March 18, 2009 by mike.

MIT and the IPCC continue to measure and recalibrate global warming and as many of us have said for years, the rate of increase has been underestimated. There are feedback loops, saturation points, tipping points that will predominantly speed up the warming and the accumulation of greenhouse gases. This is an existential challenge.

clipped from climateprogress.org In the last two years, our scientific understanding of business-as-usual projections for global warming has changed dramatically (see “M.I.T. doubles its projection of global warming by 2100 to 5.1�C” and “Hadley Center projects 5-7�C warming by 2100“). Yet, much of the U.S. public — especially conservatives — remain in the dark about just how dire the situation is (see “Gallup poll shows catastrophic failure of media, conservatives still easily duped by deniers“). clipped from climateprogress.org Why? Because the U.S. media is largely ignoring the story. Case in point: Where was the coverage of the Copenhagen Climate Science Congress, attended by 2000 scientists, which concluded with this Key Message #1:

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March 18, 2009 by mike.

Thanks to Climate Progress for their coverage on this issue. Climate Progress is the top of my list of climate links.

Solar PV electric generation is available here and now. We simply have to demand that our power generation move to sustainable systems now.

clipped from climateprogress.org Solar PV market doubled to 6 Gigawatts in 2008 — U.S. left in dust, having invented the technology clipped from climateprogress.org After growing 19% in 2006 and 62% in 2007, world solar photovoltaic (PV) market installations exploded by 110% last year to a staggering 5.95 GW, according to Solarbuzz’s Annual Report, Marketbuzz 2009: Europe accounted for 82% of world demand in 2008. Spain’s 285% growth pushed Germany into second place in the market ranking, while the US advanced to [a very distant] number three. Rapid growth in Korea allowed it to become the fourth largest market, closely followed by Italy and Japan. And who is the leading producer of PV cells? China and Taiwan continued to increase their share of global solar cell production, rising to 44% in 2008 from 35% in 2007. clipped from climateprogress.org

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