Please enjoy today’s energy debate watch, a collection of news stories and perspectives about energy, environment and climate related issues. These articles are provided to keep Terra Rossa readers informed about the current public energy debate but are not intended to express the views of the blog. Let us know your thoughts on these articles or tell us about other current items of interest in the comment thread below.
_____________________________________
Could global warming cause war?
Christian Science Monitor, 04.19.07
For years, the debate over global warming has focused on the three big “E’s”: environment, energy, and economic impact. This week it officially entered the realm of national security threats and avoiding wars as well.
_____________________________________
Global warming swelling insurance risk
Washington Post - AP, 04.19.07
WASHINGTON — The insurer of last resort, the government faces a potential payout of at least $919 billion under a worst-case scenario of flood and crop losses due to global warming, congressional investigators say.
Read More
_____________________________________
Pound by pound, dollar for dollar, the complicated equation for going green
Wall Street Journal, 04.20.07
Going green is the new black in 2007. Advice abounds on how to cut your carbon dioxide output and do your part in the battle against global warming. But how much does a person have to spend to go green–and what kind of environmental impact would that spending actually have?
Read More
_____________________________________
Warming and global security
New York Times, 04.20.07
People who give short shrift to environmental matters pay attention when national security becomes part of the conversation. So the debate over global warming took a useful turn this week as diplomats and retired military officers drew persuasive connections between climate change and the very real potential for regional upheavals.
Read More
_____________________________________
Security Council debates climate change
Los Angeles Times, 04.18.07
UNITED NATIONS - The Security Council held its first debate about climate change Tuesday, an issue not usually considered within its international-security scope.
Read More
_____________________________________
China about to become biggest CO2 emitter
New York Times - Reuters, 04.18.07
LONDON (Reuters) - China will overtake the United States as the world’s biggest emitter of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) either this year or next, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.
Read More
_____________________________________
Believing in global warming isn’t a solution
Real Clear Politics, 04.18.07
When President Jimmy Carter wanted Americans to conserve energy in 1979, he set an example by wearing a sweater and turning down the White House thermostat. Today, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger boasts that he is a world leader in the fight against global warming — but his advocacy shouldn’t keep him from flying in private jets or driving a Hummer.
Read More
_____________________________________
Climate change called a security threat
Los Angeles Times, 04.17.07
Global warming poses a “serious threat to America’s national security” and the military should act now to minimize the destabilizing consequences of rising temperatures, a panel of retired generals and admirals warned Monday.
Read More
_____________________________________
Military sharpens focus on climate change
Washington Post, 04.15.07
The U.S. military is increasingly focused on a potential national security threat: climate change. Just last month the U.S. Army War College funded a two-day conference at the Triangle Institute for Security Studies titled “The National Security Implications of Global Climate Change.” And tomorrow, a group of 11 retired senior generals will release a report saying that global warming “presents significant national security challenges to the United States,” which it must address or face serious consequences.
Read More
_____________________________________
An inconvenient tree
Wall Street Journal, Russell Seitz, 04.14.07
A report that just came online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences should make warm reading for Al Gore. The former next president, like many black-clad greens gracing the cover of Vanity Fair, relies on firms that promise to plant trees to offset their clients’ fuel-intensive lifestyles, allowing the affluent to ignore their effluence and claim to be CO2 free. Mr. Gore also points to windmills and other energy alternatives when pleading carbon-neutral to charges his jet-setting contributes to global warming.
Read More
_____________________________________
Ireland, Ukraine to test UN carbon-trading plan
Wall Street Journal, 04.16.07
LONDON — A Ukrainian cement factory and an Irish maker of building materials are pairing up in the first test of a United Nations carbon-trading program for industrialized countries, designed to curb greenhouse-gas emissions.
This entry was posted on Friday, April 20th, 2007 at 2:58 pm and is filed under Climate Change, Energy Debate Watch Articles, International Environmental News, National Security, Politics/Government . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:13 am
I have a private email list that I send to like minded friends. This includes some of the links. For example, why ethanol is not scalable to US energy needs. That is the first link. The second is just making fun of al Gore.
“I am going to try and send out the things I find that debunk al Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truths’ with the real thing.”
“I will concede the planet Earth is warming, but why? Maybe not why al Gore thinks. I believe it is a scam played for control and a type of control that is particularly nasty - domination and elimination of the underpinnings of US strength.”
“Here is the 1st link -”
http://healthandenergy.com/ethanol.htm
“And just for fun…..”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1810754/posts
This one details a really good argument about scalability and the real size of the problem.
“Well, not quite al Gore this time but a really, really good argument against some of the idiocy that is going to gather gov’t dollars in coming years. Den Beste is probably one of the best systems thinkers I have seen in a long time. This one comes from the archives of the USS Clueless. Den Beste is no longer doing political blogging due to personal circumstances. Biodiesel is a ‘dry’ hole so to say. Nice concept for limited applications and in limited circumstances. Judge for yourselves but it simply not scalable.”
http://denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2002/09/Obscureenergysources.shtml
And finally, for now:
“Ouch. That must smart. Another half baked pseudo-scientific theory bites the dust.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/05/nosplit/nwarm05.xml
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Yo, Robohobo !
Everything you say puts down attempts to develope new fuel sources. You must call yourself a ‘progressive’.
Try to think of your glass as one percent FULL.