An exchange on climate and energy legislation: must it include a carbon constraint?

Revkin reply re #8:

I encourage you to click on the video in which I lead a discussion between Joe Romm and Michael Levi on policy options, both domestic and international — particularly at the time signature I mention and beyond. There Joe talks about the importance of a climate bill lying in the creation of *any* price on carbon (knowing, as I’m sure he does, that only a very low price — far too low to drive change — is politically realistic). That means he, in essence, is in the same camp with those calling for a low carbon price from the get-go, labeled as such (the other Nordhaus, some guy named Lomborg…). So, once again, this shows (me at least) what a waste of time it is to fight NOW for the climate-policy full monty.

Alarmist Nicholas Kristof - Our Beaker Is Starting to Boil - NYTimes.com

The upshot is that we’re horrifyingly nonchalant at the prospect that rising carbon emissions may devastate our favorite planet.

Twitter / Andy Revkin

NASA wonders why thermosphere shrank so much. http://j.mp/ThermNASA CO2 clearly involved: http://j.mp/ThermoSphr But not sufficient. #space

A Puzzling Collapse of Earth's Upper Atmosphere - NASA Science

When carbon dioxide gets into the thermosphere, it acts as a coolant, shedding heat via infrared radiation. It is widely-known that CO2 levels have been increasing in Earth's atmosphere. Extra CO2 in the thermosphere could have magnified the cooling action of solar minimum.

"But the numbers don't quite add up," says Emmert. "Even when we take CO2 into account using our best understanding of how it operates as a coolant, we cannot fully explain the thermosphere's collapse."

According to Emmert and colleagues, low solar EUV accounts for about 30% of the collapse. Extra CO2 accounts for at least another 10%. That leaves as much as 60% unaccounted for.