Recently in Global warming Category

Lord Christopher Walter Monckton, 3^rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, caused something of a stir 20 years ago when he wrote an article calling for universal AIDS testing, and for all those found with the virus to be quarantined immediately and forever. [Monckton later disavowed his proposal as impractical]. His Lordship's latest foray into the public arena is as a climate change denier and conspiracy theorist who sees Communists behind an international treaty to control greenhouse gases.

They won't all make the playoffs this year, but there's one thing a growing list of big leaguers have come together on: promoting recycling and reducing the use of oil to blunt the environmental impact of pro ballparks and stadiums across the US.

From educational campaigns about alternative energy and making biodiesel from concession grease, to powering ballpark tractors and mowers with biodiesel blends and composting the clippings, going green is a rising trend in professional sports.

Grabbing a propane-run taxi is nothing unusual in Tokyo, but you need to be lucky to catch a hybrid taxi. Soon, you may have a much better chance of grabbing hybrids anywhere in Tokyo, and other major cities in Japan.

Recently, I was one of the fortunate few to catch a ride in Toyota's best-selling hybrid, the Prius. My driver excitedly told me about his three-month long experience with the new vehicle. Hybrid cars are no longer part of tomorrow's world here, and they are already helping slash demand for gasoline across Japan.

For doubting Thomases of Cash for Clunkers handouts, here's more fodder for skepticism in the face of what proved blowout media coverage: according to a University of California-Davis study, the federal government's Cash for Clunkers program is expected to have paid "at least 10 times the 'sticker price' to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide."

"While carbon credits are projected to sell in the U.S. for about $28 per ton (today's price in Europe was $20), even the best-case calculation of the cost of the clunkers rebate is $237 per ton," the university said, citing a report by UC Davis transportation economist Christopher Knittel.

There was not a great deal new in the report on climate change released Tuesday by the White House. This is not surprising since the report, "Global Climate Change Impact in the United States," drew on a large body of available scientific information, and a set of previously released assessment reports from government agencies released by the US Global Change Research Program.

What is unique is that the report was presented on a White House stage (well, next door at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building), to ensure maximum press coverage -- in sharp contrast to the way many of the previous reports were quietly slipped out the back door by the Bush administration. (Early in its tenure, the Bush administration's climate reports were also vetted by a former oil industry lobbyist with no scientific training who, according to a House panel, systematically weakened the governmen's conclusions on global warming).

It's probably wise to lower expectations about how much the Obama administration can bring to the table at UN negotiations on an agreement to succeed the Kyoto Climate Change Treaty.

Expectations were raised with the departure of the Bush administration which opposed mandatory controls on US greenhouse gas emissions and stiff-armed the UN process. The Obama administration supports GHG emissions controls and has fully embraced UN efforts to reach a post-Kyoto agreement. But it will be a challenge for the Obama administration to be ready with a fully developed and politically supported proposal by December, the UN's self-imposed deadline for reaching a deal in Copenhagen.

Be wary of politicians who presume to know the public's mind on global warming -- it's a tricky business and something of a moving target.

A Gallup poll based on telephone interviews March 5-8 with 1,012 adults - standing in for the rest of us - found an increasing number of Americans believe that the threat posed by global warming is exaggerated by the mainstream media. "This represents the highest level of public skepticism about mainstream reporting on global warming seen in more than a decade of Gallup polling in the subject," the company said.

US President Barack Obama's 6-hour trip to Ottawa on Thursday, while brief and lacking in the pomp and circumstance normally associated with presidential trips abroad, will arguably be one of the most important of the early period of his presidency.

Canada is the largest trading partner of the US, particularly in the energy and transportation industries. So how the two countries work out some particularly difficult issues running the gamut from the so-called "smart grid" technology in the power sector to carbon sequestration and cap-and-trade will have dramatic impacts in both countries for years to come.