Real Climate Science

Other than the debate on health care, the battle over cap and trade legislation was arguably one of the hottest during the first half of President Barack Obama’s first term.  Now, with the reality that the carbon dioxide limiting legislation is dead, Carol M. Browner is set to resign from her post as the president’s global warming czar.

http://www.examiner.com/

What is up with that? Why don’t they speak American?

Global Warming: After the 1998 tobacco deal, many wondered where the next battleground for the shakedown lawyers would be. Few wonder now. The legal war over climate change is heating up — and it’ll be costly.

The $246 billion tobacco settlement, reached by 46 state attorneys general and the tobacco industry, was not designed to improve public health. It was simply a way to line lawyers’ pockets and create a slush fund for lawmakers.

Private plaintiffs’ lawyers took in $8.2 billion in legal fees, and states have spent their share of the funds on items unconnected to tobacco-related illnesses and anti-smoking education.

It was, as we said a few years ago, “a naked cash grab.”

Having exhausted that lucrative source, trial lawyers went trolling for another. Would it be the fast-food industry? Gun makers? What about companies that sell sugary drinks? Or those making pharmaceuticals?

While those industries will be beset by suing lawyers, they will be spared relative to the target that attracts the most attention. As we predicted on these pages, global warming will be the vehicle for the next litigation lottery. And the media are finally picking up on this.

“Climate-change litigation is fast emerging as a new frontier of law where some believe hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake,” AFP reported Sunday.

Though not yet widespread, climate-related lawsuits have “ballooned” in the last three years, AFP said. Deutsche Bank says filings in the U.S. alone went from 48 in 2009 to 132 last year. “Entrepreneurial lawyers” are stalking prospective defendants, while businesses and insurers are trying to find ways to protect themselves.

http://www.investors.com/

ALBANY, N.Y. — Albany-to-New York City rail service is scheduled to return to normal Tuesday after being suspended because of the arctic cold.

Amtrak shut down its Empire Service between New York City and Albany as a precaution Monday because some signals and switches were frozen. The Ethan Allen Express to Rutland, Vt., was also canceled. Trains to Montreal, Chicago and Toronto operated normally.

The Ethan Allen will run between Albany and New York City Tuesday, with buses carrying passengers between Albany and Rutland. And passengers on the route from Niagara Falls to New York should check for a schedule change involving one train.

The National Weather Service said early morning low temperatures reached double digits below zero across much of upstate New York.

http://online.wsj.com/

Puritans caused the Little Ice Age. Every event was a direct result of Human CO2 production.

Lastly, a significant decrease in emissions began in the 16th century – the one which would herald the minor ice age. Jed Kaplan has an audacious hypothesis to explain the dip in the data curve: “Thanks to the reports of the early explorers, we know that the forests were less abundant on the American continent. Then the settlers gradually eliminated the indigenous population.” Threatened with extinction, these populations effectively deserted the forested areas, which – by taking up the carbon in the atmosphere – in turn set off the legendary frosts of the 19th century. “Of course, it’s only a hypothesis”, he concludes, “but given the data we have gathered, it’s entirely plausible”.

Jed Kaplan’s model is not in contradiction with the previous ones on one critical point: the enormous increase in emissions from the beginning of the industrial era, and the massive use of fossil fuels. “We are just saying that our influence on the climate began a lot earlier than we thought. In 6000 BC, we were already accumulating significant quantities of carbon in the atmosphere, even though it was nothing compared to the situation today”, adds the scientist. A conclusion that could turn out to be critical in the future for the improved evaluation of the decisive impact of the forests on the climate.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-role-climate.html

h/t to hauntingthelibrary and Marc Morano

I booked my flights on “Brussels Airways,” which it turns out was a stealth way for United Airlines to sell tickets under another name. As usual, United screwed things up – their plane broke.

I’m at the Denver airport waiting for a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt now.

Sitting at the airport in Denver with my laptop tethered to my phone. This saves me $15 for the one time Internet connection rip-off service DIA provides.

I forgot to mention the most important thing about my trip. Yes, I do have a bicycle hired in Lisbon, which looks like a great place to ride. Of course, temperatures are expected to be well below normal, due to trapped heat in the ocean.

I am off to Lisbon for the week, to participate in an EU meeting organized by Jerome Ravetz – “Workshop Conflict Resolution on Climate Change.”

I won’t be posting as much this week, but will try to keep everyone updated. Have fun and stay warmcold.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2011/01/23/2003494192

Trees don’t want to be hugged. Children want to be hugged.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12241405