Climate Change News - March 25, 2009

UN climate chief says Obama administration like a change from night to day.
Human activities are overwhelming natural systems according to the President of AAAS.
Carbon emissions have been increasing at 3.5 percent per year since 2000 and are now greater than any that were considered in the 2007 IPCC report!
Secretary of State Clinton proposes joint efforts with China to promote green, efficient energy
New satellites from the US and Japan will help us understand the earth's carbon sinks, which absorb about half of the earth's carbon emissions. Sadly, the US satellite did not make it into orbit.
The new stimulus bill will be a real boost for green energy and green jobs. Here is a detailed summary of stimulus bill provisions.
As President Obama considers a comprehensive energy strategy, off-shore wind, oil, and gas will be part of the mix.
George Will's column was wrong about the absence of global warming. Click on this link to see his scandelous column. Will did not read the Live Science article about how the Arctic is unusually warm this winter, even as the US is colder than usual.
Findings and projections of the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report are already out of date, according to this article at e360.yale.com. In fact, CO2 levels have been rising at 3.5 percent per year this decade, compared to 0.9 percent per year in the 1990s. Even the NYT editorializes that the 2007 IPCC report is out of date and that sea levels could rise a meter this century.
Here's a must read story about how rapid glacial melt in Antarctica could cause global sea levels to increase by over 1 m this century. And scientists associated with the IPY say the rate of ice melt at the poles is greater than expected. Melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) would flood Washington, according to a new study. Meanwhile, scientists at the British Met office suggest that we have only a 50-50 chance of averting climate catastrophe. And Lord Nicholas Stern warns of climate induced mass migrations and continuous war.
Nevertheless, participants at the Heartland Institute sponsored conference disputed all aspects of global warming.
And, some climate scientists doubt that an agreement to come to grips with climate change will occur this year.
Yucca Moutain, NV, appears dead as a storage site for high level nuclear waste and there does not appear to be any alternative. Meanwhile, SC's new nuclear plants are still in the running for subsidies from the DOE.
According to this article, one of the reasons for public indifference and confusion is that the media does not treat climate change as a serious topic. Even the NYT's top climate reporter seems to believe that the truth should not be told about the threat of climate change.
Fortunately, the Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of the Appeals Court ruling against the Bush mercury cap-and-trade scheme.
In this article, commentators address the issue of whether or not the EPA should regulate GHG emissions.
What will President Obama do about unconventional fossil fuels? In this article, Jim Hansen says the US and Canada must agree to forego the development of tar sands and tar shale.
It looks like the Senate will take up global warming sometime this summer. How things will work out is open to question given the huge lobbying investment by industrial interests, whose lobbyists outnumber health, environmental, and clean energy lobbyists 8 to 1.