to
anthropogenic warming
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences
A new study confirms rising levels of water vapor in the
upper troposphere – about 3.7 miles above earth’s surface – will
intensify climate change impacts over the next decades. The team
concluded the observed increase in tropospheric water vapour in the
last 30 years couldn’t be down to natural causes, such as solar
activity and volcanic eruptions, and can only be explained by human
activity.