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October 5 News: ‘Once Again We Are Decades Ahead Of Schedule,’ Says Michael Mann About Looming Sea Level Rise
First published on ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which was recently named one of Time magazine’s Top 25 blogs of 2010.
One of the world’s foremost climate scientists has warned that vulnerable island states may need to consider evacuating their populations within a decade due to a much faster than anticipated melting of the world’s ice sheets. [Guardian]
“We know Arctic sea ice is declining faster than the models predict,” Mann told the Guardian at the SXSW Eco conference in Austin, Texas. “When you look at the major Greenland and the west Antarctic ice sheets, which are critical from the standpoint of sea level rise, once they begin to melt we really start to see sea level rises accelerate.
“The models have typically predicted that will not happen for decades but the measurements that are coming in tell us it is already happening so once again we are decades ahead of schedule.”
“Island nations that have considered the possibility of evacuation at some point, like Tuvalu, may have to be contending those sort of decisions within the matter of a decade or so.”
For an hour and a half Wednesday, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama talked about jobs, the economy, and more jobs—but they didn’t touch on the environment or climate change. A new study suggests maybe they should have: Undecided voters seem to care about global warming as much as Democrats do. [U.S. News and World Report]
Mitt Romney made two particularly lofty claims from the podium, claims his campaign clarified to reporters immediately after, effectively conceding that Romney inserted misinformation into the debate. [Huffington Post]
Shell Oil says it has begun exploratory drilling in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s north coast as it continues to drill in the neighboring Chukchi Sea. [Associated Press]
The amount of the continental U.S. in drought has fallen slightly over the past week, but the record dry conditions are still intense in the heartland. And in Texas, two-thirds of the state is in drought. It’s meant tough choices when water is scarce. [CBS]
Iowa’s drought has worsened, spelling concerns for next year’s growing season. The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map, released Thursday, shows that the epicenter of the drought has moved westward from Indiana and Illinois onto Iowa. [Des Moines Register]
The nation’s worst drought in decades is showing no sign of letting up in several key Midwest farming states, worrying farmers harvesting the summer’s withered corn crop in record time that their winter crops may also be at risk. [Washington Post]
A liquefied natural gas project in Alaska could cost more than $65 billion and would represent a mega-project of “unprecedented scale and challenge,” officials behind the project told Gov. Sean Parnell. [Associated Press]
A court has struck down a moratorium on natural gas drilling in Binghamton, N.Y., yet both sides are claiming victory. [New York Times]
The journey to a cooler, greener planet may start with a breath of fresh air, suggests a battery technology under development that could rapidly solve one of the biggest problems with wind and solar energy. [NBC]
While nine out of 10 people surveyed in a recent Ipsos poll “believe that the climate has changed significantly in the past 20 years,” those polled in Japan, Britain and the U.S. had the highest rates of climate change skepticism. [Huffington Post]
China’s biggest solar panel makers are suffering losses of up to $1 for every $3 of sales this year, as panel prices have fallen by three-fourths since 2008. [New York Times]
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