Nobel Peace Prize winner to speak in Brighton

Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Henry Pollack will speak at the Crossroads Sierra Club meeting at the Brighton District Library on Wednesday March 17 on the pressing problem of global climate change, and the public is invited to listen and meet one of the world’s leading experts on the temperature of the Earth.

Dr. Pollack shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former vice president fellow member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Al Gore. Pollack has been a professor of geophysics at the University of Michigan for more than 40 years, travels regularly to Antarctica and has conducted scientific research on all seven continents.

The Ann Arbor resident is also the author of “A World Without Ice” and “Uncertain Science . . . Uncertain World.” He now serves as a science adviser to Al Gore’s Climate Project.

Everyone is welcome to the event that begins at 7 p.m. The Brighton District Library is located at 100 Library Drive, 48116.

Republicans root against American technology and know how

LANSING – The recent snow storm has led to a rash of ridiculous right-wing jokes about global warming from global warming deniers, like Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-OK, who is making a dig deal out of his family building an igloo on the National Mall and calling it “Al Gore’s New Home.”

They should look up the difference between weather and climate, as well as that climate change means just that. It will lead to unstable and unusual weather occurrences and more severe weather, exactly what we are seeing. Scientists have been warning for decades that global warming would increase the severity of winter storms, and those in Washington, D.C. are seeing that.

But the reaction yesterday from a certain Michigan Senator, who shall remain nameless to protect me, on the Senate floor was perhaps the most outrageous. He was gleefully talking about the wind turbines in Minnesota freezing in place. Rightwing blogs and other climate change deniers have also been all over this.

“Oops, so much for electricity in Anoka, Chaska, and other communities in that part of Minnesota,” he said. “Eleven wind turbines frozen in place. Oops, so much for wind turbines versus coal-based electric generation. It all has to do with a media mandate. Renewable Portfolio Standard? Oops, no electricity.”

Unbelievable.

You will recall that a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) mandates that a certain amount of power be generated by a renewable source. There are lots of new energy sources out there, but they are all, at least for now, more expensive than pollution-filled fossil fuels. The purpose of an RPS is to create a demand for alternative fuel sources. In 2008 the Michigan Legislator adopted an RPS mandating that 7 percent of a power company's supply to consumers is generated from renewable fuel sources by 2015. It was so ridiculously low as to make it almost useless.

I’m just amazed at the short-sightedness of climate change deniers, despite the majority of the world’s scientists in agreement that global warming is occurring.

Even if they want to hang on to that debunked belief, what good will come from continuing to spew pollution into the air and water?

How about national security? We invaded a sovereign country over oil, and for the U.S. to remain a world power, we will need reliable fuel sources. Fossil fuels will disappear soon, or they will be too expensive to get out of the ground. Why let a Third World country with oil reserves hold us hostage?

I’m also appalled that a Michigan Senator thinks so little of American technology and know-how that he cheers for its failure. We put a man on the moon more than 40 years ago, but a Senator thinks we don’t have the technology to make the U.S. energy independent?

This is also a new industry. I guess he believes the Wright Brothers should have given up on powered flight because it only lasted for only 12 seconds? Or that we should have given up on the space program when the Apollo 1 spacecraft caught fire and burned, killing the crew of three during a training exercise on the launch pad in 1967? That’s a lot more serious than a wind turbine freezing, but the future of alternative is even more important to the long-term health of the U.S. than putting a man on the moon.

The only regret I have is that the majority of wind turbines are being made in China and not the U.S., which may surpass us as a superpower based on their work and research on alternative and renewable fuel sources.

Climate change deniers have more to distort to deny a scientific fact

Global climate change deniers have some more evidence to deny the scientific fact of man-made climate change after climate scientists blew the whistle on themselves.

In a front page AP story in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus on Thursday that did not appear in the online version, errors were discovered in a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N.-affiliated body. “All the mistakes appear in a subsection that suggests glaciers in the Himalayas could melt away by the year 2035” instead of 2350, that number was apparently transposed as 2035.

The mistakes were found not by climate change deniers, but by climate scientists themselves, including one who is an IPCC co-author. “The climate panel and even the scientist who publicized the errors said they are not significant in comparison to the entire report, nor were they intentional. And they do not negate the fact that worldwide, glaciers are melting faster than ever.”

