The Climate Minute

The Climate Minute - What's With Those Tinfoil Hats, Anyway?

Welcome to the links n' stuff version of The Climate Minute, MCAN's weekly climate news and views podcast. This week Rob and Ted talk about the IPCC report, the new EPA regs released moments, MOMENTS!, after Rob and Ted speculated about what might be in them last week, and a pot purri of climate happenings.

Climate Hawk's Companion: Voices from Draw the Line

Yesterday in Providence Rhode Island, a band of concerned citizens marched from the City Hall to the Statehouse demanding an end to the Keystone XL pipeline. The attached “Climate Hawk’s Companion” podcast features discussion with some of the marchers who described why they made the effort to be part of the event. If you want to visualize just how big the tarsands pits really are, check out a recent MCAN blog post. There are great pictures from various “Draw the Line” events across the country collected here. As you tumble through them, the panoramic, ‘fish eye’ lens photo of folks holding hands in the air is from the Rhode Island Statehouse. For Huffington Posts' coverage of Saturday's events, check this out. For more background on the Keystone pipeline, check out our previous posts on the issue here.  One good place to start is our point-by-point refutation of many of the purported "benefits" of the pipeline here. Congratulations to all who attended!

The Climate Minute - Powerplant CO2 Regs and Skeptics Go Wild!

If it's Friday, it's the Climate Minute, your weekly source of climate change related news and views.  Big day as the EPA is about to announce new powerplant CO2 rules, the IPCC report is about to go out next week, and skeptics are going into overdrive... Now for the links: The EPA has just announced their new regulations to address carbon pollution from new powerplants.   As we recorded this podcast we only had advance stories, like those from the New York Times, for those not on board with climate change action: Washington Times, and this story from Canada Free Press which had an interesting mention of a possible $15/ton "fine" for coal plants unable to meet the strict limits.  (Which actually looks a lot like a proto-carbon tax.) Since we recorded (like minutes after we ended), EPA announced their regs, which you can find on this page.  For an audio message from EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, go here. (By the way, did you know only 50 coal plants emit a full 12% of US carbon emissions?  No kidding, check this out.) Naturally all this climate action (IPCC and new powerplant regs) leads to an opposite reaction, and the Skeptics have been busy. First, the House Energy and Commerce Committee had a hearing on the President's climate action which "only" drew two cabinet level witnesses, Gina and Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz.  If you have three hours to kill you can always watch the YouTube video. For the "best and worst" quotes from the hearing, as judged by Grist, go here. Next, our good buddies (sarcasm alert) at the Heartland Institute have launched a bizzaro-world IPCC report, the NIPCC (Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, oh how clever...) "Climate Change Reconsidered II" which, in their words, "uses layman's language to present solid evidence that today's climate changes are well within the bounds of natural variability."  Here's an Inside Climate story about the efforts, and if you're game, here's the report itself.  Does fracking release less methane than EPA has previously estimated?  A study underway by the Environmental Defense Fund, University of Texas, and nine petroleum companies may be leading to that conclusion.  Read more about it on Grist here. Sunday night Al Jazeera America will show Bill McKibben's "Do The Math" documentary at 9:00pm Eastern. This Sunday marks the Autumnal Equinox, and by mid-week days and nights will be equal in New England as we plow ahead toward summer. And finally, our thoughts and prayers are with those in Colorado impacted by the recent floods. Things to Do: For more about 350.org's "Draw the Line Against Keystone" events, and to find one near you, go here.  You can enter your zipcode in the box on the upper left and find an event near you, or create your own event. You can support a great organization while helping to honor an excellent local activist at the Clean Water Action's Annual Benefit party on Saturday, September 21st from 3 to 5pm, where Boston Climate Action's Loie Hayes will be recognized for her tremendous activism on the local level. If you're thinking about changing careers toward something more sustainable, the Fifth annual Green Careers Conference is coming up Thursday, October 3rd, at the Marlboro Holiday Inn. Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long as we reach our fundraising goal.   So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…

The Climate Minute - Is Big Green to Blame for Lack of Climate Action?

