Paris talks tangled on how to divide up responsibility for climate action

Thomson Reuters Foundation – Wed, 9 Dec 2015 14:07 GMT

Author: Megan Rowling

(Updates with latest version of draft agreement)
U.N. talks on a new global climate change deal expected in Paris this week were hamstrung on Wednesday over how to distinguish between action by rich and poor nations – an issue that affects many aspects of the agreement, from aid to emissions reductions.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, releasing the latest version of a draft agreement mid-afternoon, said the question of “differentiation” was one of three cross-cutting issues that still needed “deep, in-depth discussion”.

Late on Tuesday, ministers leading negotiations to iron out the problem said fault lines remained, and countries were not yet ready to put their final positions on the table.

…(read more).

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Sanders Blasts Republicans for Corporate-Funded Climate Denialism

Meanwhile, GOP presidential candidates continue to take anti-science positions on global warming
by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer

Republicans may not want to admit it, but when it comes to climate change, “the evidence is overwhelming,” Bernie Sanders declared on Tuesday. (Photo: Erik J. Olson/flickr/cc)

Science-denying Republicans—intent on derailing local, national, and global attempts to avert a looming climate crisis—have their priorities all wrong, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday.

“I find it unacceptable that many of my Republican colleagues are more worried about campaign contributions they’re getting from the Koch brothers and others in the fossil fuel industry than they are about preserving the planet for our children and grandchildren,” Sen. Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement urging the U.S. to take the lead in stopping global warming.

The U.S. senator made his remarks just hours after President Barack Obama, upon leaving the COP21 climate summit taking place in Paris, called for certain aspects of a climate change agreement to be legally binding—a demand that is sure to raise the ire of Republicans in Congress and beyond.

…(read more).

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Fear at the Tap: Uranium Contamination in Water

Associated Press

Published on Dec 7, 2015

Uranium, the stuff of nuclear fuel for power plants and atom bombs, increasingly is showing in drinking water systems in major farming regions of the U.S. West — a natural though unexpected byproduct of irrigation, drought, and overpumping. (Dec. 8)

* * *

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/f80be349f2a9483e8f7cdfead9056e70.htm
Date: December 8, 2015 Source: AP / Powered by NewsLook.com Summary: Uranium, the stuff of nuclear fuel for power plants and atom bombs, increasingly is showing in drinking water systems in major farming regions of the U.S. West a natural though unexpected byproduct of irrigation, drought, and overpumping. (Dec. 8) Video provided by AP

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Sen. Inhofe Discusses COP 21 with Varney & Co. on Fox Business

Senator Jim Inhofe

Published on Dec 1, 2015

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Inhofe on COP-21 Climate Agreement

Senator Jim Inhofe

Published on Dec 9, 2015

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Learning More About Storms – By Flying Into Them | Here & Now

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

A view out the window of the NOAA research plane, with the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in the distance. The plane is gaining altitude to fly into the storm cloud. (Danielle Venton/KQED)

State officials in Oregon say landslides and high water have closed parts of many state highways. That’s after being hammered by a heavy rain storm – the kind scientists call an “atmospheric river.” In most years, West Coast states count on four to six of these super-soakers for as much as half of their annual precipitation.

Scientists have a lot to learn about these storms, including how they form and what makes them so strong. The best way to study the storms is by flying into them head-on. Danielle Venton from Here & Now contributor KQED climbed aboard one of the research planes and brought back this report.

• Read more on this story via KQED

Reporter

• Danielle Venton, reporter for KQED. She tweets @DanielleVenton.

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President Obama’s Climate Change Goal

The Daily Conversation

Published on Dec 9, 2015

President Barack Obama lays out his vision for how the world will tackle climate change, starting with an agreement at the 2015 Paris Climate Summit.

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What Rapidly Melting Polar Ice Means For The Planet’s Future | Here & No w

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2015/12/09/rapidly-melting-polar-ice

What Rapidly Melting Polar Ice Means For The Planet’s Future

http://audio.wbur.org/download.php?url=//audio.wbur.org/storage/2015/12/hereandnow_1209_rapidly-melting-polar-ice.mp3

http://audio.wbur.org/download.php?url=//audio.wbur.org/storage/2015/12/hereandnow_1209_rapidly-melting-polar-ice.mp3

The installation by Olafur Eliasson is part of a project presented during the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21), the United Nations conference on climate change taking place at le Bourget, on the outskirts of Paris, from November 30 to December 11. (Eric Feferberg/AFP/Getty Images)

As the U.N. Climate Change Conference winds down this week in Paris, people in the city can still go see a big, outdoor art installation outside the Pantheon that’s been up since the talks began: 88 tons of Arctic ice, trucked in from Greenland, arranged in the shape of a clock, slowly melting into the cobblestones. A visual, tangible representation of what’s at stake as the climate changes.

Waleed Abdalati, meanwhile, is watching ice melt – increasingly fast – in its natural habitat, in Greenland and Antarctica. He’s director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, at the University of Colorado Boulder, and a former chief scientist for NASA who studies polar ice.

“Ice is an interesting thing because it’s binary,” he tells Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson. “People get it. You see, ‘Oh, it was there and now it’s not.’ And you can see change. Temperature, you know what does 1 degree C mean? It’s 1 degree centigrade warmer. So what does that mean? But ice, there’s a very visual story that’s unfolding there, whereas with temperature it kind of creeps up on us and it’s hard to associate with directly.”

Abdalati discusses the changes scientists are seeing in glacial ice and sea ice, and what it means for the future of the planet.

Guest

• Waleed Abdalati, director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, at the University of Colorado Boulder, and a former chief scientist for NASA who studies polar ice.

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Storms Drench Pacific Northwest, Roads Flooded

Associated Press

Published on Dec 9, 2015

Torrential rains have soaked the Pacific Northwest creating dangerous floods and landslides across the region. (Dec. 9)

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Climate Matters: Major Milestones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJjSjqBeAFk
climatecentraldotorg

Published on Dec 9, 2015

What’s the big deal about hitting a couple of climate milestones related to heat and C02 levels in the atmosphere? Plenty, as meteorologists Sean Sublette explains in today’s Climate Matters.

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