Climate & Environment Review: July 13, 2007

Climate & Environment Review
July 13, 2007

Climate & Environment Weekly is brought to you by The Center for Science and Public Policy (CSPP). CSPP is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy organization.

CSPP relies on scientific experts in many nations and the vast body of peer-reviewed literature to help lawmakers, policy makers, and the media distinguish between scientific findings that are agenda-driven and those that are based on accepted scientific methods and practices. In a timely manner, the Center's Science Watch Team alerts policy makers, the media, and the public to unreliable scientific claims and unjustified alarmism which often lead to public harm. We strive for a fair and balanced examination of science.

RECENT GLACIER ADVANCES IN NORWAY AND NEW ZEALAND: A COMPARISON OF THEIR
GLACIOLOGICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL CAUSES ABSTRACT
Norway and New Zealand both experienced recent glacial advances, commencing in the early 1980s and ceasing around 2000, which were more extensive than any other since the end of the Little Ice Age. Common to both countries, the positive glacier balances are associated with an increase in the strength of westerly atmospheric circulation...

Climate Change in Florida: Is There a Human Footprint in Florida’s Climate History?
Florida’s governor Charlie Crist opened his 2007 legislative session by announcing Florida’s Climate Change Summit to be held July 12-13 in Miami. Governor Crist remarked, “I am persuaded that global climate change is one of the most important issues that we will face this century. With almost 1,200 miles of coastline and the majority of our citizens living near that coastline, Florida is more vulnerable to rising ocean levels and violent weather patterns than any other state...

Ancient Biomolecules from Deep Ice Cores Reveal a Forested Southern Greenland
It is difficult to obtain fossil data from the 10% of Earth’s terrestrial surface that is covered by thick glaciers and ice sheets, and hence, knowledge of the paleoenvironments of these regions has remained limited. We show that DNA and amino acids from buried organisms can be recovered from the basal sections of deep ice cores, enabling reconstructions of past flora and fauna...

Ancient DNA's Intrepid Explorer
After fending off bears, surviving frostbite, an dtrapping furs in Siberia, Eske Willerslev turned to genetics and is now pushing the boundaries of ancient DNA research...

Public 'in denial' about climate change
The UK is in denial about the consequences of global warming, new research reveals. Although the majority of people accept the climate is changing, it is not a priority for most of them...

Climate mythology: The Gulf Stream, European climate and Abrupt Change
A few times a year the British media of all stripes goes into a tizzy of panic when one climate scientist or another states that there is a possibility that the North Atlantic ocean circulation, of which the Gulf Stream is a major part, will slow down in coming years or even stop...

DNA discovery reveals Greenland’s warm past
Scientists have uncovered evidence that within the past million years southern Greenland was warmer than previously thought, and even covered in lush forests, a discovery suggesting its ice sheet could be more stable than previously thought against climate change temperature rises...

The Drive-a-Toyota Act
The next time Democratic leaders lament the decline of American industry, please refer them to the current Congressional brawl over auto fuel-efficiency standards. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and most of their colleagues are siding with upscale environmental lobbies over American carmakers and workers. Call it their Drive-a-Toyota Act...

Truth in Global Warming: Mr. Dingell's inconvenient tax
This week's prize for honest liberalism goes to Michigan's John Dingell, who is having fun with his fellow Democrats while also making a useful point about the politics of global warming. The venerable Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee--first elected in 1955--has announced that he plans to introduce as early as this week a new tax on carbon emissions...

Live Earth London's Glacial Pacing: Mixing Music and a Serious Message Gives Concert a Clunky Rhythm
LONDON, July 7 -- "If you want to save the planet, I want you to start jumping up and down!" Thus Madonna revealed her plan to combat global warming. Clad in a black satin leotard, she gyrated with dancers and simulated sex with an amplifier and a guitar. Along with the Foo Fighters, the 48-year-old Queen of Pop transformed a Live Earth concert that at times had seemed earnest and slow...

Blowup over global warming: Air board director quits after governor fires her boss
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger played the part of global warming hero on magazine covers this spring, but carrying out that role is now proving more difficult than it once seemed...