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Monday night, the Democratic Party Senate leadership will take to the floor with speeches on climate change. Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) has pledged in recent weeks to continue allowing time for anyone who wants to discuss the issue during the weekly Democratic caucus lunch or on the Senate floor. The format planned for […]

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Today is the last day to provide comments to the Department of State as to the KeystoneXL pipeline national interest determination. The reviewers of public comments — if they take their work seriously and responsibly — have a lot of work ahead of them.  While there are some 54,897 comments, already registered as of the […]

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Monday evening, the PBS’ Newshour hosted a segment on climate change issues building on Secretary of State John Kerry’s strong comments over the weekend equating climate change with weapons of mass destruction. The science of climate change is leaping out at us like a scene from a 3-D movie. … Terrorism, epidemics, poverty, the proliferation […]

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This video — transcript after the fold — calmly reviews with both data visualization and a rather disconcerting calm narration how “humanity is altering Earth’s life support system”. The clock is ticking … Note:  For an interesting approach to visualization, see the Carbon Atlas.

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Erratic, with this guest post, made me think … Perhaps you will find it interesting as well.  And, well, perhaps you agree with me in hoping that “people” do / that humanity does “survive this bottleneck”. In Ondaatje’s Running in the Family, the father describes a persistent delusion where his family is surrounded by a cloud […]

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While the Constitution of the United States enumerates responsibilities for the three branches of government, some of the most critical roles that have evolved through our centuries of democratic governance are implied rather than explicitly enumerated.  One of the most important ‘implied’ roles is Congressional (Legislative) oversight of the Executive Branch.  While the Judicial Branch […]

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Arev Yom Kippur … The eve of the Day of Atonement. After the period of reflection and engagement with others between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, this is a moment to turn to internal considerations and the relationship between the individual and G-d. As part of the prayers for the Day of Atonement, the Vidui, […]

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This is a guest post from a scientist who feels like FishOutOfWater when looking at America’s discourse over science issues, most notably climate change … We may be slipping into one of the greatest mass extinctions in the history of the earth, but just how worried should we be? The world’s oceans are turning acidic […]

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As part of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), self-described “snarky” Professor Laurel Whitney gave the following presentation about leveraging humor in climate communication. Professor Whitney’s DeSmogBlog’s bio provides a window on her self-deprecating alternative approach to communications. Rather than emphasizing that she teaches “climate change issues” or such to university students, she gets to depress […]

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Today, the President will be giving a speech at Georgetown University on climate change issues, with announcements of initiatives that will be taken leveraging the powers of the Administrative Branch because the Congress is unable (and, to a large extent, unwilling) to take meaningful action to address climate change: whether mitigation or adaptation. There are […]

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