Secretive donors gave US climate denial groups $125m over three years

It is pretty clear to me that the globe is warming!  Vast majority of scientists around the world agree.  Most of the governments in the Western world agree and are taking steps to mitigate it.  However progress against global warming has been slowed by the lack of action taken by the world's largest polluting country, the United States.

It is human nature that before we take any action that we believe might be difficult, we want to make sure there is no reasonable doubt that it is the correct action, and that there are no other "easy alternatives" to solve the problem.  To stop, or slow down the effects of global warming will require significant investment and tightening of our carbon diet.  So before national leaders take those actions, they want to make sure that global warming is happening, and that the investments that will be made will be successful.

Seeds of doubt can poison, or stagnate any decision.  An article (by Suzanne Goldenberg and Helena Bengtsson) in "The Guardian" today reported that some "secretive donors" have donated $125M to pay a bunch of seemingly "independent think tanks" to promote those "seeds of doubt."



Secretive donors gave US climate denial groups $125m over three years | Environment | The Guardian



It appears that the funds were effective in that the findings from these several "right-wing" think tanks gave the appearance of independent thought.  Their pronouncements were presented by the press as "equal" to the global warming advocates, so they effectively stopped important legislation.  A very small investment was able to pay off, for the anti-global warming group.  I have very little respect for scientists who publish information they know is incorrect just to get paid.  However, I someone came to me and offered to pay me a million dollars to publish some technical lies, it would certainly be tempting!   So it might be easy to get 125 scientists to write BS with $125 million!



These reported payments have only been for a three year period, however I suspect that the payments have been made, in one way or another, to these organizations, and others, for as long as 20 years.  The funds are clearly linked, in some way, to the coal industry, which has something to lose in the long run if actions are taken to slow global warming.  The source of the funds is still anonymous, but I think there would be little doubt that the source of the funds is the Koch Brothers.

How could climate change affect North County coastline? | UTSanDiego.com

On May 3, 2015 Barbara Henry reported in the San Diego Union Tribune reported on the meetings that Carlsbad, Del Mar, Oceanside, Solana Beach, and Encinita had to discuss the problems of rising sea levels in North San Diego County..

How could climate change affect North County coastline? | UTSanDiego.com

The Cities are trying to obtain Federal funds to study the problem of rising oceans and then start to think about mitigating the rising water. Two cities, Carlsbad and Del Mar have received grant money, but the other three cities are still trying to get funds. The studies are supposed to be completed by April 2017, although FEMA has a study which should be completed sooner.  Yes, each city does have unique situations that may require specialized solutions over the long haul.  But, it seem to me that any solution for Carlsbad and Del Mar would be almost directly applicable to similar portions of the other three cities.  All of the cities have lagoons, railroad bridges, beaches and cliffs.

It seems very inefficient for each city, or even small group of cities to try to plan for rising sea levels, which we know are happening. Whatever the Cities decide to do will need approval from the Coastal Commission. Each city will have to do it one at a time, involving immense amounts of legal expense.  Yes, the Commission, per its charter, must balance public access, protection of the environment, public recreation along with protection of public and private property along the coast.  However it certainly doesn't make sense to get each city's plan, or each property owner's plan approved using the current adversarial approach with the Commision.

The right answer is for the California Coastal Commission to step up to the task of defining an overall vision for what should be done to protect our coast and coastal assets. After they develop the vision, they should develop approved standards for design and construction that, if followed, can be automatically approved by the Commission. The Commission's standards should take into account coastal access, environmental protection as well as appearance, life-cycle-cost, and protection of property during 100 yr storms or floods.  As it is now, anyone who makes any attempt to protect their property will be forced to pay significant fees and file complex applications for "coastal permits."  As part of the process, each applicant will be treated as a perpetrator of a crime, guilty until proven innocent, and forced to pay some sort of "ransom" (for example a million dollars in sand mitigation fees) in order to gain permission to protect their property. If the Commission doesn't step up to the task, our State Legislature should pass a law tasking the Commission to do it.

Additional articles on the subject:

https://thecoastnews.com/blog/2014/12/subcommittee-will-look-at-effects-of-sea-level-rise-on-encinitas/

Below is the Encinitas Committee Information

SEA LEVEL RISE SUBCOMMITTEE
Appointed Council Members: Tony Kranz, Lisa Shaffer
The City Council Sea Level Rise Subcommittee is comprised of Council Members Lisa Shaffer, Tony Kranz , City Staff, representatives from the city's Environmental Commission as well as representatives from neighboring North County Coastal Cities. The purpose of the subcommittee is to consider challenges from sea level rise and to develop a comprehensive strategy for addressing the impacts of sea level rise and other environmental threats in Encintias, particularly in Cardiff where Coast highway 101 is especially vulnerable. Bluff Erosion and opportunities to coordinate with the San Elijo Lagoon Restoration Project will also be explored.
Meetings:

April 30, 2015, 3:30-5:30 p.m. Workshop
Agenda (PDF)
Summary Report
Flip Chart Notes

Earth may have underground 'ocean' three times that on surface | Science | theguardian.com

This article in Guardian points out that there still is a lot we don't know about our earth.  Maybe there is something we can do to interact with the underground water to help mitigate global warming and improve the quality of life of earth's inhabitants.

