Scientists slam latest Doomsday climate report
From Newsmax
Climatologists and other experts are blasting a new climate change report from the Obama administration, calling it a “litany of doom” that objective scientists won’t take seriously.
The National Climate Assessment (NCA), an 840-page report compiled by 300 scientists and experts that was released at a White House event on Tuesday, warns that climate change is a clear and present danger.
“Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,” according to the report.
Rising temperatures, it asserts, will be responsible not only for more drought, wildfires, flooding, and sea level rise, but also an increased risk of heat-related deaths.
The report states that the effects of climate change are evident in every region of the country, according to Gary Yohe, a Wesleyan University economist and vice-chair of the NCA advisory committee.
“One major take-home message is that just about every place in the country has observed that the climate has changed,” he told the Guardian. “It is here and happening, and we are not cherry-picking or fear-mongering.”
But that is exactly what the experts are seeking to do, critics charge.
Heartland Institute Senior Fellow James Taylor declared: “Leading authors of this report include staffers for activist groups like the Union of Concerned Scientists, Planet Forward, the Nature Conservancy, and Second Nature. Few objective climate experts will take this report seriously.
“Even those scientists who are not overtly affiliated with environmental activist groups were almost uniformly on the record as global warming alarmists before being chosen to write this report.”
Mark Morano offered a round-up of reactions to the global warming report on his Climate Depot website.
Former Colorado State University climatologist Dr. Roger Pielke Sr.: “That much of the media accepted the NCA without questioning its findings and conclusions either indicates they are naïve or they have chosen to promote a particular agenda and this report fits their goal.”
Dr. Judith Curry, chairwoman of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology: “The report effectively implies that there is no climate change other than what is caused by humans, and that extreme weather events are equivalent to climate change.
“Worse yet is the spin being put on this by the Obama administration.”
Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis: The report is “designed to scare people and build political support for unpopular policies such as carbon taxes. Alarmists offer untrue, unrelenting doom and gloom.”
Dr. Roy Spencer, principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville: Part of the report “is just simply made up. There is no fingerprint of human-caused versus naturally-caused climate change.”
Weather Channel Co-founder John Coleman: The report is a “litany of doom,” a “total distortion of the data and an agenda-driven, destructive episode of bad science gone berserk.”
Climate Depot’s Morano said: “By every measure, so-called extreme weather is showing no trend or declining trends on 50-100-year timescales. Droughts, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes are not increasing due to man-made global warming.
“Why does the report now call ‘global warming’ a new name, so-called ‘climate disruption’? Simple answer: Due to earth’s failure to warm — no global warming for nearly 18 years — another name was necessary to attempt to gin up fear.
“This report is predetermined science.”
For more on this story go to and to read the original report ‘American Doomsday’: ‘White House Warns of Climate Catastrophes’ go to:
IMAGE: Actual NBC headline
For more on the Newsmax story go to: http://www.newsmax.com/insiderreport/climate-report-litany-of-doom/2014/05/11/id/570687/
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5 things you can do about climate change
By Elizabeth Landau, CNN From Wn.com
(CNN) — Climate change isn’t something in the far-off future: It’s a potentially disastrous reality that’s already starting to have effects that are expected to worsen, experts say.
Longer summers and heavier rainfalls are some of the impacts Americans are already seeing, according to the National Climate Assessment. We should expect more flooding, wildfires and drought.
The report, a new White House update released Tuesday, calls for urgent action on climate change.
Climate change is here and action needed now, new White House report says
So what can you do at home to take action?
1. Become informed
New push on climate change White House: Expect droughts, fires Expert: ‘We decide’ climate change losses Friedman: How to react to global warming
The most powerful way that the average person can combat climate change is to become informed about it, says J. Marshall Shepherd, former president of the American Meteorological Society and professor at the University of Georgia.
“Obviously, it makes sense for people to be as efficient and green as possible in their thinking on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “But where I think the biggest impact that individuals can have is: Becoming climate literate.”
If you educate yourself about what’s going on with climate change and what can be done about it, you can make more informed choices when it comes time to vote for the people with the power to make big decisions.
“Where the biggest impacts on our planet will be, will come from large-scale policy changes and solutions that are influenced by who’s in office,” he said.
Only read trusted and verified sources of information about climate change, Shepherd said. He recommends the websites climate.gov and Climate Central (of which he is a board member) for essential facts and resources.
Learn about various responses to climate change that policy makers are discussing:
— Mitigation means lowering carbon dioxide levels — for instance, by instituting carbon taxes or taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
— Adaptation means responding to the consequences of climate change — for instance, building seawalls to prepare for rising sea levels around vulnerable cities.
— Geoengineering means changing the Earth itself to counteract climate change — which would include hypothetical technological interventions such as putting large mirrors in space or changing our oceans to absorb more carbon dioxide, Shepherd said.
Beyond reading up on the issues, you can still do a small part to influence the big environmental picture.
2. Make changes at home
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists steps to limiting your greenhouse gas emissions, which would also save you money. These include:
— Changing your five most-used light fixtures or bulbs to products that have the EPA’s Energy Star label;
— Heat and cool more efficiently, such as by using a programmable thermostat, changing air filters and replacing old equipment with Energy Star products;
— Seal and insulate your home;
— Make use of recycling programs, and compost food and yard waste;
–Reduce water waste;
–Use green power, such as solar panels;
–Estimate how much greenhouse gas you emit with the EPA’s calculator.
The U.S. Department of Energy has an online guide to buying green power.
Check out clean energy resources and financial incentives in your area through the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency.
3. Be greener at the office
If you have a desk job, there are plenty of things you can do to reduce your emissions while at work. The EPA advises:
— Set computers and other office equipment to power down during periods when you’re not using them;
— Use Energy Star equipment;
— Recycle and reuse whenever possible;
The David Suzuki Foundation, an environmental nonprofit organization, additionally recommends using video conferencing to reduce air travel for business.
4. Reduce emissions in transit
Whether it’s taking a vacation or doing your daily commute, you can reduce your carbon footprint in simple ways that also save money. The EPA’s recommendations include:
— Rely on public transportation, biking, walking, carpooling or telecommuting instead of driving;
— Use the EPA’s Green Vehicle Guide to help you make an informed choice about buying a car;
— While driving, try not to do hard accelerations, don’t spend more than 30 seconds idling, and go easy on the gas pedal and brakes;
— Make sure to regularly check your tire pressure.
When you have to take an airplane, the David Suzuki Foundation recommends:
— When flying, consider packing lighter because less fuel is consumed with less weight on the plane;
— Fly during the day because night flights have a bigger impact on climate;
— Buy carbon offsets — or credits — to compensate for the emissions on your flight .
5. Get involved and educate others about the big picture
Your green strategies in your daily life can have a small impact, but the whole planet has to be on board for dealing with climate change in order to instigate global effects. Even if everyone in the United States reduced their emissions, other countries that continue to dump carbon dioxide into the air would still contribute to warming temperatures and rising sea levels.
Spread the word about climate change and educating people. The EPA recommends that students give presentations on climate change and encourage their institutions to increase energy efficiency.
Find out if your community has a climate action plan. There may be ways you can contribute to local efforts to be greener and adapt to potential changes that a warming world would bring.
Bottom line: Most of the public will never read the full National Climate Assessment, Shepherd said. But if you arm yourself with correct information, you can make informed choices that could affect your community and the planet at large.
For more on this story go to: http://article.wn.com/view/2014/05/06/5_things_you_can_do_about_climate_change/
Region wants more than one size fits all to handle climate change
From Caribbean360
SANTIAGO, Chile, Monday May 12, 2014, CMC – When it comes to dealing with the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector, Caribbean countries are letting it be known that the “one size fits all” strategy is not for them.
In fact, as they emerged from a closed door meeting with the Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Dr José Graziano da Silva on Thursday, representatives of the Caribbean delegations said that was the message conveyed to the head of the UN body.
“We have requested the FAO to deal with the Caribbean in a differentiated manner rather than lump us together with Latin America and the Caribbean,” Guyana’s Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
“Whenever that happens we get pushed aside as small states and we believe that (as) small vulnerable states our special vulnerability to climate change should be taken into consideration,” he added.
And as they made their way back to their respective countries on Friday, the Caribbean delegations remain convinced that “we have put forward a very strong position with respect to climate change…and the response was very positive from the director general because we all agree that climate change is going to play a very significant part in how we look at what we would call the new agriculture”.
