Remember Michael Mann? He is the renowned paleoclimatologist and Pennsylvania State University professor who originated the much-criticized hockey stick temperature graph that appeared in the Third Scientific Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The graph, based on ice cores, tree rings, and other gauges, reconstructed thousands of years of climate fluctuations that showed we are in a helluva mess, with temperatures hotter than they've been in 2000 years.
Subsequently, Mann and some colleagues were defamed in the so-called Climategate affair, when hackers published emails supposedly showing that the scientists' calculations had been doctored with a "trick" to create a climate-change hoax. Much of the mainstream media and the right-wing global-warming denial industry rubbed their hands in glee. And they went to work on the scientists, calling into question three decades of climate work.
However, on Thursday, in the final act of an investigation completed nearly a month ago, Pennsylvania State released a complete exoneration of Mann. The panel that investigated him was unanimous in its findings:
The Investigatory Committee, after careful review of all available evidence, determined that there is no substance to the allegation against Dr. Michael E. Mann, Professor, Department of Meteorology, The Pennsylvania State University.
More specifically, the Investigatory Committee determined that Dr. Michael E. Mann did not engage in, nor did he participate in, directly or indirectly, any actions that seriously deviated from accepted practices within the academic community for proposing, conducting, or reporting research, or other scholarly activities.
End of controversy. Full stop.
Well, not quite. As Joe Romm points out at Climate Progress, there are some newspapers and other media outlets who owe Mann retractions and apologies. These include Newsweek, CBS and Wall Street Journal reporters Jeffrey Ball and Keith Johnson.
But, of course, the deniers just keep at it. They're aided by newspapers like the Washington Post, whose record on accurately covering climate change is tainted by its editorialists, columnist George Will and some reporters. In a Post story about Mann's exoneration, a prominent global warming denier was given space for rebuttal:
Myron Ebell, a global warming skeptic who directs Energy and Global Warming Policy for the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, noted that the Penn State ethics review only interviewed one of Mann's critics, MIT climate scientist Richard Lindzen.
"It has been designed as a whitewash," said Ebell, whose group accepts contributions from the energy industry. "To admit that Dr. Mann is a conman now would be extremely embarrassing for Penn State. But the scandal will not be contained no matter how many whitewash reports are issued. The evidence of manipulation of data is too obvious and too strong."
Ebell is a professional liar with zero scientific credentials. Including his industry-funded bullshit in the same section of the newspaper is an affront to decent journalism. But then that is not a unique occurrence at the Post.
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Green diary rescue appears on Thursdays and Sundays. Inclusion of a particular diary does not indicate my agreement with it. The rescue begins below and continues in the jump.
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Haole in Hawaii showed us his dazzling photos of Lionfish and Other Amazing Critters, including Imperial Nudibranchs.
environmentalist described an exciting project in The Food Forest - Part I: Strategies for Green Urban Infrastructure: "As we all know, our development practices have created urban and suburban communities that are, for the most part, vast areas of paved surfaces, hot streets, dark roof tops and barren soil that contributes to despoiled water, polluted air and an alienation of people from nature. And an alienation of people from food. Many diarists here on Dkos have brought forth exciting examples of urban agriculture, urban homesteading and other ways to bring green, clean and liveable to urban centers. I would like to add to that library by proposing the creation of food forests (forest gardens) in urban public spaces."
Food, Agriculture & Gardening
Bob Higgins went snarky in Rats! "il Vinaio" No Longer Serves Lion Burgers: "Serving Lion meat is legal, according to the FDA, (a branch of our government) which makes sense when you realize that BP's drilling and disaster response plan was approved by the Materials Management Service another branch of our government."
