U.S. Senate Candidate Calls Climate Change Theories 'Lunacy'
Last week, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said, "I absolutely do not believe in the science of man-caused climate change, it's not proven by any stretch of the imagination." Johnson thinks it's "far more likely that it's just sunspot activity or just something in the geologic eons of time." He even went so far as to say that increases in carbon dioxide are a good thing -- apparently he believes that excess carbon simply "gets sucked down by trees and helps trees grow."
It seems Johnson is out of touch with the mainstream public's view (PDF) and findings of climate scientists around the world. Science's May issue featured a letter authored by 255 climate scientists, 11 of whom are Nobel Laureates, supporting climate change theories and urging swift action. (PDF)
A common argument among climate skeptics (including Ron Johnson) is that more carbon dioxide is a good thing because it promotes plant growth. They forget that plants actually need water as well. Droughts linked to global warming have prompted NASA to release a statement saying that the "Earth has done an ecological about-face." Steven Running, a biologist at the University of Montana in Missoula and co-author of the NASA report said, "This is a pretty serious warning that warmer temperatures are not going to endlessly improve plant growth." Read more here.
A Year for the Record Books
2010 is on pace to set climate records in regard to natural disasters and weather extremes. Niger is facing a drought that has killed crops and livestock, leaving nearly eight million people hungry. In Russia a heat wave caused daily death tolls to double and set a large portion of the country ablaze. Floods in Pakistan left millions homeless and have killed 1,200 people thus far.
Scientists are careful not to assert climate change as the sole cause of these events. Kevin Trenberth, head of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado says, "It's not the right question to ask if this storm or that storm is due to global warming, or is it natural variability. Nowadays, there's always an element of both." Read more here.
The continental United States has experienced changes supporting climate-change theories in the last decade. Gerald Meehl, the lead author and a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), cites a ratio of 2 to 1 -- two record high temperatures for every record low temperature from 2000 to 2009. Dr. Meehl expects the ratio to continue increasing as carbon dioxide flows unchecked into the atmosphere.
Coal Schools Gone Cool
Last week Sierra magazine released its fourth annual ‘cool schools’ issue and it seems our public rankings have been influencing coal-powered schools. Cornell in particular has made great strides in eliminating coal as the school’s energy source:
"Big Red is going green, big time. In January, the Ithaca, New York, school became the latest to move beyond coal when it unveiled a new $80 million heating-and-power plant to replace its outdated coal-fired facility. Cornell's new plant is equipped to run on biofuels, but it will use natural gas and recycled steam power to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 28 percent and wean Cornell from coal by mid-2011."
Read more about coal crushers here.