Our Oceans are Under Attack

Has Earth Day Been Hijacked?

http://www.alternet.org/environment/has-earth-day-been-hijacked

The most successful public awareness environmental campaign is also used for corporate greenwashing.

It's a shame that Washington D.C.'s National Mall was trashed during the 2015 Global Citizen Earth Day Concert on Saturday. The lack of effective garbage collection planning provided more fuel for Earth Day skeptics, who argue that the event is, at best, merely window dressing that does little to effect long-lasting positive change, and at worst, provides an ideal platform for corporate greenwashing and dirty fuel propaganda.


Earth Day is also used as a greenwashing marketing opportunity and propaganda-launching platform for scores of corporations and special interest groups.

"Every year, environmentally destructive corporations get to buy themselves a green image they don't deserve and look green by association," said Briana Cotter of Rainforest Action Network. "It's like Walmart sponsoring labor day or Tiger Woods sponsoring a Valentine's Day float."

In 2010, one of Earth Day Canada's corporate sponsors was Royal Bank of Canada, a lead financial backer of the environmentally destructive oil sands operations in the Canadian boreal forest.

Another head-scratching example is Cargill, the agribusiness giant that has sponsored Earth Day for several years. The company has launched employee volunteer initiatives around the world, from tree-planting in Romania to waste-separation in Argentina. While these local projects are certainly positive, they cannot reverse Cargill's ongoing destruction of Indonesian rainforests to support its palm oil operations.

 

Changes in water vapor and clouds are amplifying global warming | The Guardian

 

Obama Just Called Out Florida's Climate Deniers in Their Own Backyard

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-mar...obama-just-called-out-climate-deniers-so-hard

President Barack Obama just marked Earth Day with a speech on climate change, given from a podium in Florida's Everglades National Park. The choice of venue was appropriate from an environmental perspective—the Everglades is already acutely feeling the impacts of sea level rise—but it was also telling from a political standpoint. Although our swampiest national park has a long history of bipartisan support, it's located in a state that has recently produced some of the most absurdist climate denial in recent memory—and Obama didn't forget to mention it.

Florida is home not just to Sen. Marco Rubio, a GOP presidential contender who maintains that humans can't affect the climate, but also to Gov. Rick Scott, who landed in headlines last month after apparently barring state employees from talking about climate change.

"Climate change can no longer be denied," Obama said today. "It can't be edited out. It can't be omitted from the conversation…Simply refusing to say the words 'climate change' doesn't mean climate change isn't happening."

 

Hawaii Wants To Be The First State To Run Completely On Renewable Energy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/24/hawaii-renewable-energy_n_7132844.html

With strong trade winds, volcanic heat and abundant solar and hydropower, the Hawaiian islands have a plethora of natural resources.

Yet the state is America’s largest consumer of fossil fuels per capita, according to Hawaii’s Environmental Council for the Office of Environmental Quality Control.

A bill currently going through the state's legislature aims to change that by setting the ambitious goal of using renewable energy exclusively by 2050.

If it passes, Hawaii could be the first state in the country to meet all of its electricity demand with renewable resources.

Mark Glick, the Hawaii State Energy Office energy administrator, said that economically speaking, the bill makes sense. Energy available from Hawaii’s numerous renewable sources “competes favorably today with the cost of oil,” he said, making a 100 percent goal “both lofty and achievable.”

“We increased our renewable portfolio standards in 2009 to current levels,” Glick said. The state set a goal of getting 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2015.

Today, Hawaii is close to 23 percent, he noted, “and 2015 isn’t finished yet.”

Given that pace, the bill's proposal seems realistic. It establishes goals of 25 percent of electricity sales to be renewable by 2020, 40 percent by 2030, 70 percent by 2035 and 100 percent by 2050.

Hawaii has at least 50 renewable energy projects spread over five islands, including the state’s only geothermal plant on the eastern rift zone of the Kilauea volcano.

Thanks in large part to that geothermal plant, Hawaii Island (also known as the Big Island) is running on nearly 50 percent renewable energy. The plant produces electricity that is cheaper than petroleum fuels in Hawaii and generally cheaper than other forms of renewable electricity.

While Hawaii's plan is incredibly ambitious because it would encompass an entire state, it isn't the only place in the U.S. with a goal of going 100 percent renewable.

