Climate Change SOS Tuesday Report

Climate Change SOS Blogathon - Daily Report for Tuesday, August 21st Good morning and welcome to today's preview of guests and Kossacks participating in the Tuesday Plenary of the week long Climate Change SOS Blogathon.   The Climate Talks at Daily Kos are hosting climate scientists and economists, researchers and academics and writers who are discussing a wide range of issues related to climate change: issues such as gender and the disproportionate impact of climate change on women;  new paradigms for clean energy economies; the rights, wisdom and challenges of indigenous peoples; climate change literacy; food security, education and health;  and community resilience in the face of climate change and peak oil.   All postings remain open for ongoing conversation throughout the week, so check in regularly at the Climate Change SOS Blogathon Group on Daily Kos.  The goal is to generate conversation among members of the Daily Kos community with our guests, while also providing a forum for an interchange of ideas and feedback between  all participants.   Each morning, this SOS Daily Report will preview the day's guests and topics; provide Hot Headlines on climate change news from locales around the world; and invite readers to post their reports on localized effects of climate change.  For more information, see Reports of Climate Change From Your Backyard I. If you are a registered member on Daily Kos, you can also follow all postings by clicking this link for the Climate Change SOS Blogathon Group.  Then, click 'Follow' and that will make all postings show up in 'My Stream' of your Daily Kos page.

Climate Change SOS Blogathon - August 20-August 24, 2012 Diary Schedule - All Times Pacific Announcing the blogathon, Climate Change SOS Blogathon: Romney's Illiteracy & Election Vulnerability was posted on Sunday, August 19th by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse. It includes bios of our special guests, including lawmakers, scientists and activists. The blogathon is being organized by Bill McKibben, boatsie, and Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse. Today's Guests Gerard Wedderburn-Bisshop worked as a principal scientist with the Queensland (Australia) state government using remote sensing to map the extensive forest clearing (4% of the world’s deforestation, mostly for cattle and sheep grazing), but resigned over a government report ‘greenwashing’ the beef industry.  Gerard is now engaged in communicating environmental issues such as deforestation, climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss. He writes and presents scientific papers and reports for the World Preservation Foundation and the Beyond Zero Emissions Land Use Plan. Jeff Mears is the Environmental Area Manager for the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin and co-chair of EPA-Tribal Science Council.  Jeff is a frequent contributor to panels discussing climate change impacts on tribal communities and the need for adaptation. Peter Erickson is a Staff Scientist in the Climate and Energy program in SEI's Seattle office. His research focuses on climate change policy, with particular interests in the role of offsets in cap-and-trade programs, contribution of consumption and behavior change to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, industrial policy, and cities. Tuesday, August 21st Schedule 8:00 am: Climate Change SOS Daily Report - boatsie 9:00 am: Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT). 10:00 am: JanF. 11:00 am: beach babe in fl. 12:00 pm: Jeff Mears. 1:00 pm: jessc. 2:00 pm: Peter Erickson 3:00 pm: Brendan DeMelle 4:00 pm: citisven. 5:00 pm: Gerard Wedderburn-Bisshop. 6:00 pm: WarrenS. Yesterday's Posts - Monday, August 20 5:00 am: Climate Change SOS Blogathon: Could better analysis save humanity? by A Siegel. 8:00 am: Climate Change SOS Daily Report by boatsie. 9:00 am: Alarm bells on climate change as extreme weather events sweep the world: CCSOS by Martin Khor. 10:00 am: Climate Challenge: Two Questions For Mitt Romney by danieljkessler. 12:00 pm: Climate Change SOS Blogathon: Visions of the Future? by John Abraham. 1:00 pm: Why Climate Literacy Matters by Mark McCaffrey. 2:00 pm: Climate Change SOS: Are Americans Waking Up? by Jill Richardson. 4:00 pm: Ignore climate Cassandra at our peril by Mike Mann. 5:00 pm: Building Resilience in a Changing Climate: CCSOS by Richard Heinberg. 6:00 pm: Climate change just isn't Santa anymore. by rb137. Tomorrow's Schedule - Wednesday, August 22 8:00 am: Climate Change SOS Daily Report by citisven. 11:00 am: Citizen's Climate Lobby 11:00 am: Bill McKibben. 12:00 pm: Joshua Rosenau. 1:00 pm: Nichole Ghio and Justin Guay 2:00 pm: Franz Matzner 3:00 pm: Heather Libby. 4:00 pm: Sarah Moffitt. 5:00 pm: Tom Athanasiou. 6:00 pm: TheFatLadySings Please remember to republish these diaries to your Daily Kos Groups.  You can also follow all postings by clicking this link for the Climate Change SOS Blogathon Group.  Then, click 'Follow' and that will make all postings show up in 'My Stream' of your Daily Kos page.

