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Earth's 'hum' may reveal stormier climate

27 Aug

New Scientist - Hurricanes

If storms have got worse due to climate change, the pounding waves they produce should show up in historical seismological data

Read more over at www.newscientist.com
Colorado Climate: Temperatures Rising, But Not As Fast As Expected

27 Aug

The Huffington Post

VAIL - Climatologists are about to establish a "new normal" for temperature trends in Colorado.
And, believe it or not, it looks a lot like the old normal, said Colorado State Climatologist Nolan Doesken.

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More on Climate Change

Read more over at www.huffingtonpost.com
'Phantom' oil slick was a smear against Climate Camp | Richard Bernard

27 Aug

www.guardian.co.uk
No wonder Climate Camp does not trust the media when the police dupe reporters into regurgitating unfounded rumours

• Comment: Climate Camp is restricting free speech
• Twitter backfires for Climate Camp
Monday's Climate Camp day of action against RBS looked like having all the classic ingredients: hard data showing the problem, coupled with direct action to help move us away from a path towards climate catastrophe. We were working in a relevant and immediate political moment: no to austerity cuts and bank bail-outs, yes to climate justice. So how did our actions get overtaken by accusations of media control and "wrecklessness"?
Unfortunately, coverage of the day was dominated by a hallmark Climate Camp smear story splashed across the media. According to a police press release put out at noon: "a substance similar to diesel or vegetable oil" spilled onto two major roads in Edinburgh." We understand that some journalists had been told about it by the police earlier.
Worryingly, almost every media organisation, from the Scotsman to the Financial Times, re-reported this despite no evidence of any kind having been presented to link this oil spill - if it happened - to the camp: no pictures of the spill; no traffic reports showing disruption; no bystanders or drivers complaining; no banner; no word from any climate activist on any website saying they did it. It appears to have been a phantom oil spill.
This "action" defined the narrative of camp's day of action. Yet, compare this with every other direct action that the Climate Camp has been involved in. In each case, the target was a corporation or government, not the general public; no one's safety was ever purposefully put at risk; and each action was cheerfully claimed by the camp, usually in a press release.
We have been here before. In 2007 apparently we were planting "hoax bombs" to shut Heathrow airport. But it wasn't true. Almost every national newspaper in the UK was forced to apologisefollowing our complaints to the Press Complaints Commission. In 2008 it was reported (including in parliament) that there had been "70 injuries to police officers". Again not true. There were no injuries sustained in clashes with protesters, and the only injuries were caused by heatstroke and bee stings. In 2009, the police provided a fictitious account of the last moments of Ian Tomlinson's life. The public were told that the police were just trying to help Ian Tomlinson and that protesters - including those at the G20 Climate Camp - impeded them. Video footage told a very different story. This year it is a mystery oil spill.
What's ironic about all this is that the big news on the Guardian's website isn't an investigation into whether or not the police deliberately misled the public by duping lazy newspapers into regurgitating a fake smear story. Rather, some journalists think that it's the Climate Camp who are the ones supposedly controlling the media.
While most journalists have understood that we lived at Gogarburn for the week and that some people like some privacy, some seem intent on ignoring this point year after year. That means balancing our desire to work with the media and get our message across, and also ensuring that for the week of the camp we still have some kind of privacy. That's not just privacy to plan acts of potentially illegal civil disobedience, but also just to have a shower or eat or sleep without press intrusion. That's why we opened the camp to media between 1pm and 6pm: between lunch and our evening meal. In truth, this is an ongoing and difficult process: some activists are totally opposed to professional press, many welcome them with open arms. This is the result of the diversity we are often criticised for supposedly lacking. To deal with this range of opinions, in the weeks before the camp itself we try and find some kind of consensual agreement, something that everyone involved can live with.
There are photographers, videographers and bloggers who take part in the Climate Camps from start to finish, by coming along to meetings, helping make decisions, putting up tents and marquees on site. We collectively make the media we distribute, and share our footage with each other to help teach people about climate change and direct action all year round. Given the way the majority of the professional press have reported Monday's actions, it's no surprise that we try and find our own channels to get our message out there.
We have been criticised for describing journalists as "astoundingly unimaginative". These words were borrowed from George Monbiot's activist guide to the media, written over a decade ago. We hope one day that this proves to be untrue.
We ask readers who know anything about the spill to contact us with information. Perhaps collectively we can crowdsource what really happened. In the meantime the Camp for Climate Action media team is writing to the Press Complaints Commission about each of the articles that uncritically reported the mystery oil spill. Why? To force the media to carefully report the facts, not regurgitate police propaganda. (This is possible, the Guardian did accurately refer to the oil slick as a "police allegation".)
If that equates to not trusting the media and trying to control journalists then we're guilty. And we're happy to say so.
• Richard Bernard is a member of the Climate Camp press team
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Read more over at www.guardian.co.uk
Scientists 'crack wheat gene code'

27 Aug

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)

Breakthrough could improve crop yields currently under threat from climate change.