Welcome to The Climate Minute, your source of news and views.  This week we take a ook at the little dust-up between Naomi Klein and Joe Romm, discuss hydro-fluorocarbons (HFCs), and indulge boyhood fantasies of electric racecars....

Now for the links:

As I mentioned, we discussed Naomi Klein's interview with Earth Island Journal.  In it she lays some of the lack of real climate action on the "Big Green" groups that try to work with business and end up supporting less-than-paradigm shifting programs (like cap and trade). Here's Grist's coverage of the mini-kerfuffle her comments made, as well as Joe Romm's "take down" of her piece.

Interestingly, Rolling Stone is becoming a reliable source of interesting climate news.  Here's a very good piece explaining the IPCC and what the most recent report will say.  For your amusement, here's a piece they ran back in June compiling the "Top Ten Dumbest Things Ever Said About Global Warming."

For your friends who may have some confusion over weather and climate, here's a nifty video that helps explain the difference between trend and variation:

We briefly discussed recent international agreements to reduce soot carbon and HFCs.  For a full discussion of the importance of these treaties, check out Climate Central's story here.

The only thing I worry about with electric car racing is the lack of the "vroom vroom" sounds.  Will children of the future move their Matchbox cars while making a "hmmm hmmm" or "buzz buzz" noise?

Things to Do:

The Massachusetts updated Bottle Bill will be heard this Tuesday at 1pm in the Gardner Auditorium of the State House.  As we mentioned on the podcast, the Bottle Bill is first an important piece of legislation which will increase recycling and eliminate the incineration of plastic bottles, but is also a great issue to show the leadership of the Massachusetts legislature that the people want action and will not be ignored!

350.org's Bill McKibben will be at Harvard this Tuesday, the 17th also, giving a talk titled "Oil and Honey, Notes from a Rapidly Changing Climate," hosted by the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement.  The event is free, but registration is required.

For more about 350.org's "Draw the Line Against Keystone" events, and to find one near you, go here.  You can enter your zipcode in the box on the upper left and find an event near you, or create your own event.

You can support a great organization while helping to honor an excellent local activist at the Clean Water Action's Annual Benefit party on Saturday, September 21st from 3 to 5pm, where Boston Climate Action's Loie Hayes will be recognized for her tremendous activism on the local level.

There's an interesting event coming to the State House on September 25th.  The 4th Massachusetts Sustainable Economy Conference will take place in the Great Hall, where you can here from speakers such as Alicia Barton of the Mass Clean Energy Center, Steven Clark with the Secretariat of Energy and Environment, and John Kassel, head of the Conservation Law Foundation.  You can learn more and register here.

If you're thinking about changing careers toward something more sustainable, the Fifth annual Green Careers Conference is coming up Thursday, October 3rd, at the Marlboro Holiday Inn.

Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do.

As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog.

When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long as we reach our fundraising goal.  

