The Week That Was - August 8 2013

This week, an election for Australia is called for September 7, Arctic ice is contributing to sea level rise more than previously thought, young people are still very concerned about climate change, and in a big day for climate reports, findings of Australia’s extreme weather preparedness Senate inquiry and the State of the (US) Climate Report have been released.

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"It appears that the ice melting is contributing twice as much to global sea level rise as warming waters."
Jessica Blunden, NOAA National Climatic Data Center climatologist.

Australian PM Kevin Rudd has called the election, it will be on September 7, so the nation is officially in election mode. Some pundits have set out clearly what is on the cards in terms of climate change.

Just quickly, on the election … Mr Abbott still seems a little unclear on who or what is benefitting from the price on carbon at the same time that he seems very clear that if he is elected he will trash the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and in yet another retrograde step for the environment and the economy, he maintains a steadfast tunnel vision.

Is it too much to hope that both of the candidates have read that the issue of climate change is number 5 for young people? And let’s hope they read the extreme weather preparedness Senate inquiry findings released yesterday.

In the meantime, the news is just in that Arctic ice is melting rapidly and contributing more to sea level rise than the warming of our seas is.

And further – a recent article in the New Scientist tells us that the darkening of sea ice in the Arctic is making it less able to reflect solar radiation to the atmosphere.

And still, natural indicators are telling us that the climate is warming – fish are migrating to cooler waters, we are told this week, and coral reefs are disappearing…

But the good news is that the solar revolution, here in Australia, shows no sign of abating, and all of the indications are that our friends at CSIRO agree with the Stanford folk that solar panels are becoming easier and more efficient to produce. And there is still a lot to be said about good old fashioned energy efficiency measures to reduce our carbon pollution. Yay.

Poor old Queensland, despite being the sunshine state, is still struggling with open topped coal shipments as an issue.

In the US this week the State of the Climate Report tells whoever is listening that humanity is a major influence on the climatic changes over the past 50 years. In the meantime the US and China are actively working together to figure out a way to reduce their carbon pollution.

And I just don’t know how you can write about this week without mentioning that ... NASA tells us that the Sun is about to flip its magnetic field. And talking about big things, a new report tells us that the Earth is changing ‘more quickly’ right now, then anytime since the extinction of the dinosaurs.

For those of us who did not get to Chicago, here is a first person account from one of our newest Climate Leaders … and a beautiful photo essay to finish on – life and climate change in Greenland. Enjoy!


Image courtesy of Flickr user FutUndBeidl