Very Scary Things - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com

So I’m working on a climate-related project, and reading Marty Weitzman on extreme uncertainty (pdf). Weitzman directs us to the example of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, when temperatures rose about 6 degrees C over 20,000 years, and there were mass extinctions.

Meanwhile, I know from Joe Romm that serious climate modelers have marked up their estimates lately, and are predicting a rise of more than 5 degrees under business as usual.

Yikes.

Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Paleocene/Eocene boundary, 55.8 million years ago, was marked by the most rapid and significant climatic disturbance of the Cenozoic Era. A sudden global warming event, leading to the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, alternatively "Eocene thermal maximum 1" (ETM1), and formerly known as the "Initial Eocene" or "Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum",[1] (IETM/LPTM)), is associated with changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation, the extinction of numerous deep-sea benthic foraminifera, and a major turnover in mammalian life on land which is coincident with the emergence of many of today's major mammalian orders.

Democratic candidate in Colo. guv race questions climate science | Grist

“I get in trouble every time I say this, but I’m not 100 percent absolutely sure that climate change is occurring at the rate that some people fear it is and is going to be as catastrophic.”

—Denver mayor and gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper, speaking at the Colorado Rural Electric Association’s annual meeting. Hickenlooper had previously called for action to stave off climate change and even attended the Copenhagen climate summit in December. Any wonder Republicans are accusing him of flip-flopping?

Fifteen states have [realist]-driven resolutions to deny climate threat | Grist

a Wonk Room investigation has found at least 15 state legislatures attempting to prevent limits on greenhouse gas pollution.