The city of San Francisco aims to have its electricity grid go fully renewable by 2020, and San Diego’s goal is 2035.

Globally, Iceland is already using 100 percent renewable energy, and Scotland and Denmark also have similar goals in place.

But Lippert emphasizes that for her, this isn’t a race to be first.

“As global citizens, we want everybody in this race. Fossil fuels and clean energy are global challenges and we’re all better off if everybody’s headed in this direction,” she said.

 

There is no such thing as "sustainability" in any field if you always have increasing demand and all governments demand continuous growth.

 

What about Teslers "Zero Point Energy".
The big fossil fuel conglomerates don't want to know about it.

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~drestinblack/generator.htm

In the 1880's, Nikola Tesla invented the alternating current system we use today. By the 1890's, he was working on a new type of electrical generator that would not "consume any fuel."

This paper documents where in his writings the description of this new generator is found, a theory of how a fuelless generator could work and a suggestion as to how Tesla's new device might have operated.

 

America’s preeminent climate deniers are sending “real scientists” to the Vatican to teach the Pope about global warming

The Koch-backed Heartland Institute will enlighten Pope Francis about our "Biblical duty" to destroy the planet

http://www.salon.com/2015/04/24/ame...tican_to_teach_the_pope_about_global_warming/

You’ll never guess what crazy shenanigans the folks at the climate denying Heartland Institute — I’m sorry, I meant to say “the world’s leading think tank promoting scientific skepticism about man-caused global warming” — are up to now.

According to their latest press release, the crew is heading to Rome, to “advise Pope Francis on climate policy.” Yes, that’s actually how they put it. It seems the Pope’s upcoming encyclical on climate action is rubbing the group the wrong way, probably because he’s expected to argue, at a Vatican summit next week, that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a moral and religious imperative. It’s a statement that’s going to be hard for Christians to ignore, which is why it’s up to Heartland’s anti-science “real scientists” to show the Pope the error of his ways before it’s too late.

“The Holy Father is being misled by ‘experts’ at the United Nations who have proven unworthy of his trust,” Heartland Institute President Joseph Bast said in a statement. “Humans are not causing a climate crisis on God’s Green Earth — in fact, they are fulfilling their Biblical duty to protect and use it for the benefit of humanity.” Did you hear that, Your Holiness? The overwhelming majority of scientists are wrong about climate change, and you don’t understand the bible.

 

Thawing Permafrost: the Arctic's Slow, Giant Carbon Release | Inside Climate News

 

Tesla's $13,000 battery could keep your home online in a blackout

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/25/tesla-battery-home-elon-musk

Elon Musk is a man who likes to make waves. Whether it’s privatizing space exploration or shaking up commuting with the Hyperloop high speed transport system, the billionaire technocrat aims big. Now his electric car company, Tesla, is planning to change the way people power their homes.

In a tweet last month, Musk announced that Tesla would be unveiling a new product on 30 April. It is now widely thought to be a large battery capable of powering a house and an even larger “utility” sized power unit.

Energy supply is a big business and a key market for Tesla, which has spent a fortune developing batteries for its cars. Home batteries can be powered up overnight, when energy companies typically charge less for electricity, and turned on during the day to power a home. They can also be used to store power generated by green - but intermittent - sources like solar and wind.

Tesla is at work on a $5bn “Gigafactory” in the Nevada desert that will become the world’s largest producer of lithium-ion batteries when it opens in 2017.

 

Rachael Le Mesurier: Cyclones show time to connect dots on climate change

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/climate-change/news/article.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=11437520

As HMNZS Canterbury delivers cyclone relief supplies to Vanuatu, the Ministry for the Environment has released figures showing that carbon pollution, which New Zealand is adding to, increased 42 per cent globally from 1990 to 2013. It's time to connect the dots.

Cyclone Pam was billed as the worst storm to hit the Pacific. I've been deeply inspired by the stories of survival, the generosity of New Zealanders and the humanitarian work to help people rebuild after they have lost so much and are now at serious risk of disease and hunger.

But it's not enough to address the symptoms and not the causes. Dr Christopher Brierley, lecturer in Climate Modelling at University College London, says, "Storms as strong as Cyclone Pam have become more likely due to climate change. The sea level rise we're causing makes the surge from any storm even more devastating."

