“A Rasmussen poll released on Monday found that just 24 percent of voters correctly identified the cap and trade proposal as dealing with environmental issues. Slightly more — 29 percent — thought the term was about regulating Wall Street, and 17 percent thought it had to do with health care reform. Thirty percent had no idea.”

- Political Forums - Politico.com - POLITICO.com

| tags climate | usa | 14 May 2009 | ∞ link comments (view)

“In 1995, the Global Climate Coalition, an industry-financed group challenging efforts to negotiate a new climate treaty or legislation, sought advice on the latest climate science from its committee of advisers on science and technology. The resulting internal document, “Predicting Future Climate Change: A Primer,” challenged recent research hinting that human-caused global warming was already measurable. But it rejected a variety of what it called “contrarian” arguments against the basic concept that accumulating heat-trapping emissions would substantially warm the planet. The coalition, according to other documents, later requested that the section of the primer endorsing the basics of global warming science be cut.”

- Advisers to Industry Group Weigh In on Warming - The New York Times

| tags climate | denial | 28 Apr 2009 | ∞ link comments (view)

“Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist. -Kenneth Boulding”

- Twitter / operationcarbon.org: Anyone who believes expone …

| tags climate | 21 Apr 2009 | ∞ link comments (view)

“The adverse effects of climate change linked to a sharp increase in greenhouse gases are already being felt in Asia and the Pacific. Even if carbon emissions are capped at current levels the region faces a 10% reduction in crop yields by 2020, and rising sea levels that could displace millions of people living in coastal areas in Bangladesh, India, the Maldives and the Pacific Islands.”

- ADB to Help Raise Public Awareness on Climate Change

| tags climate | adb | 16 Mar 2009 | ∞ link comments (view)

“The only thing green about Peter Mandelson is the slime coursing through his veins. That he is trying to make political capital out of climate change … is an insult to my generation. He is unelected and only represents business interests.”

- Police to investigate green custard attack on Mandelson | Politics | guardian.co.uk

| tags climate | action | 09 Mar 2009 | ∞ link comments (view)

TABLE - Rising global carbon emissions, temperatures

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Rising emissions of heat-trapping
greenhouse gases are widely blamed for causing global warming, and risk more extreme weather and higher sea levels.
The table below shows —
(1) annual global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, in
billions of tonnes, from burning fossil fuels, making cement and flaring gas
(2) annual CO2 emissions from deforestation, after allowing for tree planting
(3) concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere, in parts per million
(4) global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in billions of tonnes of CO2 equivalent
(5) rank among 50 hottest years since 1850

Year CO2 CO2 CO2 GHGs Rank
bln t bln t ppm bln t 50 hot yrs
(energy) (forests)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
2008 N/A N/A 384.89 N/A 10
2007 31.1 5.4 382.71 N/A 7
2006 30.2 5.4 380.91 N/A 6
2005 29.3 5.4 378.77 N/A 2
2004 28.2 5.6 376.76 51.3 5
2003 26.8 5.6 374.94 49.5 3
2002 25.6 5.6 372.39 48.1 4
2001 25.4 5.1 370.36 47.2 8
2000 24.8 5.2 368.77 46.9 14
1999 24.1 5.3 367.56 46.2 12
1998 24.2 5.5 365.48 45.8 1
1997 24.3 5.5 362.76 45.7 9
1996 23.9 5.6 361.62 45.1 21
1995 23.5 5.7 359.85 44.2 11
1990 22.6 6.0 353.83 46.3 13
1985 20.0 5.8 345.30 45.2 39
1980 19.6 4.6 338.67 42.7 22
1970 15.0 5.3 326 34.5 >50
1960 9.5 5.1 317 N/A >50
1950 6.0 3.8 313 (6) >50
1900 2.0 2.7 296 >50
1850 0.2 1.8 287 >50
1800 0.0 N/A 280 N/A
1750 0.0 N/A 277 N/A
100,000 yrs before present 226 (7)
200,000 243
300,000 242
400,000 278

Levels of ozone-depleting gases have plummeted since the phase-out starting in 1987. Excluding these, other greenhouse gas emissions rose much faster in the 1990s.

Sources: (1) U.S. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (2006 and 2007 figures are preliminary estimates)
(2) Woods Hole Research Centre
(3) U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin (NOAA)
(4) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007
(5) World Meteorological Organisation
(6) Ice core data, University of Bern, 1750 - 1950
(7) Vostok Ice Core, before 1750
((Compiled by Gerard Wynn; gerard.wynn@reuters.com;
ReutersMessaging: gerard.wynn.reuters.com@reuters.net; +44 207542-2302))

| tags climate | carbon trade | 02 Mar 2009 | ∞ link comments (view)

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