Signs From Earth

Coal Comes Back (via @bloombergnews @washingtonpost)

Coal, Illinois. Photo from Creative Commons by Istorija/flickr

Washington Post: Coal's Comeback

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/30/AR2010103000364.html

John Lippert and Mario Parker: "...In an age obsessed with global warming and green energy, coal - a combustible rock that has generated heat for humanity for 5,000 years and still conjures up images of black lung disease and the England of Charles Dickens - is staging a defiant comeback...."

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What is a "native species" in a changing climate? (via @jarsciencenews)

Javelinas or peccaries, New Mexico. Though North American natives, they seek cooler habitat further north. Camera trap photo from Creative Commons by J.N. Stuart/flickr

Science News: When To Welcome ‘invading’ Species

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/64704/title/When_to_welcome_‘invading’_species

Janet Raloff: "...What’s native? Species move at will as conditions change. What’s native in one century may be gone five generations later. Newly arrived species, meanwhile, may be environmental refugees...."

"...(National Park Service Director Jon) Jarvis was driving down the southern rim of Grand Canyon National Park, a few months ago, when a group of piglike peccaries -- also known as javelinas -- crossed the road  in front of him. The park's superintendent volunteered to Jarvis that "javelinas didn't used to be here." Although an American native, these animals are moving into novel, more northerly locations, Jarvis observes. "And I think this is going to be true for a lot of species...."

also see: Climate Study: Plants & animals must move more than 1/4 mile per year as habitats shift up and north (via @naturenews etal)

http://ddimick.posterous.com/climate-study-plants-and-animals-must-move-14

also see: Climate Adaptation for Seeds: Botanists Debate Benefits of Assisted Migration (via @nytimes)

http://ddimick.posterous.com/climate-adaptation-for-seeds-botanists-debate

also see: Study: Climate change driving major vegetation shifts worldwide (via @ucberkelynews from @wileyscience) 

http://ddimick.posterous.com/study-climate-change-driving-major-vegetation

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How Much Should the Public Know About Climate Science? (via @climateprogress)

Climate scientist Richard Somerville with an editorial comment (open access) in the journal Climatic Change:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/n31866651q820822/

PDF: http://www.springerlink.com/content/n31866651q820822/fulltext.pdf

Climate Progress: Richard Somerville editorial

http://climateprogress.org/2010/10/29/richard-somerville-climate-science/

Richard J. Somerville: http://www.richardsomerville.com/

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Bisecting Biodiversity: Planned Serengeti Highway Will Divide Tanzania Park (via @nytimes)

Serengeti North Road Project: Map of Serengeti Ecosystem and proposed road from Frankfurt Zoological Society, link below

New York Times: Tanzania Road Plan in Serengeti Offers Prospects and Fears 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/world/africa/31serengeti.html?hp

Jeffrey Gettleman: "...the Great Migration...is widely considered one of the most spectacular assemblies of animal life on the planet.

"But how much longer it will stay that way is another matter. Tanzania's president, Jakaya Kikwete, plans to build a national highway straight through the Serengeti park, bisecting the migration route and possibly sending a thick stream of overloaded trucks and speeding buses through the traveling herds...."

PDF: Frankfurt Zoological Society: The Serengeti North Road Project

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/SerengetiRoad_Presentation.pdf

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Food Security: On eve of summit FAO says agriculture needs to become 'climate-smart' (via @faonews)

Salvaging rice from flooded fields, Pakistan, October 2010. Photo from Creative Commons by Caroline Gluck/Oxfam/flickr

http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/46865/icode/

UN Food and Agriculture Organization published a paper October 28 on the need for global agriculture to reform its practices in the face of rising population, and shifting environmental conditions such as extreme weather (e.g. Pakistan floods in 2010, above and below) and climate change.

Link to PDF: "Climate-Smart" Agriculture: Policies, Practices, and Financing for Food Security, Adaptation, and Mitigation

http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/newsroom/docs/the-hague-conference-fao-paper.pdf

The paper was issued in advance of a global conference on agriculture, food security and climate change in the Hague starting Oct. 31:

http://www.afcconference.com/

Other conference papers from IFPRI and World Bank are here:

http://www.afcconference.com/conference-papers

Recommended reading for Conference:

http://www.afcconference.com/recommended-publications

FAO & Climate Blog

http://faoclimatechange.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/feeding-the-world-in-a-changing-climate/

Roads and fields still flooded in Pakistan Oct. 2010 three months after the floods of summer. Photo from Creative Commons by Caroline Gluck/Oxfam/flickr

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Thomas Lovejoy on Saving the World’s Biodiversity (via loe.org)

http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00044&segmentID=1

Thomas Lovejoy: Living One Earth Radio October 29, 2010:

Host Bruce GELLERMAN: I heard that we are losing more species today then have ever been lost since the time of the dinosaurs.

