DragonI

• Staff for the United States Department of Agriculture have been instructed by a senior staffer to avoid using the phrase “climate change,” according to a report in the Guardian.
• According to a series of internal emails from the USDA obtained by the outlet, Bianca Moebius-Clune, director of soil health for the Natural Resources Conservation Society of the USDA, instructed her staff to swap out politically charged phrases like “climate change” for “weather extremes” and “reduce greenhouse gasses” for “build soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency.” Read more (8/7/17)

#TBT to 2009 when Donald Trump urged President Obama to lead the world by example & #ActOnClimate. Will President Trump heed his own advice? pic.twitter.com/ypjAJi4GpB

— Senator Tom Carper (@SenatorCarper) June 1, 2017

“If we fail to act now, it is scientifically irrefutable that there will be catastrophic and irreversible consequences for humanity and our planet,"

"We urge you, our government, to strengthen and pass United States legislation, and lead the world by example. We support your effort to ensure meaningful and effective measures to control climate change, an immediate challenge facing the United States and the world today."

"Please allow us, the United States of America, to serve in modeling the change necessary to protect humanity and our planet."

A federal appeals court in Washington has ruled that the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overstepped his authority in trying to delay implementation of a new rule requiring oil and gas companies to monitor and reduce methane leaks.

The American Petroleum Institute, the Texas Oil and Gas Association and other industry groups had petitioned Pruitt to scrap the requirement, which had been set to take effect in June.

"This ruling declares EPA's action illegal - and slams the brakes on Trump Administration's brazen efforts to put the interests of corporate polluters ahead of protecting the public and the environment," said David Doniger, director of climate and clean air program for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Major Correction to Satellite Data Shows 140% Faster Warming Since 1998

"A new paper published in the Journal of Climate reveals that the lower part of the earth's atmosphere has warmed much faster since 1979 than scientists relying on satellite data had previously thought."

www.ecowatch.com

A new paper published in the Journal of Climate reveals that the lower part of the earth’s atmosphere has warmed much faster since 1979 than scientists relying on satellite data had previously thought.

Researchers from Remote Sensing Systems (RSS), based in California, have released a substantially revised version of their lower tropospheric temperature record.

After correcting for problems caused by the decaying orbit of satellites, as well as other factors, they have produced a new record showing 36 percent faster warming since 1979 and nearly 140 percent faster (e.g. 2.4 times faster) warming since 1998. This is in comparison to the previous version 3 of the lower tropospheric temperature (TLT) data published in 2009.

Climate skeptics have long claimed that satellite data shows global warming to be less pronounced than observational data collected on the earth’s surface. This new correction to the RSS data substantially undermines that argument. The new data actually shows more warming than has been observed on the surface, though still slightly less than predicted in most climate models.

Both the old record, version 3 in grey, and new record, version 4 in red, are shown in the figure above, along with the difference between the two, in black. The trends since 1998 for both are shown by dashed lines.

Most of the difference between the old and new record occurs after the year 2000. While the old record showed relatively little warming during the oft-debated post-1998 “hiatus” period, the new record shows warming continuing unabated through to present. Similarly, while the old RSS v3 record showed 2016 only barely edging out 1998 as the warmest year in the satellite record, the new v4 record shows 2016 as exceeding 1998 by a large margin.

bit.ly

• Stephen Hawking has some bad news for the Earth — we may be reaching damage beyond repair.
• In an interview with BBC on Sunday, the famed theoretical physicist said he believes Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement could lead to permanent, irreversible destruction for the planet. Read more (7/3/17)

Whenever they hold one of their frequent hearings to reject and deny established climate science, congressional Republicans invariably trot out contrarian scientist John Christy, who disputes the accuracy of climate models. In doing so, Christy uses a cherry-picked, error riddled chart, but there’s a nugget of truth in his argument. Although the discrepancy isn’t nearly as large as Christy’s misleading chart suggests, atmospheric temperatures seem not to have warmed quite as fast since the turn of the century as climate model simulations anticipated they would.

In a new study, a team climate scientists led by Ben Santer sought to answer this question. They effectively disproved Christy’s assertion that the discrepancy was due to models being too sensitive to the increased greenhouse effect. Instead, the main culprit seems to be incorrect inputs used in the climate model simulations.

On the other hand, research has identified a number of real-world cooling influences in the early 21st century that weren’t accurately represented in the climate model simulation scenarios. 

• The sun went into an unusually quiet cycle, there was a series of moderate volcanic eruptions
• The boom in Chinese coal power plants added sunlight-blocking pollution to the atmosphere. 

Using statistical tests, Santer’s team showed that those unexpected cooling effects combined with shifts in ocean cycles best explained the model-data discrepancy in atmospheric temperatures over the past 20 years. 

The answer in this case is that those forcings (solar activity, coal pollution, volcanic eruptions) and ocean cycles acted to temporarily slow the warming of atmospheric temperatures in a way that wasn’t included in the climate model simulation inputs. But that shouldn’t assuage our concerns about climate change – solar activity won’t offset long-term global warming; nor will volcanic eruptions, coal pollution, or ocean cycles. These are all short-term effects that all had a cooling effect over the past 20 years, during which time the planet nevertheless kept on warming due to the overpowering force of human carbon pollution.

The climate models themselves are still quite accurate, and paint a frightening picture of where we’re headed if we follow the status quo scenario of burning lots of fossil fuels. But if we can reduce human carbon pollution, we’ll shift to a scenario with a long-term global warming slowdown.

Christy and Spencer have also been affiliated with various conservative fossil fuel-funded think tanks. And Spencer is on the Board of Advisors of the Cornwall Alliance – a religious group that essentially believes God wouldn’t let damaging climate change happen. Spencer has also made some controversial comments, calling those who disagree with him “global warming Nazis” as well as declaring “I love FoxNews” and saying,

1. Koch brothers:  Charles G. and David H. Koch 
2. Robert Mercer
3. Rebekah Mercer
4. Whitney Ball

• Trump Kingmakers Rebekah and Robert Mercer Attended Heartland Institute's Climate Science Denial Conference,  DeSmogBlog
• Moneyed interests are blocking US action on climate change,  Al Jazeera America 
• Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks, The Gaurdian
• Throwing green money after bad, Think Progress
• Climate Deniers Unhappy With Their Return on Investment From Trump, EcoWatch

• Governor, Rick Scott
• Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)
• Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL-01)
• Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL-02)
• Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL-03)
• Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL-04)
• Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL-06)
• Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL-08)
• Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL-15)
• Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL-16)
• Rep. Thomas Rooney (R-FL-17)
• Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL-18)
• Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL-19)
• Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL-25)
• Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL-26)
• Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL-27)

“What part of increasing pollution will benefit the economy?”

The State of California has reportedly been wooing EPA talent, standing outside of the EPA and handing out flyers.

One additional expense added to the EPA this year is an $800,000, 10-person team for Pruitt’s heightened security detail. 

Prior administrators have had “door-to-door” security — to and from work, while they were traveling, and for events. The EPA currently doesn’t have the staff to provide that kind of security, so they will have to hire for those positions, E&E News reports.