Research Finds That Earth's Climate is Approaching 'Dangerous' Point

May 30, 2007

NASA and Columbia University Earth Institute research finds that human-made greenhouse gases have brought the Earth's climate close to critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet.

How Can We Avoid Dangerous Human-Made Climate Change (#12281 ; 85 minutes; 3/26/2007 ) James Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies addresses anthropogenic climate change and what we can do about it. He is followed by a panel discussing the potential impact of climate change on society and what options we have to slow greenhouse gas emissions.

Watch it now using RealPlayer.

Global Warming: Can We Avoid Dangerous Climate Change? (4.1 MB PDF). Slides for a presentation given Jan. 9, 2007, to "Operation Sierra Storm" Television Meteorologists Conference. Also available in PowerPoint (10 MB).

Hi all,

Here's the contact info for our Assemblymembers. Please contact them and ask them to support the Clean Car Discount bill. You can read more about it below.

Cheers,
Bill

Dave Jones (AD-09) (916) 319 - 2009
assemblymember.jones@assembly.ca.gov

Roger Niello (AD-05) (916) 319-2005
assemblymember.niello@assembly.ca.gov

Alan Nakanishi (AD-10) (916) 319-2010
assemblymember.nakanishi@assembly.ca.gov

The California Assembly is going to vote in the next two days on a bill that would make cleaner cars more affordable for California families. As you'd imagine, the automobile industry is up in arms over the idea of promoting cleaner cars -- so they're fighting this bill tooth and nail.

This law would be a great victory for cleaning our air and reducing global warming pollution but we need you to make a phone call to help make it a reality.

Please urge your state assemblymember to stand up to the auto industry and vote YES on Assembly Bill 493 - the Clean Car Discount bill.

Here's a sample message you can leave:

Have Java installed on your PC? Click the pic for timelapse video

Via theoildrum.com KAC/UCF [University of Central Florida] and Chuck Watson are forecasting, based on their damage models, that the Qalhat (Sur) [Oman] LNG terminal will be out for 20-30 days and the Mina al Fahal [Oman] oil terminal will be down for 10-15 days--all of this assuming they are built to US standards.

Stratfor.com

A Category 5 cyclone with winds of up to 195 mph is heading toward one of the world’s most productive energy basins, threatening local devastation and global disruption at a point at which oil prices are already flirting with record highs. For once, the region in question is not the Gulf of Mexico. There is cause for concern; Cyclone Gonu is headed directly for the Strait of Hormuz.

The cyclone is rotating counterclockwise — as it would in the Gulf of Mexico — meaning that, should it enter the Persian Gulf, the gulf’s west coast would suffer the most serious damage. Along the west coast, low-lying areas are the norm, and there are few barrier islands like the ones that line the Gulf of Mexico to absorb much of the storm surge that could therefore penetrate miles inland.

Like all weather phenomena, hurricanes and cyclones are notoriously fickle, so there is (thankfully) no guarantee Gonu will enter the Persian Gulf, much less wreck it. But there are two facilities that bear specific mention: the Ras Tanura and Ras al-Juaymah oil loading platforms in Saudi Arabia. So far, the chances of either of these facilities suffering a direct hit are very slim — Gonu is still 750 miles away from those export points — but they collectively pump nearly 10 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude. These facilities, while critical to global energy supplies and — due to their size — largely immune to terrorist attacks, are not particularly hurricane resistant. After all, they were built in an area where such storms are almost unheard of. Other (hardly insignificant) energy installations dot the region in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — most of them on the west coast. Luckily, there is little offshore production in the Persian Gulf — unlike in the Gulf of Mexico — so there is unlikely to be much permanent damage to the oil production facilities themselves.

EPA to hold clean cars hearing in Sacramento

California has taken steps to reduce our impact on global warming by setting standards for cleaner cars and SUVs. However, in order to implement the standards, California needs a stamp of approval from the Bush EPA, and the EPA has been sitting on this decision for nearly a year and a half.

If you really want to make your voice heard, you should come to the hearing in Sacramento on Wednesday, May 30. The hearing starts at 9 a.m. and will last through the afternoon. You will have a chance to speak if you like or just show your support.

WHEN: 9 a.m., Wednesday, May 30
WHERE: Byron Sher Auditorium, Cal/EPA Headquarters, 1001 I Street, Sacramento, California
Time: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - 9:00am PST

Yet another reason we need Clean Money campaigns in CA.
--Bill

Big Oil buys Sacramento
Why You’re Not Hearing A Peep From California Politicians on Record-High Gas Prices.
by Jamie Court and Judy Dugan : Published on Monday, May 14, 2007 by The Los Angeles Times

Who’s afraid of Big Oil? Apparently, California’s elected officials. Gasoline prices are stuck well above last year’s record highs and about 50 cents above the national average. Yet state politicians are not saying or doing a thing, except for raking in political cash from the oil companies and flying around the world on their dime.

Take Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who once claimed that he was so rich he did not need anyone else’s money - and who isn’t running for another office. Yet as gasoline prices were breaking last year’s record of $3.38 a gallon, Schwarzenegger collected a $100,000 check May 1 from Chevron, the West’s largest refiner. The company certainly had the cash on hand. Just three days earlier, it reported a $4.7-billion first-quarter profit, up 18% over the same period last year.

Bush Names Exxon Chief to Chart America's Energy Future

Even for an administration dedicated to putting industry lobbyists in charge of the very agencies they have devoted their careers to undermining (coal and oil lobbyist J. Stephen Griles as Deputy Secretary of the Interior is one of dozens of examples), President Bush has recently outdone himself. He has named Lee Raymond, the retired chief of ExxonMobil, to head a key study to help America chart a cleaner course for our energy needs. Raymond currently chairs the National Petroleum Council (NPC), one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington.