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Disprove global warming, score $10,000

by CharoletteCambe Posted on June 23, 2014

a tough way to make money

Disprove global warming, score $10,000

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Hey, unwelcome anti-science trolls visiting this site, you could make yourselves $10,000 richer — if only your climate denialism had any actual grounding in science.

Physicist Christopher Keating, who has in the past accurately compared climate deniers to tobacco advocates, announced on his blog early this month that he would make a $10,000 payment “to anyone that can prove, via the scientific method, that man-made global climate change is not occurring.”

He is not expecting to lose any money on the stunt. From The College Fix:

Keating, an ardent believer in man-made global warming, said he’s not worried that he’ll be out ten grand, because he doesn’t believe anyone can disprove humans are … the cause of global warming.

“Deniers actively claim that science is on their side and there is no proof of man-made climate change,” he told The College Fix in his email. But he called the science proving his beliefs “overwhelming.”

“You would think that if it was really as easy as the deniers claim that someone, somewhere would do it,” he said, adding there’s nothing so far because “it can’t be done.”

We’re betting that the trolls will pass up this opportunity – and instead gum up online comment sections under stories about the challenge with vapid half sentences in all caps.


Source
The $10,000 Global Warming Skeptic Challenge!, Dialogues on Global Warming
Physicist promises $10k to anyone who disproves man-made global warming, The College Fix

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Disprove global warming, score $10,000

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How CO2 is killing the cutest snails you haven’t seen

by LatanyaSoper Posted on May 2, 2014

Snail Ails

How CO2 is killing the cutest snails you haven’t seen

By

Russ Hopcroft, UAF/NOAA

Today’s pteropods – pea-sized oceanic snails – may look pretty cute, but they must’ve done something truly rotten to rack up enough bad karma to end up in the world as they know it today. If they can manage to survive being gobbled up by fish such as salmon, herring, and mackerel, they still have to worry about ocean acidification melting off their shells.

Pteropods rely on aragonite – an form of calcium carbonate – to make their wee little shells, but when excess CO2 cranks down the ocean’s pH, that easily erodible base material starts to dissolve. It’s a phenomenon we’ve known about for a while, but a new study shows just how bad it is out there for these miniature mollusks: More than half of the ones found in the waters just off the West Coast now show severe shell damage — they’re thinned out, pitted, and pocked.

The sad state of their husks probably has to do with the fact that, since the industrial revolution, these waters have one-sixth of the aragonite available. Scientists project that this number will continue to dip, meaning that by 2050 pteropods shells will be dissolving at a rate three times higher than what we see today.

But it’s not really just about the snails. Because pteropods are at the base of the food chain, what happens to them shakes up the ecosystem from the ground up. So, even if what’s happening to the pteropods themselves isn’t enough to melt your heart (though, really, how could it not?), the fact that they’re having a rough time translates to fewer cute ocean critters all around – as well as fewer of the ones that we most like to munch.


Source
Sea Change: Vital part of food web dissolving, The Seattle Times

Samantha Larson is a science nerd, adventure enthusiast, and fellow at Grist. Follow her on Twitter.

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How CO2 is killing the cutest snails you haven’t seen

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Republican’s bill calls for weather forecasting, not climate forecasting

by qiuyz4ye Posted on April 1, 2014

Republican’s bill calls for weather forecasting, not climate forecasting

By

Scott Gentzen

If Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) were a squirrel, he’d have starved over the winter.

Like a maladapted rodent that’s too short-sighted to save any nuts for the lean season ahead, the climate denier is sponsoring legislation that would force NOAA to focus on short-term weather forecasting at the expense of long-term climate modeling. The Hill reports that the bill, which now has 13 Republican and seven Democratic cosponsors, could get its first real hearing this week.

Bridenstine introduced the bill after 48 Oklahomans were killed by a brutal string of tornadoes last spring. “My state has seen all too many times the destructive power of tornadoes and severe weather,” Bridenstine said at the time. Then he staged a bizarre tirade on the House floor in which he demanded that President Barack Obama apologize for spending “30 times as much money on global warming research as he does on weather forecasting and warning.”

That would be quite the funding imbalance, were it true. But it’s not. The figure is just plain wrong.

Scientists have not concluded whether there is a link between climate change and tornadoes, but Stanford University researchers reported last year that climate change could cause the meteorological conditions that would lead to tornadoes and thunderstorms occurring more often.

More research into the potential climate-tornado link could help Bridenstine’s state properly prepare for extreme weather of the future. But the lawmaker seems more interested in squirreling around in the politics of the absurd than in finding out what hazards the future might hold in store for Oklahoma.


Source
GOP: Predict storms, not climate change, The Hill

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Republican’s bill calls for weather forecasting, not climate forecasting

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States struggling to understand frackquakes

by gorso6 Posted on March 28, 2014

States struggling to understand frackquakes

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Shutterstock

Frackers have been triggering earthquakes across the country by injecting their wastewater at high pressure into disposal wells.

That much is certain. The U.S. Geological Survey has linked the practice to a sixfold increase in earthquakes in the central U.S. from 2001 to 2011. It’s also possible that the very act of fracking has been causing some temblors.

What isn’t certain, though, is what governments can do about it. Bloomberg reports on a new initiative that aims to manage some of those earth-shaking dangers:

Regulators from Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio met for the first time this month in Oklahoma City to exchange information on the man-made earthquakes and help states toughen their standards.

“It was a very productive meeting, number one, because it gave the states the opportunity to get together and talk collectively about the public interest and the science,” Gerry Baker, who attended as associate executive director of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, a group that represents energy-producing states, said in an interview. “It was a good start in coordinating efforts.” …

The goal of the regulators is to develop a set of common procedures to monitor for earthquakes, investigate their cause and draft rules and regulations to prevent them, said Scott Anderson, senior policy adviser for the Environmental Defense Fund in Austin, Texas, who has been in communication with state regulators on the issue.

Would we be stating the obvious if we suggested that these states protect themselves from earthquakes by simply stopping fracking — just as New York and countless local municipalities have done — while the drilling risks are better investigated by scientists?


Source
Fracking’s Earthquake Risks Push States to Collaborate, Bloomberg

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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States struggling to understand frackquakes

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Here’s a shorebird’s-eye view of the Galveston oil spill

by ClaritaPBNK Posted on March 27, 2014

Slick Vid

Here’s a shorebird’s-eye view of the Galveston oil spill

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When an oil barge collided with a container ship on Saturday in Galveston, Texas, as many as 168,000 gallons of fuel were spilled into the estuary, threatening wildlife and shutting down the busy port for days.

Yadda yadda. Different spill, same old spill news.

Here’s a slightly different view than you might be used to, from Project Survival Media. Turns out that oil is less beautifully troubling, and more palpably gross, from the shorebird’s-eye view, where it churns in the waves like salad dressing gone wrong.

That lumpy goodness is probably IFO-380, or what’s left after all the gas and diesel and kerosene have been taken out of crude oil. “It’s commonly referred to as bottom of the barrel stuff,” as Greg Pollack, a local oil spill prevention commissioner, told the Galveston Daily News. It usually floats near the surface, which is good for cleaning crews, but sometimes sinks when it gets close enough to shore to start picking up sediment. Unlike crude oil — which is what spilled the last time this area got slicked, by Deepwater Horizon in 2010 — this heavy fuel oil won’t evaporate, so leftovers may circulate far and wide.

Texas officials released a map of the spill’s probable extent on Wednesday. (Just to be clear, the “safety zones” are the ones where you’re NOT safe from getting oiled.)

KHOU
Source
What is the tarry stuff washing up shorelines?, Galveston Daily News

Amelia Urry is Grist’s intern. Follow her on Twitter.

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Pipeline bursts, makes a big mess in Ohio nature preserve

by p555nf Posted on March 20, 2014

Pipeline bursts, makes a big mess in Ohio nature preserve

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A ruptured oil pipeline has dumped more than 10,000 gallons of crude into a wetland area and nature preserve in southwestern Ohio. How’s that for a reminder that pipelines aren’t necessarily cleaner than oil trains?

The 1950s-era pipeline, owned by Sunoco Logistics, was sending oil from Texas up to refineries in Michigan. The spill was discovered Monday, but some neighbors reported smelling oil since late February.

Ohio officials are now testing air quality and drinking water, and cleanup workers are using heavy equipment to try to mop up the mess. The oil has pooled in a marsh not far from the Great Miami River. The Oak Glen Nature Preserve – home to deer, birds, woods, and wildflowers – has been temporarily closed.

EPA via WLWT

Oil spill in Oak Glen Nature Preserve, Ohio.

“We do have a large area impacted. The good news is it’s contained. The bad news it’s a mile of creek impacted. It is going to be a big cleanup,” U.S. EPA official Steve Renninger told WKRC Cincinnati.

EPA via WLWT

And another view of the oily mess.


Source
Oil spill damages nature reserve, WKRC Cincinatti

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Billions of pounds of sea life die every year to feed our seafood appetite

by BereniceMidgett Posted on March 20, 2014

Billions of pounds of sea life die every year to feed our seafood appetite

By

NOAA

A ring seal entangled in fishing equipment — aka bycatch.

For every pound of sashimi, barbecued shrimp, or grilled sea bass that you stuff into your mouth, you’re basically spitting four ounces of marine life onto the floor.

The nonprofit Oceana published a detailed report on Thursday cataloguing the egregious problem of bycatch in U.S. fisheries. Bycatch is a word that refers to the sharks, turtles, whales, non-edible fish, and other critters that are inadvertently hauled into fishing boats or caught up in the gear of fishing fleets that are pursuing more palatable and lucrative species.

Such gratuitous killing wreaks havoc with marine food chains that are needed to support sustainable fisheries. From Oceana’s new report:

Bycatch is one of the biggest threats to the oceans and has contributed to overfishing and the dramatic decline of fish populations around the world. Commercial fisheries bring in approximately 160 billion pounds of marine catch around the world each year, which means almost 400 million pounds are caught every day. Recent estimates indicate as much as 40 percent of global catch is discarded overboard.

Based in part on U.S. government studies, Oceana estimates that 17 to 22 percent of animal life captured by the American fishing industry is discarded back into the sea — “likely already dead or dying.” If that’s accurate, some 2 billion pounds of marine wildlife is inadvertently being maimed or killed by the U.S. fishing sector every year.

The problem is not well measured globally or in the U.S.:

OceanaClick to embiggen.

Of those American fisheries where bycatch is measured, nine fisheries cause a lionfish’s share of the problem — they’re responsible for half of the country’s reported bycatch but they bring in just 7 percent of its landings.

OceanaClick to embiggen.

Oceana is calling for new regulations, the closing of loopholes in existing regulations, vigorous enforcement of rules already on the books, and better monitoring of bycatch. “Bycatch is not inevitable,” the report states. “There are ways to minimize unintended injury and waste by using cleaner gear, avoiding areas where vulnerable species are known to be present and enforcing bycatch limits each season.”


Source
Wasted Catch: Unsolved Problems in U.S. Fisheries, Oceana

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Billions of pounds of sea life die every year to feed our seafood appetite

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Most big countries have climate laws

by BetseyStark Posted on February 28, 2014

Most big countries have climate laws

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It’s easy to get depressed about the lack of global progress in fighting climate change. But most large nations are at least taking some action.

GLOBE International, a London-based legislators’ group, surveyed climate- and energy-related laws and policies in 66 big countries, which together produce 88 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases. It found that that 62 of the countries have a flagship climate law or regulation, 61 have laws promoting clean energy, and 54 have energy-efficiency laws. In all, there are 487 climate change–related laws or policies in the 66 countries — a sharp increase from decades past:

GLOBE InternationalClick to embiggen.

