Low-tech batteries power Canada’s army

The Arctic Rangers in Eureka, Nunavut – a troop of Inuit soldiers who patrol the Arctic – long ago switched to more expensive lithium batteries, which are better suited to the cold, to power their satellite telephones and global-positioning sensors in temperatures that can plummet to -35C.
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But the cold-weather shortcomings of the alkaline battery might also be affecting soldiers in Afghanistan. The military study found that, in -20C weather, AAs lose 80 per cent of their capacity, meaning the number of batteries required would triple to about 100 for a regular three-day mission.

The temperature in Kandahar drops significantly at night, and can dip below zero in the mountains.

Arkansas Legislature rejects majority of global-warming bills

LITTLE ROCK — Supporters hopeful that the 2009 regular session would usher in sweeping changes in Arkansas energy policy were disappointed by session's end that only a handful of bills recommended by the Arkansas Governor's Commission on Global Warming passed the Legislature.

The 21-member commission, created in 2007 by an act of the Legislature, produced a report last year containing 54 recommendations for reducing the state's contribution to climate change. A number of bills filed this session either originated with the commission or happened to coincide with its goals, but few were successful.

"Arkansas hasn't woken up enough to the global warming issue yet," said commission member Art Hobson. "So you don't see much concern about it in the Legislature. But we're going to wake up to it more and more."

Climate Extreme Reporting Presents Challenges - Capital Weather Gang

When an extreme event occurs, a reporter is often caught in a quandary. If we overplay the causal link between climate change and the event, then we can rightly be accused of being alarmist. A glaring example of this occurred in 2005, when veteran journalist Ross Gelbspan wrote in an op-ed in the Boston Globe in 2005 that global warming essentially caused Hurricane Katrina's devastation, which was contrary to scientific evidence. "The hurricane that struck Louisiana yesterday was nicknamed Katrina by the National Weather Service. Its real name is global warming," he stated.
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It would of course be extremely helpful if scientists could provide the media with more definitive guidance regarding under what circumstances we should or shouldn't bring climate change into a story, but as Pielke told me, "A world without nuance is probably much easy[ier] to cover, but it is not our world."