{"id":15029,"date":"2011-01-17T16:25:37","date_gmt":"2011-01-18T00:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=15029"},"modified":"2011-01-17T16:25:37","modified_gmt":"2011-01-18T00:25:37","slug":"global-weirding-news-of-the-week-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/global-weirding-news-of-the-week-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Weirding News of the Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Since we had plenty of news last Friday and I was heading out of town, I decided to leave our weekly roundup of global weirding and environmental news (that we didn’t already cover) to Monday. Here’s the global weirding portion.<\/p>\n

Climate: Student Reporters Take on Climate Change and Security<\/a><\/h2>\n

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Coincidences abound\u2014just after posting an item<\/a> on Representative Gabrielle Giffords’s focus on climate change and renewable energy as a national security issues, I run across a new multimedia project from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism that explores: climate change and national security. Called “Global Warning<\/a>,” the website is the product of three months of investigations by student reporters at one of the best journalism schools in the U.S., with\u00a0stories exploring<\/a> the climate risks to energy infrastructure, the spread of disease in a warmer world, military clashes in a melting Arctic. Some of the pieces will also appear in the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>and in McClatchy newspaper, but all of them will be found online on a website that includes\u00a0sophisticated graphics<\/a>, climate change timelines <\/a>and even a\u00a0global warming strategy game<\/a>….<\/p>\n

Climate Education For Children Part 2<\/a><\/h2>\n

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In my\u00a0search for Climate Education For Children Part 2, I found the following sites….<\/p>\n

Describing Socioeconomic Futures for Climate Change Research and Assessment<\/a><\/h2>\n

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The implications of climate change for the environment and society depend on the rate and magnitude of climate change, but also on changes in technology, economics, lifestyles, and policy that will affect the capacity both for limiting and adapting to climate change.\u00a0Describing Socioeconomic Futures for Climate Change Research and Assessment <\/em>reviews the state of science for considering socioeconomic changes over long time frames and clarifies definitions and concepts to facilitate communication across research communities. The book also explores driving forces and key uncertainties that will affect impacts, adaptation, vulnerability and mitigation in the future. Furthermore, it considers research needs and the elements of a strategy for describing socioeconomic and environmental futures for climate change research and assessment….<\/p>\n

Where does your electricity come from?<\/a><\/h2>\n

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As you read this blog on the internet, which connects us all around the globe, many of us are still blind to the fact that half of our\u00a0electricity<\/a> in our country still comes from a technology that was introduced in the nineteenth century: coal.<\/p>\n

Last night, I saw a film called\u00a0Dirty Business<\/a>:<\/em> \u201cClean Coal\u201d and the Battle for Our Energy Future<\/em>, consulted and narrated by Rolling Stone reporter\u00a0Jeff Goodell<\/em>, which asks these crucial questions: \u201cCan coal ever really be made \u201cclean\u201d? If we were to try to wean ourselves off coal, how would we keep the lights on? Is renewable energy ready for prime time? Is Carbon Capture and Storage really a viable option financially and environmentally?…<\/p>\n

Koch Sues: Claim That We Believe In Global Warming Damaged Our Reputation<\/a><\/h2>\n

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Pollution machine Koch Industries is taking to court to defend its reputation as a cesspool of global warming denial. The right-wing carbon industry giant, owned by\u00a0Tea Party billionaires<\/a> David and Charles Koch, has\u00a0filed a lawsuit in Utah<\/a> to punish anonymous pranksters who claimed on the company\u2019s behalf that it was\u00a0discontinuing funding to climate denial front groups<\/a>. According to Koch\u2019s lawyers, as a result of the rumor that the company believes in climate science, its “business and reputation were harmed<\/a>“….<\/p>\n

Obama Administration Reverses Largest Appalachian Mountaintop Removal Permit in US History<\/a><\/h2>\n

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In nearly four decades since the Clean Water Act was passed, the Environmental Protection Agency has never vetoed any mining permit retroactively. That changed this morning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Word is just coming down\u00a0via Coal Tattoo<\/a> that the\u00a0Obama administration EPA has just vetoed the largest single mountaintop removal permit in West Virginia history<\/a>. The permit was initially awarded during the previous very fossil-friendly Bush administration, after a fractious decades-long court battle….<\/p>\n

India Farmer Suicides Linked To Crop Failure, Climate Change (VIDEO)<\/a><\/h2>\n

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Loss of government subsidies, international competition and recently\u00a0erratic climate<\/a> patterns are all being blamed for a staggering number of Indian farmers who are resorting to suicide, Al-Jazeera is reporting….<\/p>\n

Military v climate spending: How China outguns the US on clean energy<\/a><\/h2>\n

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China is spending 1\/6th as much as the US on its military and investing twice as much on clean energy technology….<\/p>\n

Major bank calls US ‘significant outlier’ on greenhouse-gas action<\/a><\/h2>\n

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One of the world\u2019s largest banks said Thursday there is \u201cpositive momentum\u201d in 2011 for climate change-related investments. But the bank says there\u2019s one exception to that rule: the United States….<\/p>\n

To save the planet and the budget, cut energy off the dole<\/a><\/h2>\n

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President Obama promised in the fall that a top priority of his legislative program for 2011 would be an\u00a0energy policy<\/a> “that helps us grow at the same time as it deals with climate change in a serious way.” With global warming deniers now in charge of the House of Representatives, there would seem to be little hope for major legislation on clean energy or climate in this Congress….<\/p>\n

But all is not lost. If Obama wants to set us on a path to a sustainable-energy future – and a green one, too – he should propose a very simple solution to the current mess: eliminate all energy subsidies. Yes, all of them – oil, coal, gas, nuclear, ethanol, and wind and solar. Energy subsidies are the sordid legacy of more than 60 years of politics as usual in Washington. It would be better for national security, the balance of payments, the budget deficit and even, yes, the environment if we simply wiped the slate clean and let all energy sources compete for the future….<\/p>\n

Kerry, other Dems say hottest year on record a wake-up call on global warming<\/a><\/h2>\n

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Sen. John Kerry and other advocates for climate change legislation say data showing that 2010 was\u00a0tied for the hottest year on record<\/strong><\/a> should prompt action.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many times do we have to be smacked in the face with factual evidence before we address global climate change? Report after report keep confirming it\u2019s getting worse every year,\u201d Kerry (D-Mass.) said in a statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Kerry added: \u201cWill we find common ground and adult leadership or keep piling the science on a shelf to collect dust?\u201d…<\/p>\n

Terrific ABC News story: \u201cRaging Waters In Australia and Brazil Product of Global Warming\u201d – “Scientists: Climate Change No Longer a Theory, It’s Happening”<\/a><\/h2>\n

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The pictures today from around the world of\u00a0dramatic rooftop rescues from raging waters<\/a>, makes it seem as though natural disasters are becoming an everyday occurrence.\u00a0But they\u2019re not all that natural; climate scientists say man-made\u00a0global warming<\/a> is the sudden force behind the forces of nature….<\/strong><\/p>\n