Earth warming 50 times faster than the last 5,000 years of cooling

Temperature change over past 11,300 years (in blue, via Science, 2013) plus projected warming 
this century on humanity's current emissions path (in red, via recent literature).

An extraordinary look at 11,300 years of temperature data confirms that the global temperature is higher than at anytime in the last 4,000 years and is warming 50 times faster than the rate of cooling over the last 5,000 years. [Climate Progress] [Science]

NY Times and Washington Post abandon environmental coverage

Two of the premier newspapers in the country have basically abandoned the story of the century — climate change — as a specialized beat. The NY Times shut down its Green Blog (fast on the heels of dismantling its environment desk) and the Washingon Post is switching its lead climate reporter, Juliet Eilperin, off the environment beat.

These epic blunders in editorial judgment essentially signal the end of the era of great national newspapers — certainly neither the New York Times nor Washingon Post qualify anymore. One can hardly be a great national newspaper while moving to slash coverage of the single most important story to the nation (and the world), the story that will have the biggest impact on the lives of readers and their children in the coming decades.

[Climate Progress]

The NY Times Public Editor agrees. 

"Many readers are unhappy and disillusioned about the changes, believing that they speak to declining interest on the part of top editors in this important subject. And in the case of the blog, they miss having a single online destination for environmental developments that may not be big enough to make it into the paper and for other voices from freelance contributors."

"Here’s my take: I’m not convinced that The Times’s environmental coverage will be as strong without the team and the blog. Something real has been lost on a topic of huge and growing importance."

Coal Plants Closing

American Electric Power (AEP) will shut down three plants in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky by 2015 — retiring a total of 2,011 megawatts of coal-burning capacity.  AEP agreed to install 200 megawatts of wind and solar energy by 2015 in Michigan and Indiana to partially offset the loss of coal-fired power. 

With the latest shut-downs, utilities have now closed or announced the closing of 142 coal-burning plants since 2010.  [Clean Techies]

The Case for Fossil Fuel Divestment

Bill McKibben has written yet another must read article in Rolling Stone - on the inevitability of the divestment movement on college campuses. 

"The logic of divestment couldn't be simpler: if it's wrong to wreck the climate, it's wrong to profit from that wreckage." 

Read the rest of the article here. 

Next Step: Existing Electric Power Plants

Electric power plants spew about 40 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution in the United States, but, amazingly, there are no federal limits on utility emissions of this potent greenhouse gas. The Obama administration plans to remedy this situation by drafting rules that would curtail these discharges from existing plants. The president should make sure they are tough. Nothing he can do will cut greenhouse gases more.

To achieve these reductions, the rules should favor making homes, buildings and power plants more energy efficient over the more costly conversion of coal-fired plants to natural gas. Expanding energy efficiency will reduce electricity demand and eliminate the need for the coal plants. Closing them is better than converting them to gas.

[NY Times Op-Ed]

Strong Communities Build Solutions to Climate Change

Research conducted at the University of Colorado at Boulder suggests that if government cares about solving problems like climate change, or clean energy jobs, or entrepreneurship, then social norms — the unwritten rules of community conduct — might matter as much as rebates and incentives.

In fact, bolstering civic participation and fostering communities that value neighborliness, societal cohesion, family relationships, and community-mindedness might be just as important as economic policy in addressing climate change.

It has become clear that to endure in a climate-changed world, we'll have to work with our neighbors in a more real and meaningful way. Maybe a few hours of volunteering every month is a small price to pay.

[Denver Post]

Oil Subsidies survive sequestration

Big oil tax breaks celebrated their 100th anniversary on the same day that sequestration went into effect. 

The oil depletion allowance went into effect March 1, 1913. Closing this tax break would save $11 Billion over the next 10 years. 

President Obama called for the elimination of the oil depletion allowance and several other big oil subsidies that would save $4 billion dollars a year. 

Congress refused to cut oil industry subsidies and instead we are cutting air traffic controllers and national park funding. 

The top 5 oil companies made $118 Billion dollars in profits at a time when consumers are paying record high prices for gasoline and heating oil. 

[Climate Progress]