Augurgirl had a far more serious take on Lions and burgers and fries- Oh my: "An exotic meat restaurant in Arizona is coming under fire for serving lion burgers in honor of the world cup. I think this discussion highlights an amusing sort of hypocrisy in our culture, the squeamishness people develop when faced with the ugly consequences of behavior we try to tell ourselves is harmless. I suppose food is harder to swallow when it's got the face of cuddly cartoon creatures acting out their own version of Hamlet. But eating Simba, or Nala, or even Mickey and Minnie, is no worse than eating any of the millions of nameless, long-suffering factory farmed cows or chickens or pigs that are sold and consumed every day."
terryhallinan discussed Farming The Natural Way or Crapping In The Creek: "'We are supposed to be stewards of the land,' said Matthew Stoltzfus, a 34-year-old dairy farmer and father of seven whose family, like many other Amish, shuns cars in favor of horse and buggy and lives without electricity. 'It is our Christian duty.' But farmers like Mr. Stoltzfus are facing growing scrutiny for agricultural practices that the federal government sees as environmentally destructive. Their cows generate heaps of manure that easily washes into streams and flows onward into the Chesapeake Bay.' Good thing Mr. Stoltzfus and his neighbors don't raise ducks. The most productive cow can't begin to generate the output of a duck, pound for pound."
BorderJumpers wrote about Locally Produced Crops for Locally Consumed Products: "While Zambia Breweries’ collaboration with local farmers is working, not all partnerships between companies and farmers go so well. Without appropriate regulation, companies may take advantage of a monopoly; farmers can become indebted to the company and lose control of their farms and crops; and A BIG financial incentive to grow a specific crop can threaten overall crop diversity."
Water & Conservation
chondrally discussed Saving the ocean from acidity death economically and sequestering CO2 in algae, saving the fishery.
Energy & Transportation
Sounding a bit counterintuitive in his diary, Increase the Defense Budget for a Green Pentagon, citizen k made the case with a lengthy explanation: "There cannot be a serious building of America's green manufacturing economy without the DOD - partly because of DOD alone has the political/technical organization for the job. Fortunately, the Defense Department already has plans for most of these things."
mole333 alerted us to the fact that BP Fined for Lying (not Gulf related): "The fine was imposed after the firm was accused of making "false, inaccurate, or misleading" reports regarding energy output on tribal lands in Colorado..."
A Bipartisan Strategy for Energy Leadership was proposed by Teryn Norris and Clifton Yin in : "We are a Democrat and Republican. One of us campaigned for Barack Obama in 2008, the other as a delegate for John McCain. One of us worked on energy and climate policy for the progressive Breakthrough Institute, while the other worked on similar issues for the conservative American Enterprise Institute. We disagree on a wide range of issues, and we hold different economic philosophies. Despite our differences, we are strongly united behind a serious federal agenda for clean energy innovation. Regardless of the future of cap and trade, robust federal investment in clean energy technology can effectively tackle both energy and climate policy reform. In addition to reducing our oil addiction, it can help build new export-oriented and manufacturing-intensive industries, seize global market share, drive down the price of clean energy technologies, and accelerate the transition to a cleaner, low-carbon economy."
Cpt Robespierre called for action in his Comment against oil expansion: "If you oppose the proposed expansion of offshore drilling, please submit a public comment (public meaning your name will be attached to it unless you unselect that) to the official review process at the agency formerly known as the Minerals Management Service. The deadline is midnight tonight (Eastern time). Even a short "I oppose this proposed expansion of offshore drilling" would be helpful."
Lowell Feld NRDC Action Fund demolished the views of Scott Brown: Wrong on the Merits AND The Politics of Clean Energy: "Two weeks ago, Senator Scott Brown (R-Massachusetts) met with President Obama and 'told him he would not support a cap-and-trade plan or carbon fee to limit greenhouse gas emissions.' In the Boston Globe, Brown is quoted as expressing how 'excited' he is 'about working with [Obama] in a bipartisan manner to come up with a comprehensive energy plan."
tergenev wondered Why Can't U.S. Wind Power be like this?: "Every few weeks, we hear about another massive new initiative to create a wind farm in one country or another. (Egypt just announced a tender to create a 1 Gigawatt(!) offshore wind farm, which would be one of the biggest in the world.) There are large wind farms built and more planned for the U.S. ... but any time Obama proposes an idea that we limit such new capital expenditures to U.S.-only manufacturers, he is attacked and shouted down, usually by European interests (in this market, that would be Siemens, Vestas, et. al.)No doubt, there were others around the world who complained when our President proposed this idea to support the U.S. alt-energy industry."