Hot Headlines

Can Iron Fight Climate Change:"A newly published experiment has shown that adding iron to the ocean encourages algae growth – more importantly, algae that will suck carbon right out of the air."

Climate Commission: global climate action gathers momentum

Ninety countries representing 90% of the global economy are committed to reducing their greenhouse emissions and are taking action to do so.
This is one of the take-home messages from the Climate Commission’s report “The Critical Decade: International Action on Climate Change”, released today. The report is based on a comprehensive survey of what is being done in Australia and the rest of the world to reduce carbon emissions.
The report explodes the myth that Australia is going it alone on climate change, or is leading the world in taking action. Not only are the world’s wealthy countries taking action, but large developing countries like China and India are moving on emission reductions. Will Steffen,  Australian Climate Commissioner, Executive Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute at Australian National University, reporting.

Australia: Al Gore praises Australia on climate change measures

Sydney Morning Herald: The Gillard government's carbon price has already "inspired the world" to press ahead with measures to tackle climate change, former US vice-president Al Gore says. Labelling Australia one of the "canaries in the coalmine" for the effects of global warming, Mr Gore told a breakfast launch in Canberra of a new Climate Commission report there was much cause for optimism about global efforts to solve the problem.

Is It Too Late to Avoid the Worst Impacts of Climate Change?

Dear EarthTalk: I read that CO2 in our atmosphere is now more than 300 parts per million. Doesn’t this mean that we’re too late to avoid the worst impacts of climate change?—Karl Bren, Richmond, Va.

Poll sheds light on Oklahomans' climate-change beliefs

Oklahomans’ attitudes and opinions on climate change can be as hard to interpret as an occluded front in March.

Only 8 percent of the 495 surveyed in the latest Oklahoma Poll think human activity is solely responsible for any change in the Earth’s climate.

But two-thirds think human activity may be partly responsible.

More than half say the record-breaking heat of the past 18 months has not changed their minds about climate change.

But more than a third say it has.

One interpretation might be that while Oklahomans are somewhat concerned about changing climate, they don’t perceive it to be a crisis.

“My personal opinion is that weather is kind of cyclical,” said Ken Price of Sapulpa.

Quickies

• World moving irreversibly toward climate change action, says report

 • Watch How Quickly Climate Change Melts Ice Over the Arctic Sea

•  Scientists: Climate Change Decimating Butterfly Species, Expanding Habitats

• Another Economic Impact of Climate Change: Drought is Draining the Mississippi River

• International action on climate: A stocktake

• The Climate Change Limits of U.S. Natural Gas Energy, Security, and Climate

• What is the rest of the world doing about climate change? Check out our global climate action map. pic.twitter.com/tf00gwtg from @ClimateComm

Climate Action! If you happen to wander over to Mitt Romney’s website, try to decipher his policy positions on climate change.  But don’t look too long; climate change isn't even mentioned once. The stakes are too high to play politics with our lives.  Please sign our petition that asks Mr. Romney two simple questions: Do you disagree with the scientific consensus that humans are warming the planet? If not, what do you plan to do to solve the climate crisis if you are elected President? When enough people ask, 350.org will deliver this petition to Romney campaign headquarters to see if he's ready to answer. Please stay tuned for our follow-up report!