Here is the bottom line people like right-wing radio host Frank Beckman will ignore, “However, a number of scientists, including some critics of the IPCC, said the mistakes do not invalidate the main conclusion that global warming is without a doubt man-made and a threat.”

The errors were found in a half-page section of the Asia chapter in the 838 page report.

"It is a very shoddily written section," said Graham Cogley, a professor of geography and glaciers at Trent University in Peterborough, Canada, who brought the error to everyone's attention. "It wasn't copy-edited properly."

Still, Cogley said: "I'm convinced that the great bulk of the work reported in the IPCC volumes was trustworthy and is trustworthy now as it was before the detection of this mistake." The AP said “a number of scientists pointed out that at the end of the day, no one is disputing the Himalayan glaciers are shrinking.”

This mistake comes just a few months after climate change deniers jumped on 13 years of stolen personal emails to take one word out of context and ignore all the data from other agencies, like NASA, to make their case that climate change is a hoax.

Rogers continues to deny the fact that global warming is a fact on behalf of Big Oil masters

After some nine years of Mike Rogers in Congress, the only thing we know for sure about the Brighton Republican is that he toes the GOP line until its no longer popular to dos so. His press release on the stolen emails from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia that critics have dubiously claimed undermine the scientific consensus on climate change is just one more example.

Rogers backed every single Bush position until the approval ratings of the worst president in U.S. history plunged like a rock, and Rogers abandoned him like a rat from a sinking ship. Now, he has sunk to the role of just criticizing and blocking every solution to the problems his party created.

His press release printed almost verbatim in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus is parroting the rightwing lie that global warming is a hoax. “He joined fellow congressional Republicans who raised questions about leaked e-mails from the researchers.”

First, they were not “leaked e-mails” they were stolen. Global warming deniers are basically taking one word out of context among 13 years of personal emails to prove their point. They ignore all the data from other agencies, like NASA, to make their case.

For years, thousands of scientists working at climate research centers throughout the world have carefully and rigorously reached a consensus on the extent of climate change, the urgency of the problem, and the role of human activity in causing it. A few distorted e-mail exchanges do not change that consensus.

In fact, last month Gavin Schmidt, a climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, supported that claim: "There's nothing in the e-mails that shows that global warming is a hoax. ... There's no funding by nefarious groups. There's no politics in any of these things; nobody from the [United Nations] telling people what to do. There's nothing hidden, no manipulation. It's just scientists talking about science, and they're talking relatively openly as people in private e-mails generally are freer with their thoughts than they would be in a public forum. The few quotes that are being pulled out [are out] of context. People are using language used in science and interpreting it in a completely different way."

Rogers is a very good friend of big oil, and, in fact, he voted against ending taxpayer-funded subsidies for Big Oil and creating a Strategic Energy and Renewables Reserve. Is it any surprise he is a global warming denier? The right-wing groups leading the charge in attacking the science are the same old Big Oil-backed naysayers and their allies in Congress -like Rogers- who have been attacking climate science and fighting clean energy for decades.

The U.S. Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency have identified climate change as a threat to our national security and have developed specific efforts to combat climate change.

The real indicator is the results of global warming. How to you ignore or lie that away?

According to a recent article by the Associated Press, “Since 1997 climate change has worsened and accelerated – beyond some of the grimmest of warnings made back then.”
The world's oceans have risen by about an inch and a half.

Droughts and wildfires have turned more severe worldwide, from the U.S. West to Australia to the Sahel desert of North Africa. Species now in trouble because of changing climate include, not just the lumbering polar bear which has become a symbol of global warming, but also fragile butterflies, colorful frogs and entire stands of North American pine forests. Temperatures over the past 12 years are 0.4 of a degree warmer than the dozen years leading up to 1997. Even the gloomiest climate models back in the 1990s didn't forecast results quite this bad so fast.

Scientists have uncovered a large expanse of "corrosive" water in the Canadian Arctic due to carbon pollution that is putting the marine food web at risk. "Unprecedented" rainfall in the United Kingdom has led to flooding of "biblical proportions" – a predicted consequence of global warming. "Unprecedented" heat, drought, and winds are causing "catastrophic" wildfires to sweep across eastern Australia – a predicted consequence of global warming.