At the UN climate change conference in December, New Zealand's commitment - or Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) - will state how much we're willing to reduce carbon pollution.

Our INDC will be judged against other countries' efforts and what science says is necessary. Surely it should also be judged against what the Pacific needs to avoid disasters like Cyclone Pam.

We need to listen to Pacific nations, which are already facing the impact of climate change.

Baldwin Lonsdale, president of Vanuatu: "We see the level of sea rise, the cyclone seasons, the warm, the rain. Yes, climate change is contributing to this."

Anote Tong, president of Kiribati: "The hazard of global warming is a catastrophe that impinges on our rights ... and our survival. There will be a time when the waters will not recede."

Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa: "The threats ... of climate change are increasing in severity. What if future cyclones would be similar to that mother of typhoons in the recent past? It would be total catastrophe for many of our Pacific Island nations."

Mr Malielegaoi said this last year and it's what we're seeing now. In 2012, Cyclone Evan was the worst storm to hit Samoa in more than 20 years. In January 2014, Cyclone Ian, the highest category cyclone on the scale, devastated Tonga. In March 2014, Cyclone Lusi pummelled Vanuatu. And just one year later, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands felt Cyclone Pam's fury.

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ak-through-solar-oven-that-cooks?ref=category

Easier, faster and more delicious, this fuel-free cooker can bake, boil or fry a meal for eight, using only the Sun... day or night

Working with the help of partners such as the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, GoSun is helping lead a worldwide effort to reduce reliance on dirty cooking fuels, such as wood and charcoal, with the goal of alleviating a major cause of respiratory illness, especially in women and children. With more than 2.5 billion affected daily, this is one of the world’s greatest problems and possibly the largest cause of preventable death known.

Founder and Inventor, Patrick Sherwin, followed an idea and a dream for over ten years to create the GoSun Stove and launch the first product in 2013 here on Kickstarter. Over the past couple years, the GoSun team has grown rapidly while remaining focused on the Fuel-Free Frontier.

 

An excellent post by a climate-modeling scientist on Cruisers Forum.

 

Extreme weather already on increase due to climate change, study finds

http://www.theguardian.com/environm...on-increase-due-to-climate-change-study-finds

Researchers say heatwaves that previously occurred once every three years are now happening every 200 days thanks to global warming

“What has been lacking up to now is a robust calculation of how much more likely extreme temperatures and rainfall have become worldwide.”

The study shows warming of the atmosphere increases the number of times temperatures reach extreme levels and evaporates more water from the oceans. It is from this hotter, wetter background that extreme weather events emerge.

Longer events, such as heat waves and prolonged rainy periods, will also occur more often.

“When we talk about 15-day precipitation or 15-day heat waves rather than one-day cases, one very robust finding is the longer the period the higher the fraction that is attributable to warming,” said Fischer.

The study also found that the effects of warming will vary around the world. Weather events at the equator will become more extreme with 2C of warming, meaning tropical countries already dealing with frail infrastructure and poverty will experience more than 50 times as many extremely hot days and 2.5 times as many rainy ones.

 

The recent slowdown in the rise of global average air temperatures will make no difference to how much the planet will warm by 2100, a new study has found.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150423130203.htm

The peer-reviewed study, published today in Nature Climate Change, compared climate models that capture the current slowdown in warming to those that do not. The study found that long-term warming projections were effectively unchanged across the two groups of models.

"This shows that the slowdown in global warming has no bearing on long-term projections -- it is simply due to decadal variability. Greenhouse gases will eventually overwhelm this natural fluctuation," said lead author and Chief Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, Prof Matthew England.

To separate the long-term temperature outcomes from short-term variability the researchers took 200 climate simulations and re-evaluated them out to 2100 by comparing those that captured the current slowdown to those that did not.

The models were analyzed using one of two IPCC carbon emission projections.

The first was a scenario where greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise unabated through the 21st Century. The second assumes emissions are reduced to address global warming, peaking by 2040 before declining sharply.

Under the high emissions scenario, the difference in average projected end-of-century warming between the two groups of models is less than 0.1°C; a tiny fraction of the projected 5°C global warming if emissions are not curbed.
"Our research shows that while there may be short-term fluctuations in global average temperatures, long-term warming of the planet is an inevitable consequence of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations," Prof England said.

"This much hyped global warming slowdown is just a distraction to the task at hand."