Top Stories
Wheat near 2-year high on Russia export ban.—reliability
high.
"Wheat prices held just below a two-year high while shares in European
brewers and food producers fell on Friday as markets reacted to the
sudden imposition of a ban on grain exports from drought-hit Russia.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin moved on Thursday to halt grain and flour
exports to head off inflation following Russia's worst drought in 130
years". Reuters
story. [Drought
in Russia and Australia and floods in Canada and
Ukraine will drive agricultural commodity prices higher. Adequate
global reserves should prevent price spikes as high as were seen in
2008. Weather is not climate, but these types of effects on agriculture
have been predicted by climate change researchers. Wheat above $7 per
bushel will encourage U.S. farmers to plant more of it, reducing corn
acreage. That, together with more corn use for ethanol production, will
boost corn prices, and thus meat prices in the U.S. Everything is
connected, and everything is connected to climate change.]
And:
Medvedev connects Russia's problems with climate change.—reliability
high.
"Everyone is talking about climate change now. Unfortunately, what is
happening now in our central regions is evidence of this global climate
change, because we have never in our history faced such weather
conditions in the past. This means that we need to change the way we
work, change the methods that we used in the past." From President of Russia
website. [The
Russian government is glad to shift the blame, but is unlikely to do
much to reduce emissions. Anything that reduces burning of fossil fuels
hurts the Russian economy in the short run.]
Global Climate Talks Stall As Countries Back
Down From Prior Commitments To Reduce Emissions.—reliability
high.
"Global climate talks appear to have slipped backward after five days
of negotiations in Bonn, the chief U.S. delegate said Friday, adding
that some countries were reneging on promises they made last year to
cut greenhouse gas emissions. ... 'At this point, I am very concerned,'
Pershing said. 'Unfortunately, what we have seen over and over this
week is that some countries are walking back from progress made in
Copenhagen, and what was agreed there.' ... Another point of
contention, Pershing said, was an agreement in Copenhagen for wealthy
countries to raise $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poor countries
adapt to climate change. Now poor nations say that is not enough." See Huffington
Post from AP. [First the Doha
Round and now this. On a somewhat-related note, will more countries
look to China for leadership on how to deal with climate change? See
Doc's recent post, "Learning
from China".]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Australia firm signs forest CO2 deal with
Malaysia tribes.—reliability high.
"An Australian carbon services company has signed a deal with nine
Malaysian tribal leaders to certify carbon offsets from a project aimed
at preserving more than 100,000 hectares of tropical forest. The deal
allows the tribes in Sarawak state on the island of Borneo to earn a
share of the proceeds from the sale of carbon offsets to help them
manage and protect the forest over a period of 20 years, payments
potentially worth millions of dollars. ... The United Nations hopes
REDD [reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation] will lead
to a multi-billion dollar trade in forest carbon credits and the
Malaysian project is one of several pioneering investments aimed at
building up the REDD sector." From Reuters.
Government and
Regulation
California's Bay Area ponies up for
electric-car charging stations.—reliability high.
"the Bay Area Air Quality Management District moved to fill out
that map, voting to allocate $5 million to subsidize the installation
of 3,000 home charging stations, 2,000 public charging stations, and 50
fast-chargers near highways." From Grist.
PDF of press release here.
Brazil: Energy superpower.—reliability
medium.
Marc Gunther posts about energy development in Brazil, including
highlights of interview with Marcio Zimmerman, Brazil's energy
minister. "If nothing else, Brazil's energy story is a reminder (not
that we need one) that the rest of the world isn't standing still while
the U.S. struggles to come up with smart energy and climate policy."
See The
Energy Collective.
Science and
Economics
Google searches for 'global warming' go down
when unemployment rises.—reliability medium.
Digest of a recent research paper that finds an inverse relation
between people's interest in environmental issues and the unemployment
rate on a state-by-state or even county-by-county basis. "Polls that
ask people to rank their biggest concerns tend to find that when people
worry more about finances, they say they worry less about the
environment." From Grist.
[Blinding glimpse
of the obvious. However it does suggest that once people are back to
work and feeling more financially secure they may increase support for
climate change policies and programs. (You can access the
paper free here if
you are in a developing or transition country or have a .gov address.
Otherwise, National Research Council says pay up.)]
Poll shows increased, stubborn skepticism on
climate change.—reliability high.
"Asked whether they agreed with the statement, “Global warming or
climate change is occurring and it is primarily caused by human
activity,” 52% of green consumers agreed, compared to 49% of U.S.
consumers overall. That’s down significantly from a year ago when 58%
of all U.S. consumers agreed." A quarter of respondents said they
wouldn't change their opinion even if confronted with various
"nightmare scenarios". From Shelton Group
blog. [Still
showing effect of last year's "climategate", Copenhagen fiasco, big
snows, and related news coverage. Eventually more recent weather and
information will penetrate, but there is a long lag. Upcoming
Congressional elections will call forth more confusing debate,
political vitrol, and obtuse news coverage, and the economic situation
still weighs on many minds. So don't expect rapid change in public
opinion. Behavior may change faster than opinions as stated to
pollsters.]
The Next Frontier for States and Cities:
Building Clean Energy Industries and Green Jobs.—reliability
high.
"a first-of-its kind national study has found that only a few states
and cities have policies in place to create green jobs. ... According
to the study, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, and Ohio
are among the states that have a strong set of policies that support
green-business creation. The findings also feature the cities that have
sought to create a full range of green jobs, including jobs in
manufacturing and technology. ... 'Many cities and states are claiming
to become the "capital" of green technology, but only a few really have
strong, proactive policies in place to make that claim stick in order
to create the highly paid green jobs,' Hess said." See Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute site. Access the research results here.
Geek Corner
Skeptical Science iPhone app.—reliability
high.
"Skeptical Science is now available as a free app for the iPhone or
iPod. You can now use an iPhone or iPad to view the entire list of
skeptic arguments as well as (more importantly) readily access
what the science says on each argument. The app connects to the website
regularly so when new skeptic arguments, recent research or the latest
data is added, the app automatically updates also." See Skeptical Science
site. [Also
available now for the Android.]