The 2000s are on track to be nearly 0.2°C warmer than the 1990s. And that temperature jump is especially worrisome since the 1990s were only 0.14°C warmer than the 1980s. The world’s glaciers shrink for the 18th year. According to the University of Zurich ’s World Glacier Monitoring Service report in 2006 and 2007 the world’s glaciers lost 2 meters (2000 mm) of thickness on average. They note, “The new data continues the global trend in accelerated ice loss over the past few decades.” The rate of ice loss is twice as fast as a decade ago. Greenhouse gases, which are believed to be responsible for global warming, reached record highs in the Earth’s atmosphere in 2008, according to the U.N. weather agency.

The simple fact is Global Warming is real, and a few words taken out of context from thousands of stolen emails cannot change that fact. Even if you wanted to impeach the results from the CRU at the University of East Anglia, there are plenty of other respected scientists above reproach who hold the same position reached by independent and undisputed research and data. Here are a few:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Global warming of the climate system is unequivocal and most of the observed increase in global temperatures since the mid-20th century is due to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

National Academy of Sciences: Even if carbon dioxide emissions were halted today, the world would continue warming with “irreversible” effects — including rising temperatures and sea levels—that will last for a millennium.

American Association for the Advancement of Science: The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society.

U.S. Global Change Research Program: Global temperature has increased over the past 50 years. This observed increase is due primarily to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases.

American Physical Society: Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the atmosphere in ways that affect the Earth’s climate. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide as well as methane, nitrous oxide and other gases. They are emitted from fossil fuel combustion and a range of industrial and agricultural processes. The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring. If no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruptions in the Earth’s physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are likely to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now.

American Meteorological Society: Despite the uncertainties noted above, there is adequate evidence from observations and interpretations of climate simulations to conclude that the atmosphere, ocean, and land surface are warming; that humans have significantly contributed to this change; and that further climate change will continue to have important impacts on human societies, on economies, on ecosystems, and on wildlife through the 21st century and beyond.

American Geophysical Union: The Earth’s climate is now clearly out of balance and is warming. Many components of the climate system—including the temperatures of the atmosphere, land and ocean, the extent of sea ice and mountain glaciers, the sea level, the distribution of precipitation, and the length of seasons—are now changing at rates and in patterns that are not natural and are best explained by the increased atmospheric abundances of greenhouse gases and aerosols generated by human activity during the 20th century. . . . Evidence from most oceans and all continents except Antarctica shows warming attributable to human activities.

American Quaternary Association: Few credible scientists now doubt that humans have influenced the documented rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution.

The national science academies of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa: It is essential that world leaders agree on the emission reductions needed to combat negative consequences of anthropogenic climate change at the UNFCCC negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009.

A group of 18 leading scientific organizations recently sent a letter to Senators affirming that climate change is happening.

Global warming debate at MSU heats up climate change question

Despite the world’s scientific community agreeing that climate change and global warming are occurring, there are still people who claim climate change is not happening. That will be the subject of a debate set for Wednesday, Feb. 6.

Students for a Free Economy will host the debate set for 7 p.m. Feb. 6 in Room 105 of South Kedzie Hall at Michigan State University. The event is free and open to the public.

The featured speakers are Christopher Horner, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. and attorney who has represented members of Congress on environmental issues before the U.S. Supreme Court. Horner is a frequent guest on national conservative talk shows speaking about global warming, and he is also the author of the book, “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism.”

On the other side is Peter Sinclair, creative director of Greenman Studio, a multimedia production company in Midland and presenter for former Vice-President Al Gore's Climate Project. The former Vice-President personally trained some 1,000 presenters in 2006 in Nashville who traveled across the country with copies of his 330-slide climate slide show customized to the state the presentation is held in based on his Academy Award wining film "Inconvenient Truth." The unpaid volunteers set up projectors in living rooms, church sanctuaries and VFW halls to show the presentation.

The event will begin with the two speakers' opening statements, followed by questions from the audience, and then the two speakers will give closing remarks.

Students for a Free Economy is a “nonpartisan educational organization dedicated to promoting the benefits of free markets, civil society and individual liberty” sponsored by the conservative Michigan think tank, The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, also located in Midland.

Panel takes aim at developing a comprehensive climate action plan

Gov. Jennifer Granholm took two steps Wednesday to help the environment: She created a council to develop a comprehensive climate action plan by the end of next year, and she ordered a 10 percent cut in state use of energy, also by the end of next year.

