5 Recommendations Given To NASA Advisory Council Regarding Asteroid and Comet Impacts

One of the real-world threats facing the U.S., indeed all people and life on Earth, is posed by asteroids and comets.  There have been regional and global impact events throughout Earth’s history.  And while we’re clearly no longer in the period of frequent large impacts, the future threat is not zero.  Eventually, another object from space will take aim at Earth.  Whether or not it hits, and how much damage it causes, is now partly in the hands of people.  We have the technology to detect and track Near Earth Objects.  We have the technology to change the risk of those objects impacting the planet.  Those capabilities and more were the subject of study by the Ad-Hoc Task Force on Planetary Defense, which just delivered a report to the NASA Advisory Council.

The task force’s five recommendations are:

Organize for Effective Action on Planetary Defense: NASA should establish an organizational element to focus on the issues, activities and budget necessary for effective planetary defense planning; to acquire the required capabilities, to include development of identification and mitigation processes and technologies; and to prepare for leadership of the U.S. and international responses to the impact hazard.

Acquire Essential Search, Track, and Warning Capabilities: NASA should significantly improve the nation’s discovery and tracking capabilities for early detection of potential NEO impactors, and for tracking them with the precision required for high confidence in potential impact assessments.

Investigate the Nature of the Impact Threat: To guide development of effective impact mitigation techniques, NASA must acquire a better understanding of NEO characteristics by using existing and new science and exploration research capabilities, including ground-based observations, impact experiments, computer simulations, and in situ asteroid investigation.

Prepare to Respond to Impact Threats: To prepare an adequate response to the range of potential impact scenarios, NASA should conduct a focused range of activities, from in-space testing of innovative NEO deflection technologies to providing assistance to those agencies responsible for civil defense and disaster response measures.

Lead U.S. Planetary Defense Efforts in National and International Forums: NASA should provide leadership for the U.S. government to address planetary defense issues in inter-agency, public education, media, and international forums, including conduct of necessary impact research, informing the public of impact threats, working toward an internationally coordinated response, and understanding the societal effects of a potential NEO impact.

The task force found that a planetary defense program plan is likely to require an annual budget of approximately $250 million to $300 million per year during the next decade and $50 to $75 million thereafter.  That seems like a pretty small investment to ensure our planet is actively defended from catastrophic impacts.

Green Energy In Kansas Not All About Global Warming

I’m somewhat disappointed that so many Kansans reject the reality of global warming, especially considering that their state could easily and permanently return to Dust Bowl conditions if no action is taken now, but was pleased to read about efforts to green their communities based on other incentives.  While Kansans might not be taking action for the same reasons I am (or at least reasons in the same order of priority), the fact remains that they’re taking action.  This is really good news for everybody except for the dirty energy corporations and those who defend them with uber-religious zeal.

The Climate and Energy Project has helped 6 Kansas towns reduce their energy use by as much as 5% compared to nearby areas.  That’s a significant step forward for those towns.  Why did they do it?

At the outset she [Nancy Jackson, CEP's chairwoman] commissioned focus groups of independents and Republicans around Wichita and Kansas City to get a sense of where they stood. Many participants suggested that global warming could be explained mostly by natural earth cycles, and a vocal minority even asserted that it was a cynical hoax perpetrated by climate scientists who were greedy for grants [there's that pesky and absurd mega-conspiracy theory again].

Yet Ms. Jackson found plenty of openings. Many lamented the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. Some articulated an amorphous desire, often based in religious values, to protect the earth. Some even spoke of changes in the natural world — birds arriving weeks earlier in the spring than they had before — leading her to wonder whether, deep down, they might suspect that climate change was afoot.

As long as the primary focus/reason wasn’t global warming, even the reddest portion of America is willing to do its part to make their country energy secure; or exercise their religious duties as they see them.  Again, whether their ordered priorities are the same as mine or not, I applaud these folks for doing the morally correct thing in the end.

