Beyond Hot Air: The Recital

Get a Christian Perspective on Climate Change:

Saturday, November 1st, 7 PM

Stratton Hall, Bob Jones University

$2 trillion Carbon Emissions Market?

Agence France Press reports:

“The United States, which has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol that calls for the mechanism, could in 2020 account for 67 percent, or 1.25 trillion euros, of emissions rights if it decided to introduce a US emissions trading system, the Point Carbon study said.”

1.25 trillion euros ~ $2 trillion USD. That’s a big pile of money. Who’s paying and who’s receiving? That’s roughly 12% of the entire US GDP!

Carbon Tax is here (in Canada)

The Edomonton Sun reports on the progress of the Carbon Tax in Canada, and notes some mayors are upset about it not being ‘revenue netural.’ Notice also the amounts:

~2.5 cents per liter
increasing to ~7.5 cents per liter
equivalent of 30 cents per gallon!

The Bet

Real Climate has a bet on Global Cooling that its inviting challengers for its bet….

“The bet we propose is very simple and concerns the specific global prediction in their Nature article. If the average temperature 2000-2010 (their first forecast) really turns out to be lower or equal to the average temperature 1994-2004 (*), we will pay them € 2500. If it turns out to be warmer, they pay us € 2500. This bet will be decided by the end of 2010. We offer the same for their second forecast: If 2005-2015 (*) turns out to be colder or equal compared to 1994-2004 (*), we will pay them € 2500 – if it turns out to be warmer, they pay us the same.”

AFP: Tropical Insects Risk Extinction With Global Warming

AFP shares some news that might actually make people excited about releasing some CO2…

“Global warming could pose a greater risk to tropical insects and other species sensitive to the slightest shifts in temperature than to creatures living in the world’s tundra, US scientists warned Monday.”

Therefore – wouldn’t malaria and other insect-born diseases decrease? Granted there is probably some beneficial use for insects (I’m not coming up with any instantly) but this isn’t the scare story you want in your PR arsenal .

Another unstated factor is the time element that is missing: We are told that Global Warming is occurring now, and that Global Warming is killing insects. Therefore we assume that insects will die now. However, the numbers presented are based off of modeling for the IPCC target year of 2100. As is true that we should begin planning early for the critical events in 2100, many of the most successful technologies such as CCS (Carbon Capture & Storage – forgive the previous acronym attempt involving Coal) are not scheduled to come online until 2030.

Coal Carbon Sequestration (CCS): A great sounding technology!

EurActive has the interview with a MEP on CCS…

“Because over the next twenty and even thirty years, it can make a very dramatic difference in reducing Europe and indeed the world’s CO2 emissions.

Coal constitutes 24% of all Europe’s CO2 emissions. That’s a staggering proportion. One fossil fuel alone creates more CO2 than twice the number of cars we have on the road.”

Global Warming Taking a Break?

Science Daily:

“Just to make things clear: we are not stating that anthropogenic climate change won’t be as bad as previously thought”, explains Prof. Mojib Latif from IFM-GEOMAR. “What we are saying is that on top of the warming trend there is a long-periodic oscillation that will probably lead to a to a lower temperature increase than we would expect from the current trend during the next years”, adds Latif. “That is like driving from the coast to a mountainous area and crossing some hills and valleys before you reach the top”, explains Dr. Johann Jungclaus from the MPI for Meteorology. “In some years trends of both phenomena, the anthropogenic climate change and the natural decadal variation will add leading to a much stronger temperature rise.”

Be sure to check out the neat graph on the page too!

Do Token Measures Really Work?

ScienceDaily: “While it may seem surprising that even people whose lifestyles don’t appear extravagant–the homeless, monks, children–are responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions, one major factor is the array of government services that are available to everyone in the United States. These basic services–including police, roads, libraries, the court system and the military–were allocated equally to everyone in the country in this study. Other services that are more specific, such as education or Medicare, were allocated only to those who actually make use of them.”

Is the value of our token measures (buying a Prius), etc., really worthwhile? Or are we better off investing in “big idea” change? Like nuclear power as opposed to coal?

What do trees really do for fighting Global Warming?

Washington Post: “There are 1.9 million trees in the nation’s capital, a mature urban forest that in a single year absorbs the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the tailpipes of 9,700 cars, according to David Nowak, a research scientist with the Forest Service. So planting a million new trees is a drop in the bucket, especially in a city like Los Angeles, where there are 5.2 million vehicles registered in the county.”

Based on these numbers, to offset your car, you would need to plant 196 trees.

Blogger Logic on Jeb Bush’s Climate Change Comments

Boston Globe analyzes the reaction to Jeb Bush’s comments…that’s a last name that will always get you in the news…

Jeb Bush: “I don’t think our policies should be based on emotion; they should be based on sound science”

Blogger: “What is unsound about hundreds of IPCC scientists stating that the current climate trends are ‘very likely’ (> 90% chance) a result of anthropogenic contributions?””

Nice retort, but for the non-engaged lets answer your host’s Question Number Three: “To What Extent* are the current climate trends a result of anthropogenic contributions.”

That’s the $100 billion question.

*To what extent – a phrase that I learned the all-important significance of and superiority to other comparative phrases while preparing my Master’s thesis.