Read more over at english.aljazeera.net
Poor countries could be paid to go nuclear

27 Aug

New Scientist - The Nuclear Age

Nuclear power programmes in developing countries could get huge subsidies if a carbon-credit scheme is approved ahead of crucial climate change talks

Read more over at www.newscientist.com
Obama administration sides with utilities in Supreme Court case about climate change

27 Aug

Washington Post - Nation

The Obama administration sided with major utility companies in a Supreme Court case about climate change on Thursday, angering environmentalists who say that the administration's broad argument could hurt their ability to force reductions in greenhouse gas emissions or even to bring other lawsuits.

Supreme Court of the United States - Supreme Court - Climate change - United States - Environment

Read more over at www.washingtonpost.com
Climate change will kill more than malaria and HIV, bishops told

27 Aug

Latest News from Ekklesia

Africa is facing climate change will kill more people than traditional causes such as malaria and HIV, says a Ugandan environmental expert.

The continent of Africa is facing a future in which climate change will kill more people than traditional causes such as malaria and HIV, according to a Ugandan environmental expert.
Dr Rose Mwebaza has warned Anglican bishops from Africa meeting in Entebbe that lakes across the continent are shrinking and drying up, crops are failing, deforestation is leading to terrible flooding and, as a result, people are fighting and killing each other over resources.
“Africa is facing several [environmental] challenges,” said Dr Mwebaza, a senior legal advisor on environmental security at Nairobi’s Institute of Security Studies. These include increased droughts and reduced availability of water; desertification - one factor in major flooding - and increased incidents of diseases in previously unaffected areas.
“Lake Chad in 1973 covered several countries,” she said. “It is reduced to a shadow of its former self. It is vanishing from the continent right in front of our eyes.”
The same was true of Mount Kilimanjaro, she said. Once covered with plenty of snow, experts predict that, within 2 to 5 years’ time, there will be none left on that mountain. “These are the things that are happening right in front of our eyes.”
“I think climate change is going to cause more deaths than many of the other traditional causes such as malaria and aids,” she said. “Whenever I say that, people look at me surprised but it’s true.”
“The Rift Valley used to be a bread basket, a fertile area… it’s now a wasteland. A lot of the rivers are completely dry. What this is leading to is that it has become a security problem. People are literally killing each other over resources.”
“[Governments] are facing the problem of malaria and several other diseases that didn’t exist before or existed only in a few locations…that is adding to the health challenges of those countries.
Against this grim backdrop, Dr Mwebaza told the All Africa Bishops Conference that there were, however, some relatively simple things that churches could do to support communities to mitigate the impact of climate change. She highlighted three things: information, energy projects and reforestation projects.
“If the church provides the community with information centres, either in the parish or diocesan office, you would be amazed at how those information centres can transform communities.” An example of this transformative information includes how to build simple pan dams to capture rainwater for irrigating crops, watering cattle and - together with water purifying techniques - to provide potable water.
A simple energy project that Dr Mwebaza explained had made a major difference in her diocese is biogas. Turning cow dung into gas that is burned for light and heat is cheap and low-tech, prevents oil smoke-related health issues, allows children to study into the evening and means less deforestation. The church, she said, could help promote such projects in dioceses and parishes.
Finally Dr Mwebaza said that planting trees would have a huge environmental impact and could also make the church considerable sums of money through carbon trading schemes. “The church is the one of the biggest landowners on the continent. If they reforested just a quarter of the land they have they could make a significant difference.”
She gave the example of a government-led reforestation project in Uganda, in Kibaale and Mt Elgon that are projected to amount to 1,500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide worth US$45 million dollars.
The Second All Africa Bishops Conference (AABC) from the 23 – 29 August 2010 is meeting in Entebbe, Uganda. The conference brings together Bishops from 400 dioceses in Burundi, Central Africa, DR Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Seychelles, Mauritius, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Tanzania, Egypt and Uganda.
More here: http://www.africanbishops.org
With thanks to the Anglican Communion News Service
[Ekk/3]

Read more over at www.ekklesia.co.uk
A Newspaper Apologizes to Leader of Climate Panel

27 Aug

NYT - Science

A British newspaper that attacked the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has pulled its story and apologized.

Read more over at www.nytimes.com
Climate change will kill more Africans than Malaria or AIDS warned Anglican church

27 Aug

Christian Today Australia

The continent of Africa is facing a future in which climate change will kill more people than traditional causes such as malaria and HIV according to a Ugandan environmental expert

Read more over at au.christiantoday.com
A Newspaper Apologizes to United Nations' Climate Chief

27 Aug

NYT - Science

Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper retracts a story accusing Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of potential financial conflicts of interest.

Read more over at www.nytimes.com