Joseph J. Romm's Blog, page 1103

Koch-funded oil rally calls global warming a "hoax," dismisses oil spill, and attacks Democrats

Beginning last week, the oil industry launched a national astroturfing effort called "Rally for Jobs." The events, which are being held across the nation, are backed by right-wing billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. They launched a nearly identical campaign last summer that was widely mocked for its obvious astroturfing after it was revealed that 15 of the 21 Energy Citizens events were actually planned by oil industry lobbyists.

ThinkProgress attended one of the rallies yesterday...

California public schools invited BP to help develop environmental curriculum

BP is an extreme greenwasher (see "Should you believe anything BP says?").  Its lies to the public, government, and itself have had catastrophic consequences (see The three causes of BP's Titanic oil disaster: Recklessness, Arrogance, and Hubris).

So naturally, when students in California return to school this fall, they will have a brand new environmental curriculum developed, in part, by BP.  Think Progress has the amazing story:

The Sacramento Bee reported today that BP helped...

Major analysis finds "less ice covers the Arctic today than at any time in recent geologic history." - Paleoclimate study: "the Arctic temperature change consistently exceeds the Northern Hemisphere average by a factor of 3–4"

A first-of-its-kind analysis, "History of sea ice in the Arctic" (subs. req'd), by an international team of 18 top scientists led by Leonid Polyak concludes:

[E:]pisodes of considerably reduced sea ice or even seasonally ice-free conditions occurred during warmer periods linked to orbital variations. The last low-ice event related to orbital forcing (high insolation) was in the early Holocene, after which the northern high latitudes cooled overall, with some superimposed shorter-term...

Major analysis finds "less ice covers the Arctic today than at any time in recent geologic history." - "This ice loss appears to be unmatched over at least the last few thousand years and unexplainable by any of the known natural variabilities."

A first-of-its-kind analysis, "History of sea ice in the Arctic" (subs. req'd), by an international team of 18 top scientists led by Leonid Polyak concludes:

[E:]pisodes of considerably reduced sea ice or even seasonally ice-free conditions occurred during warmer periods linked to orbital variations. The last low-ice event related to orbital forcing (high insolation) was in the early Holocene, after which the northern high latitudes cooled overall, with some superimposed shorter-term...

Climate and clean energy jobs legislation: Carly Fiorina was for it before she was against it

Last week the Politico reported on the California Senate debate: "Fiorina's major stumble came on the issue of Proposition 23." Fiorina had waffled on whether she supported the landmark climate and clean energy legislation that Prop 23 would kill, since, of course, she supported cap-and-trade during the presidential campaign.

Now the GOP Senate candidate she has completed her flip-flop to full support for the dirty energy proposition funded by Big Oil, as the L.A. Times notes in its piece, "

Energy and Global Warming News for September 8th: Biochar emerges as major tool for curbing carbon; DOE giving $575 million in carbon capture grants; China blows past U.S. in offshore wind

Once-Lowly Charcoal Emerges as 'Major Tool' for Curbing Carbon

[image error]Charcoal is taking root on the farm.

Simmered out of eucalyptus, charcoal is being hoed into the degraded soils of former forests in western Kenya. Roasted out of chicken manure, it is spurring the growth of malting barley in Australia. And in Iowa, researchers are plowing charcoal into corn rows, hoping to limit the tons of fertilizer that saturate the state's fields each year.

At these farms and more, scientists are probing...

Energy and Global Warming News for September 8th: Biochar emerges as tool for curbing carbon; DOE giving $575 million in carbon capture grants; China blows past U.S. in offshore wind

Once-Lowly Charcoal Emerges as 'Major Tool' for Curbing Carbon

[image error]Charcoal is taking root on the farm.

Simmered out of eucalyptus, charcoal is being hoed into the degraded soils of former forests in western Kenya. Roasted out of chicken manure, it is spurring the growth of malting barley in Australia. And in Iowa, researchers are plowing charcoal into corn rows, hoping to limit the tons of fertilizer that saturate the state's fields each year.

At these farms and more, scientists are probing...

German military study warns of peak oil crisis

A study by a German military think tank has analyzed how "peak oil" might change the global economy. The internal draft document — leaked on the Internet — shows for the first time how carefully the German government has considered a potential energy crisis.

The term "peak oil" is used by energy experts to refer to a point in time when global oil reserves pass their zenith and production gradually begins to decline. This would result in a permanent supply crisis — and fear of it...

Digg this: Conservative efforts to manipulate the public discussion extend to social media

A group of influential conservative members of the behemoth social media site Digg.com have just been caught red-handed in a widespread campaign of censorship, having multiple accounts, upvote padding, and deliberately trying to ban progressives. An undercover investigation has exposed this effort, which has been in action for more than one year.

That's from an exposé last month by Alternet, "Massive Censorship Of Digg Uncovered."  I didn't blog on it at the time because I was just...

Arctic non-shocker: Ever-thinning sea ice melts out as area, extent, and volume approach record lows - Disinformers puzzled by reality, try to game prediction contest

In May, I wrote "Arctic poised to see record low sea ice volume this year."  The latest analysis from the Polar Science Center suggests that in fact we are going to break the record of "5,800 km^3 or 67% below its 1979 maximum."

The anti-science disinformers have been insisting that the ice is getting thicker and, as recently as mid-August, asserted that we would see a 'recovery' in Arctic ice to 2006 levels (see "WattsUpWithThat breaks own record for fastest overturning of a prediction by...