St Vincent and the Grenadines National Mobilisation and Social Development Minister, Frederick Stephenson, said that the region had proposed that there be more studies regarding the impact of climate change on the Caribbean as well as “proposing the implementation of more projects geared towards mitigation of the effects of climate change on our region”.
The FAO head was told by the Caribbean delegations that the region was experiencing heavy rains as well as long dry spells, a combination that is having a great impact on the agricultural sector.
Ashton Stanley, a senior government official in St Kitts-Nevis said that without adequate forage for animal production and adequate water for crop production, agriculture in the true sense is being minimised.
“The intensity of rainfall is greater, the duration may not be longer but the intensity is greater and what we have found is that with these increased rainfall, we are losing a lot of the soil…which is of course one of our most precious natural resources that actually drive agricultural production,” he told CMC.
The FAO has noted that while Latin America and Caribbean countries have increased their agricultural, forestry and fishery production at rates above the global average over the past decade, they also face serious problems of soil degradation, water depletion and pollution, deforestation, environmental sustainability threats and increased risks associated with climate change.
The FAO held its 33rd regional conference that brought together agriculture ministers from the 33 Latin America and Caribbean countries with delegates underscoring the importance of promoting a sustainable system of food production, based on greater role of the families and better prepared to cope with the effects of climate change in agriculture.
Among the topics discussed during the three-day conference that ended on Friday were the challenges for sustainable development and adaptation to climate change, governance for food and nutrition security as well as the prospects for production and food trade in Latin America and the Caribbean.
An FAO document acknowledged that 20 years after the Rio Summit, Latin America and the Caribbean is in a better position to achieve sustainable development given the progress that has been made in reducing poverty, malnutrition and hunger and increasing food production.
But it noted that the region is facing increasingly significant situations of change, including the need to adjust food production and consumption patterns, the ethical commitment to eradicate poverty, the urgency of mitigating emissions and adapting to climate change.
Da Silva acknowledged that in the Caribbean the inherent challenges to the agricultural sector is that most of the region comprises small island states and as a result agriculture needs to be a ”very protected sector” given that it is also affected by climate change which is also being blamed for the region facing a greater spread of diseases.
FAO Coordinator for the Caribbean Sub-region, Deep Ford, said that the impact of climate change on countries like Barbados and the nine-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) “is enormous and this is why risk management is one of the major pillars of the FAO” in helping them deal with the situation.
“With climate change we are seeing increasing numbers of hurricanes and increasing intensity and impact of hurricanes, but historically when we look at the last 20 years, we know that this two per cent loss (in gross domestic product) is what’s happening.
“So from that standpoint climate change on the risk management is a major part of our programme in the region,” he said, adding “the loss of the pillars of the agricultural sector and the two pillars that have driven the Caribbean economy … sugar and banana, those markets have been lost over the past Uruguay Rounds in 1995”.
Stephenson recalls the devastation caused by the unusual rains over the last Christmas Season that not only killed 12 people, but left millions of dollars in damages to agricultural lands as well as infrastructure.
In addition, he says in Caribbean countries, including his own, “we are noticing that the seas are encroaching on our land space due to high surges and the rising sea levels”.
“You are seeing tremendous damage to our coastal areas,” he said, while Stanley notes that damage to the coral reefs are seriously depleting the fish population.
“Coral reefs are responsible for fish aggregation in its natural sense,” he said, adding also that the waters are becoming much warmer resulting in the migration of fishes particularly those that are sensitive to the increase in water temperatures.
“What we have found is that they (fishes) are migrating further north which means that fishermen have to increase their efforts and these have serious problems in terms of increase expenditure because of increased efforts to get to the fishes wherever they are,” he said, noting that in the case of St Kitts-Nevis, the authorities are now deploying fish aggregating devices “in order to have the fishes congregate in a particular area so as to reduce the search for them”.
Ramsammy said one of the outcomes of the talks is the decision for an annual meeting between the FAO and Caribbean agriculture ministers with the first likely to take place in October in Suriname, coinciding with the Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA).
For more on this story go to: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/region-wants-more-than-one-size-fits-all-to-handle-climate-change?utm_source=Caribbean360%20Newsletters&utm_campaign=3b16050f56-Vol_9_Issue_094_News5_12_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_350247989a-3b16050f56-39393477