Vetwifewasn't happy with media coverage in Kill to Drill: "There has been cherry-picked coverage on the actual cleanup and people begging for more relief efforts. In the middle of all of this we still have the right wing screaming NO PAUSE BUTTON ON DRILLING."
EPA Inexplicably Greenlights WV Mountaintop Removal Permit wrote a much irked rperks: "Maybe the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should change its acronym from EPA to WTF. How else to explain the perplexing and downright disgusting decision last week by the agency to recommend approval by the Corps of Engineers of a permit sought by Coal-Mac (subsidiary of Arch Coal) for the Pine Creek Surface Minein Logan County, West Virginia. So much for EPA's supposedly hard-line water protection standards issued in April which promised tougher oversight of mountaintop removal."
Animals
Ellinorianne asked What Does it Look Like Inside One of Those Huge Fishing Nets?: "You know those nets we hear about from gill nets to purse-seining nets, the ones that are full of not just tuna, but sometimes full of other fish and dolphins, turtles and other sea animals that wind up dying because of the use of outdated and dangerous methods that wind up doing a huge amount of harm to other species."
Forests & the Great Outdoors
Sylvester McMonkey Mcbean told us the history of a region he loved to travel in On Bootstraps and Megafloods: "Ten thousand years ago, or there about, a finger of the Canadian ice shield that dammed the Clark Fork River near modern-day Missoula, Montana failed catastrophically, and in the space of 48 hours or so, 500 cubic miles of water spilled out from Glacial Lake Missoula over Eastern Washington and created a landscape unique on the planet."
Round-ups, Wrap-ups & Digests
eKos: Free marijuana! {Earthship Wednesday}: "On-Shore Drilling is Safer. What each of these – deepwater drilling, fracking and tar sands mining – has in common is that they are very difficult, expensive and risky. And that they are made necessary by our appetite for oil; the cheap oil that's easy to get at is being exhausted, leading us to these highly complex, highly controversial and highly risky methods."
Climate Change
A Siegel made a new suggestion for A simple, clean carbon fee ...: "In pure economic efficiency terms, the most cost-effective system for establishing a price on carbon pollution and starting a societal move toward a lower-carbon future, might be an upstream simple price. This price is not a 'tax,' because a 'tax' implies a taking of a good. That assumes that we have a right to pollute and impact others. In fact, that very pollution is a taking of a good, a seizing of a value, that occurs today without any form of compensation. Whatever the path, this should start relatively low and gradually increase."
InClimate Debate begins in earnest today!, LaughingPlanet reminded that "Now it is up to us to keep the heat on the Senate and ensure that the fence-sitters support the President's efforts."
RLMiller let us in on what might happen as Dems Go Medium on Climate, Part 2: Spill Bill Passes E&NR: "Yesterday, President Obama held a much-ballyhooed meeting with 23 Senators that could best be summed up as 'meh.' Headlines range from Readout of the President's Meeting with a Bipartisan Group of Senators to Discuss Passing Comprehensive Energy and Climate Legislation (White House) to The Latest in Democratic Fecklessness (David Roberts, Grist) to White House Energy Session Changes No Minds (New York Times)."
Lowell Feld NRDC Action Fund also gave us a reminder: Remember, Cap-and-Trade Was Originally a Free-Market, Conservative Idea: "Once upon a time, "cap-and-trade" wasn’t an object of conservative Republican opprobrium (e.g., as a "big government cap-and-tax scheme that will destroy our economy and end our way of life as we know it"). Actually, once up on a time, "cap-and-trade" was...wait for it...a conservative Republican idea! That’s right, let’s head to the "way back machine" and briefly review the Political History of Cap and Trade."
And he urged President Obama Please Call Their Bluff!: "Clearly, as we’ve seen over the past two years, underachieving is not a problem Barack Obama suffers from. Of course, even a superachiever like Barack Obama has an awful lot on his plate to deal with. And right now, one of the most important things on Obama’s plate is figuring out how to push comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation through the U.S. Senate. Along those lines, yesterday, Obama met with a group of Senators on this issue, reportedly holding firm in his call for putting a price on carbon emissions."
