Moonhowlings

     Polar Ice from Satellite view

According to the New York Times, data sharing between the C.I.A. and leading scientists  has resumed. 

The nation’s top scientists and spies are collaborating on an effort to use the federal government’s intelligence assets — including spy satellites and other classified sensors — to assess the hidden complexities of environmental change. They seek insights from natural phenomena like clouds and glaciers, deserts and tropical forests.

Basically speaking, US top scientists are receiving top security clearances to have access to C.I.A. reconnaisance material.  This program was shut down by the Bush administration.  It has the strong approval  of the director of the C.I.A. and of leading scientists. 

In the last year, as part of the effort, the collaborators have scrutinized images of Arctic sea ice from reconnaissance satellites in an effort to distinguish things like summer melts from climate trends, and they have had images of the ice pack declassified to speed the scientific analysis.

The trove of images is “really useful,” said Norbert Untersteiner, a professor at the University of Washington who specializes in polar ice and is a member of the team of spies and scientists behind the effort.

Scientists, Dr. Untersteiner said, “have no way to send out 500 people” across the top of the world to match the intelligence gains, adding that the new understandings might one day result in ice forecasts.

“That will be very important economically and logistically,” Dr. Untersteiner said, arguing that Arctic thaws will open new fisheries and sea lanes for shipping and spur the hunt for undersea oil and gas worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Read more…

Apple, the tech behemoth, has resigned its membership in the US Chamber of Commerce, effective immediately because of the position taken on climate change by the organization. Apple follows on the heels of Nike who also just resigned.

According to the New York Times:

The New York Times reports that Apple’s resignation is effective immediately. Catherine Novelli, vice president of worldwide government affairs at Apple, called the chamber’s stance on climate change issues “frustrating” in aletter addressed to its president and CEO.

“We strongly object to the chamber’s recent comments opposing the E.P.A.’s effort to limit greenhouse gases. … We would prefer that the chamber take a more progressive stance on this critical issue and play a constructive role in addressing the climate crisis

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Several energy companies have also left the Chamber of Commerce. Meanwhile, Bill Maher spoke explicitly and irreverently , as usual, on Friday night over the climate change issue:

Beyond a Reaonable Drought

According to Huffington Post, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), mentioned by Maher and known as the King of Global Warming Deniers, announced on C-Span over the weekend that he will go to Copenhagen later this fall to enlighten the scientists and he will present:

another view.” “I think somebody has to be there — a one-man truth squad,” he said. Throughout the program, Inhofe went through his tattered global warming denier claims: that climate change is a “hoax,” that CO2 is not a pollutant, and — latching on to the latest false right-wing talking point — that clean energy legislation will cost American families $1,700 a year

Bill Maher might be on to something. Forget science. Has anyone else noticed that the flowers and plants now last well in to November. Our 5 senses should be telling us something is different. When I was a kid, the growing season ended much earlier. Forget being a kid, when I was right out of college the growing season was shorter than it is now. Forget politics. Are there differences? Even if you don’t believe most of the scientists, are you willing to take the chance?

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