26 Climate Myths Debunked

Climate Progress:

Kudos to New Scientist for taking on the skeptics. Here are the myths they debunk (that Slate’s Emily Yoffe would do well to read):

• Human CO₂ emissions are too tiny to matter

• We can’t do anything about climate change

• We can’t trust computer models of climate

• They predicted global cooling in the 1970s

• Chaotic systems are not predictable

• Mars and Pluto are warming too

• The ‘hockey stick’ graph has been proven wrong

• It was warmer during the Medieval period, with vineyards in England

• It’s been far warmer in the past, what’s the big deal?

• Global warming is due to the Sun, not humans

• Ice cores show CO₂ increases lag behind temperature rises, disproving the link to global warming

But wait, there’s many more debunked myths — the Global Warming Denyers have been a busy bunch lo these many years:

• It’s all due to cosmic rays

• We are simply recovering from the Little Ice Age

• It’s too cold where I live - warming will be great

• CO₂ isn’t the most important greenhouse gas

• The lower atmosphere is cooling, not warming

• Antarctica is getting cooler, not warmer, disproving global warming

• The oceans are cooling

• The cooling after 1940 shows CO₂ does not cause warming

• Warming will cause an ice age in Europe

• Ice cores show CO₂ rising as temperatures fell

• Many leading scientists question climate change

• It’s all a conspiracy

• Hurricane Katrina was caused by global warming

• Higher CO₂ levels will boost plant growth and food production

• Polar bear numbers are increasing

Paper or Plastic : The Best Answer May be “Neither”

E MAGAZINE.COM: "

Each year, Americans use more than 100 billion plastic shopping bags, consuming an estimated 12 million barrels of oil. After a very short working life, these bags retire to landfills where they take 500 or more years to break down, or become litter that clogs storm drains and threatens marine wildlife.... According to Reusablebags.com, four of five shopping bags are made from plastic, and the average American family accumulates 60 of these “free” bags in only four trips to the grocery store. More than 90 percent of plastic bags are simply thrown away. Arthur Liu, account executive at EPI Environmental Products, says the plastic bags in landfills take up space and don’t allow food and other garbage inside them to break down with the help of oxygen.

exclusivelygreenmarket.com has a wide selection of BioBags, Tote bags and cotton shopping bags. Any of these bags are a great way for you to stop using plastic bags and start to clean up the environment.

Climate Progress Person of the Year

Climate Progress: Until last week, this long-beloved annual traditional of Climate Progress seemed to be a lock for one person — Nobel laureate, itinerant educator, and media superstar Al Gore. Sadly, he only makes first runner up this year. Similar to Time magazine, our Person of the Year is awarded to the person or group who “for better or for worse … has done the most to influence the events of the year” in the climate arena.

By single-handedly stopping any international action on climate at Bali, by stopping California from regulating tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions, by forcing Congress to drop almost all non-oil-related provisions to cut GHGs from the energy bill — all in one week! — one man proved his unchallenged high-impact misleadership on the issue of the century: Dick Cheney George Bush.

Grim climate change report spurs UN call for 'breakthrough'

AFP: "The Nobel-winning IPCC group of climate scientists on Saturday issued their starkest warning yet on global warming, prompting a UN demand for politicians to smash the deadlock on tackling the worsening threat.

In a panorama of the evidence, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) declared that the impact of global warming could be "abrupt or irreversible" and no country would be spared."

Climate science: Sceptical about bias

BBC NEWS: "Stefan Rahmstorf from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, who is something of an anti-hero to sceptics' groups as he believes IPCC projections of sea-level rise are far too conservative, had heard this argument before, and he wrote in telling me it was far from convincing.

"How likely is it that my funding would suffer if I found a good alternative explanation for the observed global warming, or that I would have trouble publishing it (assuming it would be methodologically sound, of course)?" he asked.

"Quite the contrary, I would see it as path to certain fame! Scientists always strive to find something radically new and different - just reconfirming what is already quite well-known is boring, and certainly will not get you the Nobel Prize.

Office Depot Launches Nationwide, In-Store Tech Recycling Program

Environmental Leader: "Office Depot has launched a new “Tech Recycling Service” available at all of its 1,100-plus retail store locations in North America. The program, which was piloted in 2006 in approximately 100 stores in the U.S., has resulted in the recycling of more than 108,000 pounds of technology."

Staples First Major Retailer to Accept E-waste

Earth 911: " Staples, Inc., the world’s largest office products company, today announced that it now makes it easy to recycle used computers and other office technology at any Staples store nationwide, becoming the first national retailer to offer computer recycling in stores every day.

Staples makes it easy for customers to recycle e-waste by simply bringing their used computers, monitors, laptops, printers, faxes and all-in-ones to any U.S. Staples store, where the equipment will be recycled in accordance with environmental laws. All brands will be accepted, regardless of whether or not the equipment was purchased at Staples, for a fee of $10 per large item. Staples is working with Amandi Services, one of the country’s most experienced and innovative electronics recyclers, to handle recycling of the equipment, following standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).