“Overall, we report substantive legislative progress [last year] in 8 of the 66 countries, which passed flagship legislation, and some positive advances in a further 19 countries,” the report notes. 

But GLOBE International President John Gummer, a climate adviser to the U.K. government, warns that much more action is needed: “We should be clear that the legislative response thus far is not yet sufficient to limit emissions at a level that would cause only a 2 degree Celsius rise in global average temperature, the agreed goal of the international community.”

The following map shows which countries have the most climate-related laws and policies. The light green color of the U.S. indicates that it lags behind global leaders on tackling global warming. But at least it’s ahead of Canada.

GLOBE InternationalClick to embiggen.


Source
The GLOBE Climate Legislation Study, fourth edition, GLOBE International

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Oil spills break fishes’ hearts

by UMMLatoyagycy Posted on February 14, 2014

Oil spills break fishes’ hearts

By

Shutterstock

This Valentine’s Day, BP should dedicate some hearts to fish that were exposed to its Deepwater Horizon spill — new research suggests that the spill may have broken theirs.

Scientists investigating the aftermath of the 2010 oil spill have discovered that even very low concentrations of crude in seawater interfered with the normal pumping of tuna hearts. After exposing captured yellowfin and bluefin to BP oil-spill samples, the researchers detected irregular heartbeats, which can lead to fatal cardiac arrest.

Because a wide range of animals have similar heart designs, the researchers are warning that species from turtles to dolphins could also be affected. Even exposed humans could be at risk.

“The ability of a heart cell to beat depends on its capacity to move essential ions like potassium and calcium into and out of the cells quickly,” said Stanford University researcher Barbara Block, coauthor of a study published Friday in the journal Science. “We have discovered that crude oil interferes with this vital signaling process essential for our heart cells to function properly.”

Check out these graphs from the paper. The top one shows the normal and consistent pumping of 20 healthy tuna heart cells. The bottom one shows arrhythmia in 20 heart cells exposed to BP’s spilled oil.

Science

Click to embiggen.


Source
Stanford, NOAA scientists discover mechanism of crude oil heart toxicity, Stanford University
Crude Oil Impairs Cardiac Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Fish, Science

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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EPA is finally taking at least a small step to protect water supplies from fracking

by KayleighABG Posted on February 12, 2014

EPA is finally taking at least a small step to protect water supplies from fracking

By

Noel Byrne

Obviously, diesel should not be pumped into the ground. It is a filthy fossil fuel that can cause cancer. But about 2 percent of frack jobs include the ingredient in their cocktail of drilling poisons — and that will be allowed to continue, albeit with some weak new oversight from the EPA.

The L.A. Times reports on the EPA’s overdue foray into regulating the use of diesel in fracking:

The Environmental Protection Agency has little authority to regulate fluids used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves pumping water laced with chemicals into shale formations to unlock trapped oil and gas. But the agency has been allowed since 2005 to regulate the use of diesel in fracking. Until Tuesday, it had not done so. …

The EPA’s new guidance defines five substances as diesel that require a permit for use in fracking. …

It is not a rule, but guidance on how to interpret the law for federal officials who review and grant fracking permits.

Needless to say, frackers denounced the new guidance, even as they claimed that diesel has been virtually phased out of fracking operations. One drilling group told the Times that the EPA’s move is “a solution in search of a problem.”

Environmentalists were similarly unimpressed — but for very different reasons. They want the use of diesel in frack jobs banned outright. ”Given the potential health and environmental impacts, the use of diesel presents an unacceptable risk and should be prohibited,” Natural Resources Defense Council scientist Briana Mordick wrote on a blog post. “Alternatives that perform the same function as diesel are available.”

Meanwhile, the EPA is working separately to develop regulations for fracking on public lands.


Source
Obama administration issues guidelines on using diesel in fracking, Los Angeles Times
EPA Releases Final Guidance for Fracking with Diesel, NRDC

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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EPA is finally taking at least a small step to protect water supplies from fracking

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