While some are still attacking Al Gore as a fear-monger for An Inconvenient Truth's supposed fantastic claims of dire global warming predictions—which naysayers unscientifically insist could happen "only after, and over, millennia"—the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has released a new report with startling conclusions that go beyond Mr. Gore's own position on coastal flooding caused by global warming, specifically, that within this generation's time, 150 million people and over $35 trillion of assets will be at risk due to coastal flooding caused by global warming. The report lists the top ten cities which face the most risk to population and property:

1. Calcutta, India,


2. Mumbai (Bombay), India


3. Dhaka, Bangladesh


4. Guangzhou, China


5. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam


6. Shanghai, China


7. Bangkok, Thailand


8. Rangoon, Myanmar


9. Miami, Florida, USA


10. Hai Phong, Vietnam

Miami, Florida, is currently the most exposed U.S. city and will remain so through 2070, its exposed assets growing from $400 billion to over $3.5 trillion in that time. Mumbai has the highest number of people currently exposed to coastal flooding. But by 2070, Calcutta, India, will be the most vulnerable, with the exposed population expected to increase over seven times to more than 14 million people.

The report notes that studies have shown that effective coastal defense plans can take upwards of 30 years to put into place urging that, "Adaptation move to the top of the policy agenda today if it is to make a difference tomorrow."

"Climate change is already happening, and concerted action is needed now to prevent its worst impacts," said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria. "A range of economic policy options is available and political commitment is needed to implement them."

The full OECD report can be downloaded here (English).

Posted on 5 December, 2007, in Global Warming
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'Everything's bigger in Texas.'

It's not just a saying. For the energy industry in Texas, it's a way of life, or rather, a way of destructive 'life:' From the latests numbers from the federal Energy Department on carbon emissions, Texas leads the way in emitting toxic greenhouse gases, more than double the next two offenders on the list, California and Pennsylvania, whose combined populations double that of Texas.

"Some states are ... polluting the planet and make all the rest of us suffer the consequences of global warming," said Frank O'Donnell, director of the Washington environmental group Clean Air Watch. "I don't think that's fair at all."

Meanwhile, President Bush, not just a Texan, but the man who ran this state for several years before he became President, has unveiled what the White House calls 'a plan' for combating climate change. Apparently, the word 'plan' now includes threats of 'Well, if you aren't going to do anything, China, then I'm not either!'

Clearly, the President's own history on this subject, his own opinions and policy-making, helped Texas arrive at its unenviable position as the worst CO2 emitter in the U.S., the country which is currently the worst CO2 emitter on the planet. Things are not necessarily looking up either, as current Texas Governor Rick Perry questions whether climate change is actually caused by man and man-made emissions.

Posted on 4 June, 2007, in Global Warming
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A number of media outlets carried the so-called 'news' on Friday of hurricane forecaster William Gray pronouncing rather decidedly that oceans, and not CO2, are to blame for global warming. The 77-year old, who has a history of railing against the science of global warming, had harsh words for those who study and accept global warming (meaning: the vast majority of scientists, government leaders, most people around the world, etc.).

Mr. Gray was not releasing new scientific data, nor was he pointing to conclusive results from a study or proposing a scientific theory related to our undeniable climate change. What he was doing was ranting to a group of Republican lawmakers in Denver. Among the 'facts' supporting his personal claims which fly in the face of current scientific data and understanding:

1. Global warming is "mush" based on unreliable computer models--Apparently he is not familiar with ice cores samples or the material evidence they provide.

2. Warming and cooling trends cannot go on indefinitely; they are beginning to level out after a very warm year in 1998--This would ignore, of course, that the hottest two years on record do not include 1998, but in fact are 2005 and 2006. And it also inanely implies that climate change scientists say that the temperature will never go back down.

3. Little-understood ocean currents are behind a decades-long warming cycle--But he understands them, mind you, just, well, nobody else.

