The 'age of the machine' is drowning out natural sound, Bernie Krause warns | Environment | guardian.co.uk

He says he can tell how healthy a place is from a 10-second recording.

RealClimate: Embargos and confidentiality

the need for journalists to get an unaffiliated opinion from the author’s peers is an essential check on the occasional tendency of press releases to go over the top when pushing a particular study, and is something that should be happening more, not less.

"Scientist" claims Earth may run out of plants

Publicity-hungry scientists find a goldmine in global warming. Just think up some extreme implication of it and the media will be all over you. It is a temptation to which many respond. "Running out of plants" is however a more extreme extrapolation than usual.

It is so ignorant that it is difficult to know where to start when critiquing it -- so I will mention just two main points. The biggest fallacy is in regarding the total biomass on earth as fixed. It is not. It is responsive to two major factors: Water availability and carbon availability. Plants are almost entirely made up of water and carbon. And guess what the global warming theory implies: More water (through evaporation of the seas) and more carbon in the form of CO2. Plants like warmer temperatures too. So the clear implication of global warming is that we should have A LOT MORE plantlife in future. So bring on that CO2!

The other main point is China. China shows vividly how responsive to politics plants are. China under Mao was a major food importer. Australian wheat farmers blessed him regularly. Under a more capitalistic system, however, China is a major food exporter -- being in fact the world's biggest exporter of fruit and vegetables. You have probably seen Chinese offerings in the Produce section of your local supermarket. So if we really are running low on food plants, bring on more capitalism! Capitalism is good for plants too! -- JR

Climate: El Niño Stalls, Outlook Uncertain | ThinkProgress

This year’s El Niño is likely to be one of the weaker versions of the event in recent memory, according to experts with the National Climatic Data Center, who discussed the fall outlook and reviewed the long, hot summer at teleconference last week.
...
The North Pacific is not cooperating … there’s a cold area near Alaska. It’s not quite a perfect setup for a warm event in the tropics,” said NOAA scientist Huug van den Dool.