Thomas LOVEJOY: That's true and it certainly true in the history of our own species. So, the last time that there was a massive extinction on earth was when the dinosaurs exited. If we keep on the trends that we're on, we'll be basically creating the same kind of scenario...."

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Rare Earth: After China Embargo, a New Calculus (via @nytimes)

Mountain Pass, California, site of largest rare earth mine in US. Photo from Wikimedia Creative Commons by Plazak.

After China's Rare Earth Embargo, a New Calculus (via @nytimes)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/business/global/30rare.html

Keith Bradsher: "...(China) currently controls most of the globe's rare earths supply not just because of geologic good fortune, although there is some of that, but because the country has been willing to do dirty, toxic and often radioactive work that the rest of the world has long shunned.

"Despite producing 95 percent of the world's rare earths, China has only 37 percent of the world's proven reserves. Sizable deposits are known to exist in the United States, Canada, Australia, India and Brazil, among other places..."

"...The only American rare earths mine, the Molycorp complex at Mountain Pass, Calif., was at one time the world's leading producer. That was before it leaked faintly radioactive fluid into the nearby desert in the late 1990s, causing a costly cleanup that contributed to the mine's closing in 2002...."

The dominant US source of rare earth minerals is in California: Mountain Pass Mine

http://geology.csupomona.edu/drjessey/fieldtrips/mtp/mtnpass.htm

Washington Independent, 10/25/10: Mountain Pass MIne: Troubled mine holds hope for U.S rare earth industry

http://washingtonindependent.com/101462/california-mine-represents-hope-and-peril-for-u-s-rare-earth-industry

USGS: Rare Earths Minerals and Information

http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/rare_earths/

Wikipedia: Rare Earth Elements

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element

Global Production of Rare Earth Oxides 1950-2000 via Wikimedia Creative Commons

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U.S. Says Genes Should Not Be Eligible for Patenting (via @nytimes)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/business/30drug.html

 Andrew Pollack: "Reversing a longstanding policy, the federal government said on Friday that human and other genes should not be eligible for patents because they are part of nature. The new position could have a huge impact on medicine and on the biotechnology industry...."

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2010 Russian Heat Wave in Historical Perspective (via @climatecentral @heidicullen)

"Probability of June, July and August average temperature anomalies in Moscow, Russia since 1950. This image shows that the average temperature in Moscow for summer 2010 was significantly hotter than in any year since 1950. Credit: Claudia Tebaldi and Remik Ziemlinksi."

http://climatecentral.org/breaking/blog/historical_perspective_on_the_russian_heat_wave_of_2010

Heidi Cullen and Claudia Tebaldi: "...As climate scientists continue to study the underlying dynamics of this extreme heat event in order to better understand the extent to which human-caused climate change may have played a role, we wanted to put the Russian heat wave of 2010 into historical context. With that in mind, we collected temperature data from Moscow for July 2010 as well as summer (June through August 2010) and compared it to every year since 1950. (Our analysis is similar to that employed by Schaer et. al in their 2004 Nature paper).

"We sought an answer to the question: how significant was the departure of the 2010 values from the typical summer temperature in Moscow?..."

Climate Central: The Russian Heatwave of 2010: Summer Temperatures

http://climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/how_unusual_was_the_russian_heat_wave_of_2010_summer_temperatures

Nature: Schaer etal, 2004: The role of increasing temperature variability in European summer heatwaves

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v427/n6972/abs/nature02300.html

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Long Wait: Gasoline Queue in Iran, Oct. 2010 (via @youtube @johnrobb)

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Scientists Spar with Palm Oil Advocates (via @revkin @dotearth)

Palm Plantation, Sarawak, 2009. Photo from Creative Commons by Wakx/flickr

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/scientists-spar-with-defender-of-palm-oil-and-pulp-firms/

Andrew Revkin: "A dozen scientists focused on the diversity and health of tropical forests released a letter this week describing what they say are deceptive statements made by two groups working on behalf of palm oil, timber and pulp interests..."

