Carbon Nation

"We're Not Commenting on Science, But..."

Eric Roston — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:12:00 GMT

An SEC commissioner misrepresented climate science in public comments last week about the agency's new climate change risk guidance, which passed by a 3-2 vote. The measure was put forward to bring greater consistency to companies' risk disclosures about new legislation,regulations, treaties, and physical changes from global warming. [The SEC released the actual guidance [pdf] last night but I haven't had time to read it yet.]The Commission took no official position on climate science. But Commissioner Kathleen Casey, who voted against measure, commented on science briefly before declining to comment on it. She said, in part, "The science surrounding global warming remains far from settled."The last few months have brought a string of stories that make climate science seem far from settled. First, the tranche of 1,000e-mails leaked from the University of East Anglia displayed cattiness and clique-iness on the part of some top climate scientists, and may result in greater openness in temperature data analysis and peer-reviewed journal practices. Investigations are ongoing into the matter. For now, nothing in the e-mails appears to have had much effect on our understanding of global change. Second, the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change apologized for saying in its 2007 report, which runs to about 3,000 pages, that Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2035.Thankfully, the picture is more complicated. Finally, IPCC chair Rajendra Pachauri is fighting for his post, after the Himalayan error and revelations of questionable business relationships have raised conflict-of-interest questions. Science isn't an orthodoxy, ideology,or belief system. If something's wrong or missing, you acknowledge it and move on.These three issues have had greater resonance politically than scientifically. That's because climate science is quite robust. We understand the world is warming. The 00's were the hottest decade on record, followed by the 90s and then the ...

Nobel Family Reactions

Eric Roston — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:10:00 GMT

The Obama kids' reaction to the Nobel Peace Prize announcement this morning is memorable, but not quite as amusing as Hans Bethe's wife, Rose's, reaction to his winning of the1967 Physics prize:

On Tuesday, October 11, 1967, the phone rang at about six in the morning. This was about an hour and a half before my normal time to get up. It was a phone call from a Swedish journalist who told me that I had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics that year. The stated work for which I was being awarded the prize was the discovery of stellar energy production mechanisms. This, of course, made me very happy.

The phone never stopped ringing that morning. If it wasn't friends or family calling with congratulations, it was journalists wanting to know how I felt. My brother-in-law, who was visiting from England, was afraid that World War III had started and that it was the government calling so often. My wife was sleeping blissfully in another room. She finally woke up around 7:30 A.M.I had just enough time to tell her what had happened before the Swedish reporter Mr. Feldkirch arrived to film my day. At about the same time, a call came,which Rose answered. It was from the University wanting to know whether they could schedule interviews and a reception. Knowing my dislike of disruptions of my normal schedule and still half asleep, she responded, "Okay. The day is shot anyway." This answer made the local news, and she had to live with it for along time.

From: Bethe, Hans. "My Life in Astrophysics." Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 41 (2003): 1-14.
...

Monkey Business

Eric Roston — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:35:00 GMT

First Things First: The American “century”began 150 years ago today, when a salt water drill slipped into acrevice 69 feet below the surface, essentially striking oil for“Colonel” Edward Drake and the backers of his unlikely expedition. Thefind made Titusville, Penn., the first global capital of the oilindustry.After Drake & Co., the earliest winners in the rise of the oilindustry were, of course, the whales, who had always selfishlypreferred to use their illuminating oil as a buoyancy-controlmechanism. But after them, hundreds of millions of people, billions,would win with oil. The small decisions of individuals, families, andbusinesses lifted many from subsistence agriculture to lives betterthan much of history’s royalty. In the process, it created what may beour thorniest “tragedy of the commons,” as Swarthmore professor BarrySchwartz writes in his recent essay, “Tyranny for the Commons Man.”Many solutions to the “tragedy” are well known and often discussed,such as the transition from oil addiction to “energy independence.”That medicine goes down only with heavy swallowing in the originalSaudi Arabia of energy: Saudi Arabia. Former U.S. and U.K. ambassadorPrince Turki al-Faisal pens a defenseof his nation during the price escalations of recent years, insteadblaming, “civil strife, failed investments, or in the case of Iraq, aU.S. invasion,” and hedge fund managers. Production trends in 1998suggested that by 2008, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, and Venezuela wouldtogether produce 18.4 million barrels per day. Last year, they managed10.2 million barrels. Parts of his essay resonate with U.S. energypundits, who point out that what’s attainable is “energy security,” not“energy independence,” which is much harder.Hello, Goodbye: The article appears amid a star-studded lineup in Foreign Policy’s Special Report, “Oil: The Long Goodbye.” Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates and author of The Prize, writes the magazine’s lead piece,and looks at new trends in the oil industry since the early 90s. ...

Dial "C" for Carbon: Almost Anything Earthly May Pick up the Phone

Eric Roston — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:21:00 GMT

The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star recently asked me to pen n op-ed explaining what "carbon" is. They published it today:

Alfred Hitchcock filled his movies with suspense by picking some object of life-or-death consequence--microfilm, documents, uranium-filled wine bottles--and setting his characters in pursuit. The great director had a nickname for this plot-driver: the MacGuffin. The funny thing is, as long as his characters found the MacGuffin something to kill for, Hitchcock never particularly cared what the consequences were.

Too often the media treat topics of great national import as
MacGuffins, the things that politicians are fighting over this
week--though it never seems to matter what thing or what week. Our
national storytellers never particularly care what the consequences of
"it" are.