Steven D stepped a bit our of character with the snarky Climate Change -- Jihadist Plot?: " Who knew that extremist Jihadi Muslim Arab Islamofascists would go to such great lengths to destroy our beloved American Oil Companies and wreck our economy as to hold a conference on Climate Change in which they push the leftist propaganda of Al Gore? The horror! No, the TERROR!"
Eco-Philosophy, Eco-Policy & Eco-Action
Chaoslillith asked Oil Spill: What is the real reason for the lack of urgency: "So taking all this in I begin to wonder, who is really in charge? Who is benefiting from this disaster? BP as a company isn't, the politicians aren't, the people aren't ...So WHY is this still being handled so badly? Why does no one in charge seem to care? WHO IS PULLING THE STRINGS???"
BobboSphere told us that I learned a new abbreviation today: " I learned a new abbreviation today: ELE, Extinction Level Event. Yep, the Big One. The Apocalypse. The End Times. The Last Days. The Final Checkout. Now that we have ripped a hole in the planet that is erupting deadly poisons into the ocean to join all the other crap we dumped there AND we are choking our air with excess carbon maybe its time to examine that possibility."
veritas curat decried Our Monstrous Experiments: " If it were right in our face and by our own hands; if it were, for example, necessary to club and kill an endangered sea turtle before our car would start (imagine a 'kill and go' version of the 'blow and go'), driving would stop - dramatically and precipitously. None of us would be willing to kill just so we could pick up a beer at the corner store on a rainy day without having to get wet."
In EcoAdvocates, Aji and other writers looked at Gulf Tribes, Chemical Testing, Green Burials, Climate Justice, and Saving the Peaks: "Three tiny Indian tribes on Louisiana's Gulf Coast, trapped in the vortex of BP's environmental destruction, now face the real possibility of their own cultural annihilation as a result. The Chitimacha, the Houma, and the Pointe-au-Chien tribes depend upon the coastal waters and their resources for their livelihoods, for spiritual sustenance, and for their very existence. Already reeling from the devastation wrought by 2008's Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, tribal members now fear the literal demise of their people."
J e d looked atFARCES of Coal: Apple Juice Creeks and Gatorade Streams: " Remember FACES of Coal? The less than bona fide astroturfing organization whose members keep turning up on iStockphoto.com? Well, the antics continue as they're none too pleased with the EPA these days. It seems the EPA has got it in for Apple Juice creeks and Gatorade streams. Typical right?! Far as we know, Lisa Jackson and Obama don't yet mind Willa Wonka's chocolate river, but we'll keep you posted."
Jasonhouse declared that the BP boycott is working; BP pledges money for affected stations: "I'm located in Tampa Florida, and consumers' increasing avoidance of BP stations has been a growing story here for weeks and is set to break out all over the US."
jimstaro alerted us to a meeting in which "'America Speaks to BP'" This Afternoon: "Below, if you missed it last night, is one of those discussions is a must see as they talk about what way to many are ignoring or just get scant mention."
Vuvuzelas for BP was itsnotbutter's new plan for getting some payback: "You know how irritating those loud, buzzing vuvuzela horns can be when you try to watch a World Cup soccer match? Wow! They have been described accurately as 'horns from hell.' If you aren't familiar with vuvuzelas, imagine a tone-deaf giant with no rhythm humming directly in your ear -- for hours on end. Now some creative pranksters have come up with the best use ever invented for vuvuzelas."
YesWeCanLI described a local event in A video recap of a Hands Across the Sand event from Long Beach, NY: "HANDS ACROSS THE SAND is a 'national movement to oppose offshore oil drilling and to champion clean energy and renewables.' It is a peaceful protest against intrusion into our waters for the development of fossil-fuel facilities."
And wjhamilton29464 a similar event in SC Hands Across the Sand near Charleston: "The 'Drill Baby Drill' people would like to see some of that oil coming from rigs off our beaches. They promise those rigs will be so far off shore that we'll never see them. They claim drilling is still safe and clean. They don't have that to worry about in Pensacola any longer. There is very little reason to go to the beach. The off shore drilling or beach decision has already been made there, at least for a while."
janicegwashington discussed Ahead of His Time: Marvin Gaye - An Ecological Perspective: "In my heart and spirit I wondered which environmental disaster may have been the one that pushed Marvin over the edge, and motivated him to write about its affects and offenses. Something recent and so offensive must have occured to cause Marvin to belt out in song from his heart the profound lyrics articulated below."