Granholm created the Michigan Climate Action Council to develop a comprehensive climate action plan for the state with the issuance of executive order 2007-42. Granholm said in a press release that the council is part of an overall plan designed to both mitigate the impact of global climate change in Michigan and capitalize on the economic opportunity that addressing those changes will present for the state. The council will consist of 35 representatives from public interest groups, environmental organizations, utilities, the manufacturing sector and other key industries, universities and state and local government. Eight of the members will be assigned by position by statute and the rest will be at-large appointments.

The council is charged with submitting a preliminary plan to the governor by March 31 outlining a list of policy recommendations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including short-, mid-, and long-term reduction goals. A more detailed final report with specific recommendations is due by Dec. 31, 2008.

Liz Boyd, the governor’s press secretary, said although they have many people in mind for the at-large positions on the council, no one -- other than the statutory members -- has been appointed yet. She also said this will be a unique panel because it will include people from the energy and other manufacturing industries along with environmentalists, people that are often at odds with each other.

“We have not yet named anyone to the council, but with the interim report due in March it will be very soon,” she said.

Steven Chester, the director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), will chair the council, and staff support will be provided by the DEQ.

Those statutory members already named to the Michigan Climate Action Council by law are Don Koivisto, the director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture; Keith Cooley, director of the Department of Labor and Economic Growth; Lisa Webb Sharpe, director of the Michigan Department of Management and Budget; Rebecca Humphries, director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources; the president of the Michigan Strategic Fund; Orjiakor N. Isiogu, chairman of the Michigan Public Service Commission; and Fred Nurnberger, the state climatologist.

Granholm also issued an executive directive which will require a 10 percent reduction in energy use by the end of 2008. The state plans to meet the goal through the implementation of new energy efficiency measures. As part of the directive, the state will -- wherever feasible -- “increase use of alternative fuels in its fleet of vehicles; develop a materials management plan to ensure environmentally sound purchasing, use, reuse and recycling of materials by state departments; and ensure that new state owned or leased buildings meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. The state will also reduce its electrical energy purchases by 20 percent by 2015.”

Granholm is in Milwaukee for the Midwestern Governors Association Energy Security and Climate Change Summit. Governors from across the Midwest, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois and Iowa, as well as the premier of Manitoba, were on hand to sign historic agreements to strengthen America’s energy security by increasing production and use of renewable energy, promoting energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases.

“The Midwest can be either a big winner or the big loser in the energy and climate debate," Granholm said in a press release. "To win, we need strong regional innovation and collaboration, backed by strong and perhaps unprecedented federal actions and investment, to advance accelerated deployment of lucrative energy and climate technologies."

Step it up 2007 to reduce Carbon 80 percent by 2050

Join hundreds of Americans across the nation on Saturday, April 14 for National Day of Climate Action, and there will be hundreds and hundreds of rallies all across the country. It’s being called “Step it Up 2007,” and the group hopes to focus attention on global warming and climate change by having gatherings in every state, and in many of America's most iconic places: on the levees in New Orleans, on top of the melting glaciers on Mt. Rainier, even underwater on the endangered coral reefs off Key West.

Rallies will also be held outside churches, along the tide lines in our coastal cities, in cornfields and forests and on statehouse steps. Every group will be saying the same thing: "Step it up, Congress! Cut Carbon 80 percent by 2050." As people gather, the group will link pictures of the protests together electronically via the web.

There are 40 gatherings in Michigan, and here in Howell volunteers will be available at Recycle Livingston, 70 Catrell Dr., from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. to offer free tire pressure check and filling, information on at least 50 ways to reduce energy consumption and a chance for people to write their congressman. Call Recycle Livingston at (517)-548-4439 for information or to RSVP, or you can RSVP on line.

One of the biggest rallies is being sponsored by the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, a non-partisan organization to educate voters about how their legislators vote on the environment and to hold those legislators accountable, in Ann Arbor.

The rally begins at noon at Ingalls Mall on the University of Michigan campus - between Burton Memorial Tower and the Michigan League. There will be a variety of speakers – including U.S. Rep. John Dingell and Ann Arbor mayor John C. Hieftje - and a group picture will be taken from the Clock Tower at 1 P.M.
Immediately following the picture, the group will trek down to Argo Park, and at 2 P.M. the group will float and paddle together on the Huron River to enjoy the peace that the waters provide.
For more details and to RSVP, please contact Pam Bierzynski at pam@michiganlcv.org or call 734-222-9650.