Case in point: Senators will return in two weeks from their summer
recess and are expected to consider a climate-change bill similar to
the one the House narrowly passed in June. The policy would gradually
reduce U.S. carbon emissions by adding a price to polluting that
commodifies its potential social cost. Judged by the steady ticker of
news headlines this year--Wall Street bonuses! Health care! Climate
change!--it would be reasonable to conclude that "carbon" is just
another in a series of media MacGuffins. This is to our universal
impoverishment.

Never mind the serious risks posed by climate change, and
the difficulties we have in addressing them. Instead, think about this:
What are the consequences of narrowly depicting "carbon" as
"troublemaker," as the MacGuffin we chase to move the climate-change
story forward?

There are two main consequences here. The first is that we have become blind to something much bigger, the greatest detective story of all time. It's not ...

Reality: The Ulitmate Wedge Issue

Eric Roston — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:20:00 GMT

First Things First: Research continues apace to find definitions of “clean tech” and “green jobs” that sound more meaningful than campaign rhetoric. In a new report [pdf], the Pew Charitable Trusts pinned down its working description of “clean energy economy” and analyzed 10 years of jobs data, through the 50 states, looking for trends. Analysts found that clean-economy jobs grew at an annual rate of 9.1 percent, compared with 3.7 percent job growth economy-wide. Growth came in both the white- and blue-collar sectors, including professionals “from scientists and engineers to electricians, machinists and teachers.” Major legislation, such as a climate bill or the current health care initiative, motivates groups who believe they have the most to gain or lose. Here, that means the extractive industries. About 3,500 people converged on a major Houston theater to rally against anticipated Senate climate change legislation. Many attendees work in the energy industry, and major energy firms and business groups backed the event. Similar rallies are expected in 19 states in the next few weeks. An NGO sneaked around the grounds, concluding the event was a large “company picnic.” The conversation moves to Washington next month. A career-long interest in environmental issues and climate change, coupled with his mien as a senior statesman in the Senate, make Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) likely to play a consensus-building role in this fall’s climate debate. Bloomberg files an overview of the state of play, leading with former Sen. Tim Wirth’s (D-Colo.) objections to the recent House bill. A new National Academies report takes a close look at what the Capitol, literally, can do about its own internal energy policy. Negotiators left Bonn, where ...

Grid, for Lack of a Better Word, Is Good

Eric Roston — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:11:00 GMT

For the last three months I have been writing weekly climate news analyses, targeted for two audiences: Busy people outside the "climate archipelago" who want keep up, but have no time to read more than 1,000 words a week and don't know what to read; busy people inside the "climate archipelago" who might not be able to see the other islands clearly from where they're sitting. The URL for the home site is www.ClimatePost.net . With this, I'll begin re-posting here. First Things First: Cars, trucks, planes, and other things that go add more greenhouse gas to the atmosphere than any other sector where end-users burn their own fuel. And transportation added more energy-and-climate headlines this week than any other sector, driven by an emergency congressional payout to continue the “cash-for-clunkers” program and General Motors’ promotional campaign for the Chevy Volt, its plug-in hybrid electric-and-gas car. GM’s message is simple enough: “230.” That’s the number of miles that the carmaker says the Volt can travel per gallon of gas, news greeted with a mix of exuberance and skepticism. Many reporters, analysts, and bloggers see symbolism in Chevy’s very announcement, namely, that the company has chosen to speak of its future in the language of the past. By measuring the Volt against the traditional miles-per-gallon yardstick, GM is fixing the electricity-powered car in the framework of gasoline. The Volt is expected to cost about $40,000 and go on sale at the end of 2011. Question: Could a “cash-for-chargers” program be far behind? Another question: If it’s true, as a former GM official once famously said, that “you don’t roll out a new product in August,” what does an ...

Now, with 1/4 the carbon!

Eric Roston — Sun, 31 May 2009 14:56:00 GMT

New non-fiction paperbacksBarnes & Noble, M Street, Washington, DCMay 30, 2009, 12:20 p.m. ...

"A Winner and a Keeper"

Eric Roston — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:36:00 GMT

A lovely take on The Carbon Age from Choice, an American Library Association journal:

Roston, Eric. The carbon age: how life's core element has become civilization's greatest threat. Walker & Company, 2008. 309p bibl index afp ISBN 0-8027-1557-5, $26.00; ISBN 9780802715579, $26.00.
46-3803 QH344 2008-2754 CIP

Fresh from six years covering technology, science, and energy for Time
magazine, Roston has written his first book--a winner and a keeper. He
begins by outlining the nuclear reactions that form carbon inside large
stars. Although schoolchildren commonly understand that carbon is the
skeletal element that holds biomass together and climate change
researchers know that the Earth's carbon cycle plays a major role as a
greenhouse gas, Roston sees carbon's abundance and widespread
distribution as an important starting point that creates an opportunity
for the synthesis of organic molecules and the creation of life itself.
Roston's assertion that carbon is generated by the nuclear fusion of
three helium nuclei is strongly supported by eminent scientists such as
Fred Hoyle, who was at Caltech in the 1950s. Hoyle disproved elements
of George Gamow's big bang hypothesis in 1953 by demonstrating that the
birthplace of the element carbon is the interior of stars that reach
temperatures of 100 million K (kelvin). The nuclear fusion origin of
carbon is convincing and understandable, though later chapters
addressing evolution, cyanobacteria, photosynthesis, and organic
molecules require patience and some chemical knowledge. However, the
final chapter becomes a convincing, easy read and offers a pathway to
sustainable living. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All
levels/libraries. -- R. M. Ferguson, emeritus, Eastern Connecticut State University