Hopeful Skeptic was unhappy at the consequences of Spilling tons of oil: Go yachting... Hanging a banner: Go to jail?: "What the hell is wrong with this country when horrendous environmental disasters go virtually unpunished, and non-violent, non-destructive activism result in the possibility of months in jail?"
Pam LaPier wrote 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea: A Voices For Nature Diary.
TomDispatch gave Stephen Kinzer the spotlight in BP's First "Spill": "My decision not to give this company my business came after I learned about its role in another kind of "spill" entirely -- the destruction of Iran's democracy more than half a century ago."
Politicians
CapeTown96 had harsh words for Democrats gutting energy bill to please GOP: "Even with the Gulf oil crisis destroying an entire ocean, thousands of miles of beaches and hundreds of square miles of wetland, destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs, the Obama White House and Democratic leadership refuses to even propose a solution."
And appledown had harsh words for the Louisiana governor in : "Jindal is doing everything possible to make his constituents understand that 'Big Government' is to blame for the oil spill mess while at the same time he has his hand out making demands to the Obama administration. Jindal is waging war on the white house and does not want to be seen ineffective as the former Governor during Katrina."
You could almost see TheGreenMiles shaking his head over John Boehner Contradicting John Boehner on BP Oil Disaster: "John Boehner thinks President Obama is doing too little to respond to the BP oil disaster. But John Boehner, on the other hand, thinks President Obama is doing too much. It depends on which John Boehner you're talking to. Is it the John Boehner trying to pander to voters? Or the John Boehner trying to suck up to Big Oil?"
Gulf Gusher
FishOutofWater: Oil Enters Food Chain & Deep Dead Zones Grow in Gulf: "Oil spewing from the blown BP well is entering the food chain. Marine biologists have discovered oiled crab larvae in uncontaminated marshes. Oil from the Gulf is being taken into otherwise uncontaminated areas by contaminated crabs. Offshore, in deep water, methane levels as high as 10,000 above normal have been confirmed by new data."
RogerShuler: My Surprising Connection to BP's "Bogus Press" Operation: "Stories have broken in recent days about BP hiring professional journalists to act as reporters in order to put a positive spin on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And darned if I don't know one of the reporters. Actually, I'm not sure he is working as a "reporter." But we've had news stories in Alabama of BP employing the services of several well-known journalists in an effort to manage the public-relations fallout from the Deepwater Horizon disaster."
Edger: BP's Well May Leak For 55 Years Or More Into The Gulf Of Mexico?: "Given that BP's nearby Tiber and Kaskida wells each contain at least 3 billion barrels of oil (see this, this, this and this), estimates of more than a billion barrels for the leaking Macondo reservoir are not unreasonable. If the well is leaking at this so far maximum estimated rate of 100,000 barrels per day, and there are 1 billion barrels of oil in the reservoir, then determing how long the well could leak if it is not plugged is a simple high school mathematics level calculation. One billion barrels divided by 100,000 barrels per day equals 10,000 days to empty the reservoir into the Gulf of Mexico."
stonemason: evaporation, schmevaporation:
Down here in Mexico, there is a winter storm which scoops schools of fish out of the Gulf and scatters them far inland - frozen. Hurricanes are famous for hurling cattle, houses, cars, boats - anything - far inland. So why is the public discussion often limited to whether toxic materials in the Gulf can evaporate and hence be brought inland? A hurricane is infinitely more powerful than that. I believe people in the shore regions of the Gulf are in much more peril than has been publicized."
ecryptical: BP to Escambia County: "Dear Sirs - We Can't Find A Telephone Number to Reach You": " The only phone number on the letter was an 800 number to a claims center. When a reporter from the Pensacola News Journal called that number, he was referred to a Louisiana-based media contact number. That number went directly to a voice mail system that would not allow the reporter to leave a message."
ecryptical: Oil is 6 Inches Below The Sand In Pensacola: " The video shows a geologist digging a trench on Pensacola's beach. Six inches below the beach surface a layer of oil is visible. I wonder if there are other layers of oil below?"
Heather Taylor Miesle NRDC Action Fund: We failed the people who cleaned up 9/11. Will we fail the people cleaning up the Gulf?: "In the aftermath of 9/11, we saw thousands of workers develop devastating respiratory conditions and other illnesses as a result of exposure to toxic dust that filled the air in the days and weeks after the twin towers fell. To this day, these peoples' plight continues to add misery to the ongoing tragedy of 9/11. What makes it even worse is that these people were assured the air was safe. As we all know now, it wasn't. Today, sadly, history may be repeating itself in the Gulf of Mexico."
Steven D: What Sick BP Oil Spill Workers?: "A philosophical question for you. If no reporter is ever allowed to speak or meet with any of the many oil spill clean-up workers about the medical treatment they may or may not be receiving at a Federal Clinic, much less visit said clinic, do they really exist? And by that I mean oil spill clean-up workers in general, sick or not."
good grief: Oilwellian (contd): Mental health on Gulf coast: " Again, as BP is doing with their continued use of Corexit (despite EPA's order to cease weeks ago) and not providing (even prophylactically) protective respirators to cleanup workers as advised by many health experts, BP is stalling and slow-walking the mental health issue, and must be prodded to meet its responsibilities which means prodding the White House to keep up pressure on BP. This means you, dear reader."
ctexrep: Lead; follow or.....: "70 days and counting. Oil continues to pollute the Gulf. Has BP or the Federal Government been effective or efficient in handling this situation? Well according to the people who are directly affected, not only are they ineffective, they are hindering local efforts to get things done."
icebergslim: The Gulf Coast, its beaches, life is just a hot mess: "My question is this, 'When will the government, BP, NOAA, all powers that be tell the public that after all this time, of course the oil is in the loop current?' I state this because, how can it not be? This oil is pumping non-stop and is a horrific sight to see. If this oil gets to the Tampa/St. Pete area, of course it is in the loop current. And experts state it IS in the loop current.
GrumpyOldGeek: Build a backyard gusher then plug the d*mn leak with a relief well: "First, a safety tip. Don't build this thing. Seriously. It has been reported that the plastic bottle cannot contain the pressure if capped somehow after the Mentos have been dropped into the Diet Coke bottle. It is very likely to explode. Since my model actually will "stop the d*mn leak", the result is exactly the same as if the bottle gets capped."
Olympia: BP spill - Russian warning: An apocalyptic view.
Gulf watchers: BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 35.
Gulf watchers: BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 36.
Gulf watchers: BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 37.
Gulf Watchers Overnight: Gulf Watchers ROV # 153 - BP's Gulf Catastrophe.
hester: Gulf Watchers ROV # 154 - BP's Gulf Catastrophe.
Darryl House: Gulf Watchers ROV #155.
bubbanomics: Gulf Watchers ROV # 156 - BP's Gulf Catastrophe.
Gulf Watchers Overnight: Gulf Watchers ROV # 157 - BP's Gulf Catastrophe.
politik: Gulf Watchers ROV #158 - BP's Gulf Catastrophe.
Yasuragi: Daily Kos Gulf Watchers ROV #159 - BP's Gulf Catastrophe.
David PA: Daily Kos Gulf Watchers ROV #160 - BP's Gulf Catastrophe.
Gulf Watchers Overnight: : Gulf Watchers ROV # 161 - BP's Gulf Catastrophe.
gulfgal98: Gulf Watchers ROV #162 - BP's Gulf Catastrophe - A Small Cottage Edition.
Yasuragi: Daily Kos Gulf Watchers ROV #163 - On Bearing Witness - BP's Gulf Catastrophe.
Darryl House: Daily Kos Gulf Watchers ROV #164 - BP's Gulf Catastrophe.
yawnimawke:Daily Kos Gulf Watchers ROV #165 - BP's Gulf Catastrophe.