the Climate Pioneer (est. 2010)

Michael Mann, Author of the "Hockey Stick"

Many, indeed most climate scientists have argued that the hockey-stick graph is not central to the case for the role of man-made pollution in exacerbating global warming, and the prospect of dangerous climate change. But it has nevertheless become the iconic smoking gun for both sides of the debate, showing either that we are living through unprecedented temperature increases, or that we are being duped by the biggest scientific hoax in history.”

Read More at: Michael Mann: The climate scientist who the deniers have in their sights – Profiles – People – The Independent.

“Tossing out any remote possibility of a U.N. global warming treaty is one of the most important things we can do for the economy.” Senator James Inhofe

(Editor’s note: As this NYT article points out, in case you’re wondering why we’re going nowhere with the climate change talks in South Africa, here is one of the prime reasons – major climate deniers like Senator Inhofe who still retain tremendous power to block any intelligent discussion about climate change as the planet gets hotter by the day.  But people like Inhofe are a dying reactionary fossil species who will soon be gone.  While he is still here he should serve to remind us of the urgency to keep up the fight, my friends.  We are fighting the good fight for nothing less than our survival as a species on this planet. What could be a holier thought to contemplate during this Christmas season?)

Read the entire article at Inhofe Rejoices in Climate Impasse – NYTimes.com.

“From the Horn of Africa and South East Asia to Russia and Afghanistan, a year of floods, droughts and extreme heat has helped push tens of millions of people into hunger and poverty,”

Read More. . .

“Hacked emails are a sideshow and cannot take away from what many business leaders already know and what the IPCC’s extreme weather report confirms. Climate change is real and we’d better buckle our seat belts for more costly extreme weather if we carry on with business as usual.”

(Editor’s note:  Prior to coming across this article I did not know that Forbe’s Magazine – one of the premier capitalist magazines – had a “sustainable capitalism” blog.  If this article is any indication of it’s direction and content, I’ll be sure to be reading more of it in the future.  It warrants our support.)

Read the entire article at IPCC Report Confirms What Businesses Already Know: Extreme Weather & Climate Change Has Economic Impacts – Forbes.

"No plastic bags please. I don't want to contribute to global warming."

“Climate scientists are always careful to point out that no single event can be entirely ascribed to climate change. But a changing baseline means that extreme heat – and its impacts like fire and drought in places like Texas – is arriving more and more frequently, and notching up ever-higher records. In contrast, cold events are becoming rarer and less extreme.”

Read More of this National Geographic “Daily News” article at Heatwaves and Blizzards — Which is the Best Evidence for Global Warming? – News Watch.

(“It’s ridiculous that we still have a hole in the ozone layer. We have men, we have rockets, we have Saran Wrap – FIX IT!! And don’t come back until you do.” Comedian, Lewis Black)

For years, polls have shown that many Americans have conflated two distinct atmospheric calamities – the destruction of the planet’s stratospheric ozone layer, and global warming. A 2010 poll by Yale University found that 21 percent of respondents believe the greenhouse effect refers to the ozone layer, rather than to gases in the atmosphere that trap heat, such as carbon dioxide.

Now comes a study that helps describe the possible relationship between the two in a way that will either confuse even more people, or clarify things for anyone who devotes some time to fully digesting the new information.

Read more at: The record-breaking Arctic ozone “hole” and global warming – Capital Weather Gang – The Washington Post.

Climate change doesn’t just wreak havoc on your physical surroundings — it affects your mental health too.

Flooding, drought and superstorms cause actual psychological fallout, according to Australian researchers.

“The damage caused by a changing climate is not just physical,” they said in a report released this week by the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Sydney.

“Recent experience shows extreme weather events also pose a serious risk to public health, including mental health and wellbeing, with serious flow-on consequences for the economy and wider society.”

Read more at: Climate change threatens mental health too: study; Droughts, floods have psychological impact.

This is a blog devoted to climate related issues, but every so often something comes up that cuts across so many boundaries of struggle that it must be addressed even if it doesn’t directly relate to climate change issues. The struggle that is going on in Wisconsin at the present is one of those issues.

What we are seeing in Wisconsin is part of a coordinated effort by ultra-conservatives in this country to gut every progressive cause that has ever existed, is currently being contemplated, or will ever be dreamed of in the future.  The drive to bust unions in Wisconsin is simply part of a much larger effort to dismantle the EPA, render ineffective the Clean Air Act, discredit global warming as a hoax, privatize social security, disable Medicare – the list goes on and on.  What we are seeing is the power of big business in action as it attempts to privatize the public sphere and set the stage for corporate dominance for the next 50 years.

Those of us who call ourselves liberal, who call ourselves progressive, who call ourselves human – must take a stand wherever that corporate dragon breathes its fiery breath.  Right now that is in Wisconsin.

In Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker is threatening legislation that will remove the public sector union’s right to collective bargain.  He claims that the reason he is taking this action is to balance the budget, yet when the unions have indicated their willingness to make concessions, he has said “No.” He will stop at nothing less than busting the unions.

In response, 14 Wisconsin senators have taken a stand against this threat.  Although outnumbered in the Wisconsin senate, they have elected to simply not show in order to prevent a quorum and make a vote impossible.  Since in Wisconsin, a state congressperson can be “compelled” to return to the legislature to carry on State business, these fourteen senators have had to flee their own state, and have been pursued by state troopers.

This is an incredibly courageous act, and one that must be supported.  If one of these fourteen senators defects and goes back, a quorum will exist and Governor Walker will be victorious in his efforts to destroy the public sector unions in Wisconsin. From there it will be simply a matter of time before other state legislatures will follow suit and the entire edifice of union strength around the country will begin to crumble.

We must encourage these Wisconsin democratic senators to stay strong, and we must send them messages of support and encouragement.

Here are the names of the fourteen senators along with their email addresses:

For what it’s worth, here is a copy of a letter I personally sent:

Dear Senator  _________,

Please take a moment to write.  Write one of them, write all of them, whatever you have time to do. Encourage your friends to do the same.  This is a time to act and to stand up against the corporate machinery that is threatening the very foundations of our democracy.

Thanks you.

Here's what a more "responsible" capitalism looks like.

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. — BP’s compensation fund for Gulf oil spill victims has issued a final settlement payment to just one of the thousands of people and businesses waiting for checks, records show, and that $10 million payout went to a company after the oil giant intervened on its behalf.

BP won’t identify the business, citing confidentiality, but acknowledges it lobbied for the settlement. The amount far exceeds smaller stopgap payments that some individuals and businesses have received while they wait for their own final settlements.

Read more at: Gulf Oil Spill Compensation Fund Issues 1 Final Payment Out Of 91,000 Claims.