Global warming may hurt some poor populations, benefit others

"The impacts we're talking about are mainly driven by warmer temperatures, which dry up the soil, speed up crop development and shut down biological processes, like photosynthesis, that plants rely on," he added. "Plants in general don't like it hotter [the plants in my yard must be exceptional--they seem to do MUCH better in summer than in winter], and in many climate forecasts, the temperatures projected for 2030 would be outside the range that crops prefer."

The study revealed a surprising mix of winners and losers depending on the projected global temperature. The "most likely" scenario projected by the International Panel on Climate Change is that global temperatures will rise 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) by 2030. In that scenario, the trade model projected relatively little change in crop yields, food prices and poverty rates.

£60m bill for the CO2 of our political class - Telegraph

The net result of all this trading and jiggery-pokery is that, after billions of pounds and dollars have changed hands, with a hefty commission for those bankers and other carbon traders along the way, there is no reduction in greenhouse gas emissions whatever. But at least our political class can continue to work in warm offices and fly righteously round the world on our behalf – while the rest of us foot the bill.

What Matters Most? - Dot Earth Blog - NYTimes.com

[Indur Goklany] Until the start of the Industrial Revolution, mankind was poor, hungry, illiterate, constantly at the mercy of disease and the elements, and short-lived; child labor was the norm; and one’s life opportunities were predetermined by sex and parentage. Today, despite an octupling of the world’s population, mankind has never been wealthier, better fed, less hungry, better educated, longer-lived and healthier; less constrained by caste, class, and sex; and 75 percent of global population is no longer mired in absolute poverty. This progress was enabled by economic development and technological change driven by cheap energy — all made possible by institutions underlying individual economic freedom. To extend this progress to a larger share of humanity and those not yet born, even as the world’s population increases, what matters most is to continue to nourish or, if necessary, develop these institutions.

Climate Literacy » Blog Archive » The Climate Literacy/Energy Awareness Gap

Even in the recent economic down-turn, Boulder, with the vast majority of its electrical power coming from the coal-burning Valmont Power Plant, powering a large University and National Laboratories that conduct much of the nation’s research on climate, along with 40,000 people commuting into Boulder each work day, has experienced only a slight negative economic downturn… enough to perhaps explain the slight reduction in emissions that occurred last year.

And as the WSJ article points out, some of the problem Boulder is facing in terms of meeting the Kyoto goal (reducing emissions by 8% below 1990 levels by 2012) relate to the fact that it is easier to talk the talk than walk it.

YouTube - Unscientific America How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future 1/4

[Smug young alarmist] Chris Mooney is a journalist and blogger who focuses on science and politics. He is the author of three books, The Republican War on Science and Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming in addition to his most recent.

Flashback: "Real"Climate: Storm World: A Review

...You will also not be surprised to find that William Gray and Kerry Emanuel are the two most prominently featured scientists. In part of course, because they neatly symbolize the two opposing camps in the current debate: contrast for example Emanuel’s work demonstrating a linkage between increasing hurricane intensity and global warming with Gray’s denial of any such link.