Earth may have underground 'ocean' three times that on surface | Science | theguardian.com:



"After decades of searching scientists have discovered that a vast reservoir of water, enough to fill the Earth’s oceans three times over, may be trapped hundreds of miles beneath the surface, potentially transforming our understanding of how the planet was formed.

The water is locked up in a mineral called ringwoodite about 660km (400 miles) beneath the crust of the Earth, researchers say. Geophysicist Steve Jacobsen from Northwestern University in the US co-authored the study published in the journal Science and said the discovery suggested Earth’s water may have come from within, driven to the surface by geological activity, rather than being deposited by icy comets hitting the forming planet as held by the prevailing theories.

“Geological processes on the Earth’s surface, such as earthquakes or erupting volcanoes, are an expression of what is going on inside the Earth, out of our sight,” Jacobsen said.

“I think we are finally seeing evidence for a whole-Earth water cycle, which may help explain the vast amount of liquid water on the surface of our habitable planet. Scientists have been looking for this missing deep water for decades.”

Jacobsen and his colleagues are the first to provide direct evidence that there may be water in an area of the Earth’s mantle known as the transition zone. They based their findings on a study of a vast underground region extending across most of the interior of the US.

Ringwoodite acts like a sponge due to a crystal structure that makes it attract hydrogen and trap water.

If just 1% of the weight of mantle rock located in the transition zone was water it would be equivalent to nearly three times the amount of water in our oceans, Jacobsen said.

The study used data from the USArray, a network of seismometers across the US that measure the vibrations of earthquakes, combined with Jacobsen’s lab experiments on rocks simulating the high pressures found more than 600km underground.

It produced evidence that melting and movement of rock in the transition zone – hundreds of kilometres down, between the upper and lower mantles – led to a process where water could become fused and trapped in the rock.

The discovery is remarkable because most melting in the mantle was previously thought to occur at a much shallower distance, about 80km below the Earth’s surface.

Jacobsen told the New Scientist that the hidden water might also act as a buffer for the oceans on the surface, explaining why they have stayed the same size for millions of years. "If [the stored water] wasn't there, it would be on the surface of the Earth, and mountaintops would be the only land poking out," he said."



'via Blog this'

Natural Gas Cars --will it catch on in the US?

After seeing how Thailand has fully incorporated natural gas into their transportation system, It seems that the United States, with it's large natural gas resources could also easily switch a lot of our transportation system over to natural gas.  This NY Times article is a good description of the current situation.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/10/30/automobiles/natural-gas-waits-for-its-moment.html

Climate engineering ideas no longer considered pie in the sky - latimes.com

I've always thought there is a chance the world could work together to mitigate global warming and control climate.  It will take a lot of science, a lot of modeling, and, of course a lot of money and resources.  However I think the total amount of resources expended to mitigate global warming might be less than the cost of the damage that might be done.



Climate engineering ideas no longer considered pie in the sky - latimes.com:



The sad thing is that work and even discussion of climate engineering is somewhat suppressed because of the fear that even a "slight" hope that science could rescue the world from global warming would significantly reduce the minimal efforts the world is making to reduce production of greenhouse gasses.

Spot the Differences in New IPCC Report | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network

Here is a good summary of the IPCC report that describes the global warming science in a concise fashion and easy to read.
Spot the Differences in New IPCC Report | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network:

CLIMATE SPARKS POLITICAL WAR OVER FACT, SCIENCE | UTSanDiego.com

It amazes me that a few misguided billionaires could continue to suppress science for their own personal gain. 
CLIMATE SPARKS POLITICAL WAR OVER FACT, SCIENCE | UTSanDiego.com:

Several decades from now people will look back on this era and wonder why didn't relatively smart people take some action?  Lives will be lost, massive amounts of property will be destroyed.  It could have been prevented, and the impact mitigated.

We now look back at the Holocaust and wonder why didn't the Pope, the US President, the leaders in Europe, and the relatively smart people in Germany stop it.  They each had it within their power to stop it--but didn't.   Why?  A few powerful individuals profited from it.