So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…

The Climate Minute - Divesting, Arctic Ice, and Climate in World Affairs

This Friday the Climate Minute looks to issues global, domestic, and right here around the corner.  Join Rob and Ted from the Pink and Orange Coffeehouse, and follow along to our conversation with the links below. Here's a link to the Scientific American story highlighting the possible climate contribution to the Arab Spring and the events happening today in that part of the world. For a side-by-side comparison of arctic sea ice between any two dates from 1979 to the present, go here, plug in your dates, and hit "submit." The master site has a wide selection of data sets and tools, including a mobile app! For the chart we mentioned which shows the sea ice area flucuations over the years, go here. We're all going to have to start studying up to answer those skeptics who cherry-pick some data out of the next IPCC report and claim that climate change / global warming has "ended."  This Grist piece is a good place to start. For a Republican economist's defense of a carbon tax, check out Harvard Professor Greg Mankiw's article.  Likewise, this Minnesota Public Radio podcast talks about the latest science of climate change in a very accessible way and might be a good thing to send along to your doubtful friends. Annnnd... here's an interesting piece about The Weather Channel's shift to focusing on the climate impacts of weather.  Perhaps you might share it with your favorite television meteorologist? Here's the story about the discovery of Greenland's sub-glacial "Grand Canyon." As Ted mentioned, he found a couple of interesting musical pieces focusing on the Alberta tar sands - here you go: This coming Tuesday, September 10th, there will be a hearing on S. 1225, a carbon divestment bill filed by Senator Ben Downing.  There will be a rally in front of the State House before the hearing, at 9:30.  The legislation would require the state to divest its pension fund in holdings of carbon stocks.  Massachusetts would be the first state in the nation to take this step. (Several major US cities, including San Francisco and Seattle, have already made this commitment.) There's an interesting event coming to the State House on September 25th.  The 4th Massachusetts Sustainable Economy Conference will take place in the Great Hall, where you can here from speakers such as Alicia Barton of the Mass Clean Energy Center, Steven Clark with the Secretariat of Energy and Environment, and John Kassel, head of the Conservation Law Foundation.  You can learn more and register here. If you're thinking about changing careers toward something more sustainable, the Fifth annual Green Careers Conference is coming up Thursday, October 3rd, at the Marlboro Holiday Inn. You can support a great organization while helping to honor an excellent local activist at the Clean Water Action's Annual Benefit party where Boston Climate Action's Loie Hayes will be recognized for her tremendous activism on the local level. Finally, 350.org's Bill McKibben will be at Harvard giving a talk titled "Oil and Honey, Notes from a Rapidly Changing Climate," hosted by the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement.  The event is free, but registration is required. Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long as we reach our fundraising goal.   So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…

The Climate Minute - The Energy Exodus, and Vermont Yankee's Long Goodbye.

If it's Friday it's the Climate Minute, your source of climate news and views from Massachusetts and beyond.  This week Rob and Ted talk about the Energy Exodus march, Vermont Yankee's closing and decommissioning, and naming hurricanes after climate denier politicians. Ted marched on the first day of the Energy Exodus march, and brought along a voice recorder and captured some interviews which we put in a podcast yesterday.

photo by Wen Stephenson

The kick-off was covered in the media, you can check it out here.  In a supremely ironic twist, there was a small diesel spill in New Bedford harbor the same day the march reached that city. In other news, the Vermont Yankee plant will be closing by the end of 2014.  According to this story, the owners will have up to 60 years to fully decommission the plant and remediate the site.  Two generations to clean up the site of a plant that's only run for 40 years! From Vermont, we segued to the arctic ice melt.  Ted found this neat video showing the melt from May to mid-August.  Here's an interesting Slate piece about the quadrupling of commercial sea traffic along Russian's northern coast, made more accessible due to shrinking icecaps. Speaking of videos, here's a touching / funny / serious piece suggesting we stop picking on innocent people names Sandy and Katrina, and begin naming hurricanes after climate change-denying politicians. You can sign their petition at ClimateNameChange.org. Finally, there was a story in the Globe this week highlighting the environmental positions of the candidates for Mayor of Boston.  You can also watch the video below, this is from the forum sponsored by several environmental groups in Boston back in July.  There will be another forum in late October before the final election.

Mayoral Forum from Ken Pruitt on Vimeo.

Likewise, there will be a forum for the candidates for Senator Markey's old congressional seat, which will occur in late September.  Keep tuned in for more details! Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long we reach our fundraising goal.  We’re three quarters of the way there, can you help? So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…

Climate Hawk's Companion: Voices from the Energy Exodus march

Ted McIntyre, MCAN's Board President, took part in the first day of the Energy Exodus march yesterday, and talked to a number of people during the 10 mile first leg. His first discussion is with Mike, who is with the Polluters Pay Initiative, a group pushing for a price on carbon. Next he spoke with Shanti, who is a part of Climate Action Now, a central and western Massachusetts group.  Shanti has marched all over the world for climate action, and lives his beliefs in Sirius, an eco-village in Shutesbury. Alex, a young man who has lived in Guatemala and has worked in sustainable development through the Social Entrepreneur Corps.  Quite a bit of life experience for someone who just graduated from college only last year! Carolyn, from Mendon, is marching because we need to do something to change government policy to ensure a sustainable future.  She speaks about "Mothers Out Front," a group of mothers taking action to ensure their children a future. A young Quaker, Catherine, speaks about her work within her faith to activate people on climate change, while Jordan talks about the greenhouse gas impacts of not only coal, but also the false promise of natural gas. Ted caught up with Turner, who is mad!  Particularly with the fossil fuel industry and their pursuit of profit in complete disregard for the fate of the planet.  Turner and Ted talk about divestment, a growing movement in the climate world. Alex from Ipswich is a student who's fed up with the lack of political action, and realizes people must take action now to show political leaders the way. Thanks to all the folks who allowd themselves to be taped.  The march will be going until next Monday, so there's still time for folks to take part.  Again, for more information, go to the Energy Exodus site here. Thanks for listening, and remember: for the reasons all these folks mentioned, the United States must put a price on carbon.