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Heights of Conspicuous Consumption (via @globalpost @nytimes)

The 27-story Mumbai house of Mukesh Ambani, soon to be occupied by five people. Photo from Creative Commons by Jay Hariani/flickr

Global Post: "Behind India's Conspicuous Consumption" (via @globalpost)

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/india/101028/mumbai-economy-conspicuous-consumption-mukesh-ambani

Hannah Inger Win: "In a city where the majority of people lives in slums, the world's fourth-richest man has built a 27-floor house."

"It is an act most global media outlets have touted as a symbol of India's robust economy on the upswing..."

"But inside India, the response has been more varied..." 

New York Times: "Soaring Above India's Poverty, a 27-story Home" (via @nytimes)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/world/asia/29mumbai.html

Jim Yardley: "The newest and most exclusive residential tower for this city's superrich is a cantilevered sheath of steel and glass soaring 27 floors into the sky. The parking garage fills six levels. Three helipads are on the roof. There are terraces upon terraces, airborne swimming pools and hanging gardens in a Blade Runner-meets-Babylon edifice overlooking India's most dynamic city.

"There are nine elevators, a spa, a 50-seat theater and a grand ballroom. Hundreds of servants and staff are expected to work inside. And now, finally, after several years of planning and construction, the residents are about to move in.

"All five of them...."

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Food, People, and Energy (via @foreignaffairs_ @CFR )

For those interested in sustainability issues, three articles on food production, population demographics, and clean energy in the Nov. - Dec. 2010 issue of Foreign Affairs:

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/issues/2010/89/6

The Fertile Continent: Africa, Agriculture's Final Frontier 

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/66827/roger-thurow/the-fertile-continent

Roger Thurow: "With one billion people already going hungry and the world's population rising, global food production must urgently be increased. The countries that managed such surges in the past -- Brazil, China, India, the United States -- cannot do so again. But Africa can -- if it finally uses the seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation methods common everywhere else."

The Demographic Future: What Population Growth - And Decline - Means for the Global Economy

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/66805/nicholas-eberstadt/the-demographic-future

Nicholas Eberstadt: "Global demographics in the twenty-first century will be defined by steep declines in fertility rates. Many countries will see their populations shrink and age. But relatively high fertility rates and immigration levels in the United States, however, may mean that it will emerge with a stronger hand."

Globalizing the Energy Revolution: How to Really Win the Clean-Energy Race

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/66864/michael-levi-elizabeth-c-economy-shannon-oneil-and-adam-segal/globalizing-the-energy-revolution

Michael Levi, Elizabeth C. Economy, Shannon O'Neil, and Adam Segal: "Clean-energy technology is expensive and the United States is spending far too little on developing it. The U.S. government must do more to promote cross-border innovation and protect intellectual property rights."

Council on Foreign Affairs

http://www.cfr.org/

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Seeking Energy Efficiency's "Live Strong" Symbol (via @arielhs @fastcompany @frogdesign )

Oct. 27, 2010: Energy ThinkIn @frogdesign, Photo from Creative Commons by AlphaChimpStudio/flickr

Fast Company: Frog Design's Energy ThinkIn Searches for Energy Efficiency's "Live Strong" Symbol

http://www.fastcompany.com/1698713/frog-designs-energy-thinkin-searches-for-energy-efficiencys-live-strong-symbol

Ariel Schwartz: "Energy efficiency is a popular concept with an image problem. The conservation movement has the World Wildlife Fund's panda, the cancer fighting movement has Lance Armstrong's "Live Strong" bracelets, and energy efficiency has ... the Energy Star logo? That's not much of a rallying point, which is why Frog Design organized an Energy ThinkIn this past week--..."

Frog design: Energy ThinkIn

http://thinkin.frogdesign.com/

Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative

http://smartgridcc.org/

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Science and the Minnesota "weather bomb" (via @salon @koxinga21 & @NASA_EO)

Storm over center of the United States, October 26, 2010. Image: NASA, link below

http://www.salon.com/news/global_warming/index.html?story=/tech/htww/2010/10/28/weather_bomb_land_hurricane

Andrew Leonard: The gales of November came early on Lake Superior this year. Who could have predicted it?

NASA Earth Observatory: Strong Extratropical Cyclone over US Midwest

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=46662

National Weather Service Duluth Office: The North American Extratropical Cyclone of October 26-27, 2010

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dlh/?n=101026_extratropicallow

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