“Energy and Society” Course: Professor Desrochers’s Model for the Academy — MasterResource

I recently encountered Professor Desrochers syllabus for his Energy and Society course that he is currently teaching at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Wow! Lucky are his students; this course is a model for its subject for North American and far beyond.

'Settled Science' and CO2 - NYTimes.com

6:42 p.m. | Postscript | I belatedly just caught up with a highly relevant 2009 Real Climate post in which Gavin Schmidt wrote:

Unusually, I’m in complete agreement with a recent headline on the Wall Street Journal op-ed page:

“The Climate Science Isn’t Settled”

Hot the new normal!!! | Climate Nonconformist

Notice the phrase “soaring temperatures”. One could only use the adjective “soaring” if they had not looked at the temperature record over the past century. On what planet is 0.7°C over a century (that’s 0.007°C/year) considered “soaring”?

Now let’s look at things from the perspective of geological time. The temperature of the Holocene interglacial peaked around 8000 years ago, where it was significantly warmer than today. Todays wildlife have obviously made it through this time. That being said, how does one define “extreme” temperatures? Animals have obviously experienced more extreme temperatures before (relative to today). What reference point do you use to define the average?

Documentary director puts face to climate change - Education - News - Inner West Courier

The only one of 13 siblings to leave the island, Ms Tiimon now lives in Sydney, where she works for a non-government organisation raising awareness of climate change issues in the Pacific.