The Climate Minute - IPCC leaks, safe cars, and Barack Obama: number one coal dealer.

Good morning, and welcome to the Climate Minute for August 23rd, 2013.  Rob and Ted come at you "live" from the Pink and Orange coffeehouse talking about the latest leaks about the next IPCC report, whither sunspots, and is it even worth talking to deniers? We start this week talking about the recent spate of leaks of the latest version of the IPCC 5th Assessment Report. The report is notable in that it ups the degree of certainty it reports that human activities are contributing to climate change, from 90% in the last (2007) assessment, to 95%.  That link is to a ThinkProgress piece that highlights several troubling aspects of the report. For the short attention span types (like me), here's a Washington Post story with "Ten Nuggets Worth Knowing" about the leaked report. Of course as a former college professor of mine loved to say, where you stand depends upon where you sit, and the skeptic community was over-the-moon pulling isolated parts of the report out of context.  For those with strong stomaches and advanced BS-meters, here's Watt's Up With That?'s take on the report. One of the things the tinfoil hat bridge (I'm sorry, feeling particularly snarky today...) likes to tout is the impact of change in solar output effects climate.  Okay, first: duh.   The sun has a large impact on our environment.  But even if you want to by in to the "solar minimum" argument that we are entering an extended solar minimum (a period with few sunspots), at best that *temporary* solar change will only serve to give a brief respite from even higher temperatures. Some folks were even trotting out a recent study that we could be entering a new "Grand Solar Minimum" period like that which coincided with the "little ice age" of the 17th and 18th century.  Facts however must intrude; even those doing the study suggest that the impact of a solar minimum, even a grand one, could mean little more than .3 degree of cooling.  And again, it would be temporary -- unlike the CO2 we're pumping into the atmosphere which could be there for centuries. We talked a bit about the futility or necessity to spread the climate message to non-believers, the skeptics.  Dave Roberts expresses his frustration with attempts to reach out to the right here, and feels that maybe it's just reached the point where some folks are just about unreachable.  Ted is very sympathetic to this position.  Rob, however, is ever the optimist and falls in line with HuffPost's Kate Sheppard, and thinks that you can still talk to deniers, you just need to find that common ground, and maybe that means not using the "c" word. (And here's Dave Roberts' post on what is a "Climate Hawk.")  We wish Dave all the best on his sabbatical, and look forward to an energized and rested Mr. Roberts when he comes back. While talking about values, this MIT Technology Review piece about the moral responsibility to act on climate change, and how a positive narrative can make a huge difference in advocacy. Now.  Dealing with deniers is one thing, what do you do with the people who believe as you do, who do the "wrong" thing? Exhibit A: The Bureau of Land Management is about to auction off up to 316 tons of coal under public lands in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.  As it turns out, 42 percent of all coal mined in this country comes from public lands.  How does this square with the President's speech back in June? Exhibit B: BLM is also finalizing regulations to regulate fracking on public lands.  Never mind how tough the regs are (and, as usual, industry is howling); should this administration which has declared war on climate change allow fracking at all? For a scintillating read about the "flow battery" and its potential as a utility-scale battery, read Electrical Engineering Times' piece here. (And if Ted the nuclear physicist doesn't really understand how this battery works, you can imagine how Rob the political science major's head exploded trying to read the piece...) [caption id="attachment_3496" align="alignright" width="377"] But Honey, it's safer than a Volvo![/caption]

Thanks to the good folks at Tesla, they've just given me a little more ammunition in my efforts to have my spouse let me get a nifty Tesla S.  The model S has just scored the highest score every on crash safety testing!