4. Increasing levels of carbon dioxide will not produce more or stronger hurricanes--Even a child could call this one out--well, a child from New Orleans or Houston anyway.

"They're blaming it all on humans, which is crazy," concluded Gray. "We're not the cause of it."

Of course there remains some debate among the scientific community as to the workings of climate change, and there should remain room for reasonable scientific discourse. Gray's political diatribe and frustrated expression of his misfounded opinions does not meet the qualification of 'scientific debate.' Nor should it have passed the threshold of what is commonly called 'news.'

Gray has a right to think whatever he wants. And he has a right to spew to whomever he likes. But the press should be more cautious with distributing the rantings of a meteorologist as significant 'news' that there is question among scientists whether or not climate change is a serious problem.

Posted on 30 April, 2007, in Global Warming
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Preserve products by Recycline Inc. These products are made from 100% recycled polypropylene plastic. This is in contrast to traditional plastic ware that is usually made from polystyrene and is not reusable. Preserve Tablewere are dishwasher washable and open to being reused. Once their time has come, they can be recycled.

Posted on 24 March, 2007, in Green Pop Culture
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China About To Pass U.S. As World's Top Generator of Greenhouse Gases, the San Francisco Chronicle

Posted on 5 March, 2007, in Global Warming
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The Associated Press is reporting that the directors of TXU tentatively approved the sale of the corporation to two private equity firms, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group. The two groups were offering $32 billion, as well as an assumption of TXU debt. Part of deal, which has not been finalized, includes abandoning most of TXU's misguided and controversial plans to create new coal plants throughout the state of Texas. The permit process for these 11 planned 'clean' coal plants had been greatly expedited by Texas Governor Rick Perry's executive order to 'fast-track' the process, until last week when a state district judge ruled that Perry did not have constitutional authority to issue such an order. The private equity groups met with one of the organizations (Environmental Defense) that brought the lawsuit against Perry, in an effort come to an agreement on what would mitigate the vocal and widespread opposition that environmentalists and others have brought against TXU in regard to the new coal-fired plants. As a result of those talks, 8 of the 11 plants will be abandoned by KKR and TPG. This comes the same day as Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. The film was a 'global warning' about the disastrous consequences of man-made CO2 gases in the earth's environment.

Posted on 26 February, 2007, in Energy
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Texas State District Judge Stephen Yelenosky ruled that Governor Rick Perry does not have authority under the Texas Constitution to issue an executive order to 'fast-track' the permit process to build dirty-coal power plants, granting a major, if not temporary, victory to environmental activists and others concerned with the Governor's egregious abuse of executive powers, which more and more are seemingly related to campaign contributions and personal ties.

Activists have charged that Perry's 'fast-track' order was specifically designed to give the dirty-coal plants approval before the federal government sets mandatory standards restricting the CO2 emissions of such plants, a likely scenario under the new Democrat-controlled chambers. Judge Yelenosky's order effectively postpones the expedited hearings Perry's executive order had rush-granted, which, for the time being, creates a delay by allowing sufficient time for interested parties to fully present arguments against the dirty and inefficient coal plants which TXU and Perry have in mind: "[Such groups] have established that they will be irreparably harmed," if the executive fast-track order is not stopped, "because they will be forever deprived of a meaningful opportunity to be heard."

Posted on 21 February, 2007, in Energy
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While Tony Snow is trying to convince us that America is actually doing a better job of curbing emissions than the EU--despite not having any real CO2 standards, despite having not signed the Kyoto Treaty, and despite Americans being the worst emitters of CO2 on the planet--Austraiia, also a non-signer of Kyoto, has announced that it is going to ban incandescent light bulbs, to be replaced with energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. Noting that incandescent light bulbs have hardly changed in the 125 years that they have been used, Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull described it as less of a ban than an inability to buy inefficient and wasteful product, with the phase-out becoming effective by 2009: "By that stage you simply won’t be able to buy incandescent lightbulbs, because they won’t meet the energy standard."

Posted on 20 February, 2007, in Global Warming
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