There are a couple of interesting things coming up next week in the area.

First, Iowa State Senator is doing a book tour supporting his new book, “America’s Climate Century,” and will be in Brookline the evening of the 26th.  Here’s our calendar entry with all of his New England stops. Remember, for climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. We’re just a week and a half away from the Energy Exodus march from coal (Brayton) to wind (the shores of Cape Cod). The march will start on August 28th and go through the weekend to September 2nd and will cover about 60 miles across southcoast Massachusetts.  Walkers will be doing 10-12 miles a day, with stops along the way.  For more info and to sign-up go to their website here. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long we reach our fundraising goal.  We’re three quarters of the way there, can you help? So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…

What is Passive House? A Climate Hawk's Companion

Summertime is perfect for catching up on stuff, so here's a repost of a Climate Hawk's Companion episode we did back in February discussing the building practice known as "Passive House."

Here's the original blog from January:

In this edition of the Climate Hawk’s Companion we discuss the building method known as Passive house, or passivehouse, or passivhaus.

Passive House (Passiv Haus in German!) is a method of building houses that cuts energy usage by more than 80%. How? The simplest answer is to build an air-tight building, but then invent an air exchanger that both provides fresh air and transfers the warmth from the outgoing air to the incoming air.

In this edition of “A Climate Hawk’s Companion” we talk to Fred Gordon, a passionate advocate for the Passive House movement. Fred is so passionate, he is building one of the largest Passive House designs in the country in the South End of Boston at the Distillery.

Listen as Fred talks about Passive House and his interesting perspective on this exciting architectural movement.

…Ted McIntyre

P.S. Yes it is true! The Massachusetts Constitution is the oldest written constitution in the world. Wikipedia says so!

The Climate Minute - Natural Gas, the gangplank fuel...

It's a beautiful August friday, and Ted and Rob are back together again after a bit of vacationing. Well, we were full of natural gas (talk) today.  There's a crude joke in there, but we will refrain, this is after all a serious podcast.  So as you listen to today's podcast, here are some links to enrich your knowledge and understanding, and hopefully mine a couple of nuggets of information to provide your family and friends. Anthony Ingraffia, a professor of civil engineering at Cornell who also helped develop fracking techniques for the Department of Energy, wrote the article which inspired our title, "Gangplank to a Warm Future," for the New York Times.  It's an eye-opener of a read. We discussed the dramatically increased output of the Marcellus Shale gas fields.  You can read more about that here. You can listen to the conversation with Jeremy Rifkin where he talks about the next industrial revolution which will be powered with distributed renewable energy.  (Just make sure to go there after you finish listening to our podcast!) Here are some of the stories about the "Green Tea Party," (here, and here) the alliance of Tea Party and environmentalist groups in George fighting the large power monopoly keeping distributed renewable energy from the people. Kudos to the five institutions receiving Clean Energy Education grants which were awarded by the Mass Clean Energy Center this week.  You can learn more about them here. Finally, the Falmouth turbines are in the news again, this time due to discussions at the Board of Selectmen about how long they should run.  You can read more about this at the Southcoast Today site. Chris Hayes's "The Politics of Power" runs on MSNBC tonight at 8pm.  You can catch a sneak peak of it here. Boston's Greenfest is going through Saturday.  Find out more about what you can do and see there at their website. For more information on the film "Elemental" playing at Boston Common AMC Loews this Wednesday night, you can read more and sign up for tickets here. Iowa State Senator is doing a book tour supporting his new book, "America's Climate Century," and will be in Brookline the evening of the 26th.  Here's our calendar entry with all of his New England stops. Remember, for climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. We're just a week and a half away from the Energy Exodus march from coal (Brayton) to wind (the shores of Cape Cod). The march will start on August 28th and go through the weekend to September 2nd and will cover about 60 miles across southcoast Massachusetts.  Walkers will be doing 10-12 miles a day, with stops along the way.  For more info and to sign-up go to their website here. As always, it's been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long we reach our fundraising goal.  We're three quarters of the way there, can you help? So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…