Ms. Jackson settled on a three-pronged strategy. Invoking the notion of thrift, she set out to persuade towns to compete with one another to become more energy-efficient. She worked with civic leaders to embrace green jobs as a way of shoring up or rescuing their communities. And she spoke with local ministers about “creation care,” the obligation of Christians to act as stewards of the world that God gave them, even creating a sermon bank with talking points they could download.

In these towns, the strategy worked.  Green industries have come to the region.  The townspeople are saving energy, and therefore are saving money.  They’re satisfying their religious obligations to the world.  I can’t extend enough kudos to Ms. Jackson for moving past typical approaches to get this region to go green and accomplishing measurable and significant successes.  She’s going to have to do much more of this, of course.  So are these townspeople and so will new towns, cities, and states.

But this is what grassroots actions looks like.  This is what it is going to take to change our energy and climate policy at the national level.  Once Americans across the political spectrum see the personal advantages that can be gained by going green, it’s going to very difficult for the dirty energy corporations to continue buying off their elected politicians.  We can only hope that happens with enough time to minimize the effects of global warming.  On a human-to-human level, I would hate to see Kansas turn into a permanent desert.

Cross-posted at SquareState.

This post is the 1,000th at this site.

Northeast RGGI Climate Compact Threatened By Possible Denier Pickups

A repost of Think Progress’ Brad Johnson over at Climate Progress has the details.  Here is the big picture:

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is the carbon trading program of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, which went into effect in 2008. There are governors’ races in all these states except New Jersey and Delaware.

“Overall, there have been nine auctions held by RGGI since 2009, in which electric utilities and some investment firms have bought emissions allowances. And those auctions have raised some $729 million for a range of emissions-reduction and energy-efficiency programs — benefiting both homeowners and industrial users — as well as financing an occasional raid to balance a state’s general budget,” said Stateline’s Rob Gurwitt.

The U.S.’s first carbon trading market has been up and running successfully for a couple of years.  The Republican Teabagger candidates across the northeast are against any such program, of course.  They would much prefer we continue to shovel as much of the public’s hard-earned money into the bottomless pits of profit of private dirty energy corporations while socializing the costs of pollution back onto the public.

Instead of shutting this successful market down, it should be expanded across the country.  Aren’t Republican Teabaggers in favor of letting markets have their freedom?  If this were going to fail, wouldn’t it have done it already?  Hopefully the good citizens of these states don’t agree that we should all wait until global warming’s effects are in full force because if we do, it will be too late to act.

Lake Mead Hits Record Low Level

A significant milestone has been reached.  At 1,083.09 feet above sea level, Lake Mead has less water than at any point since filling it began 75 years ago after the construction of the Hoover Dam.  An ongoing 11-year drought impacting the American Southwest, exacerbated by global warming, is the root cause.

Mr. Nelson said that the 11-year drought, which has caused the Colorado River to deliver considerably less water than its users have been promised, “reflects weather patterns that are what climate models predict for an era of climate change.”

The flat-earther, denier crowd continues to crow nonsense about what they see as problems with global warming.  The climate system doesn’t care – it’s responding to physical forcing, just like it’s supposed to do.  It will continue to do so as long as global warming pollution is pumped into the system.  The only thing that will reduce the length and intensity of droughts and other effects is the reduction of global warming pollution.

Better Place Continues To Grow Viability

A working alliance with General Electric and $350 million raised lends substance to the upstart Better Place, hoping to catapult fully electric vehicles with long ranges into the automotive marketplace.  Future work to help consumers negotiate utilities access to battery power when not driving would help Better Place and the U.S.’s antiquated grid design.

Op-Eds Regarding Sen. Bennet (D-CO) & Republican Teabagger Ken Buck

I saw some op-eds weighing in on candidates for Colorado’s junior Senate seat.

Steve from Ft. Collins represents your typical hypocritical Republican Teabagger – deficits only matter when Democrats are in power:

How well have his [Sen. Bennet's] votes represented your children and grandchildren, who will be saddled with a lifelong debt due to the reckless spending of this runaway government?

Anyone want to bet that Steve sent in an op-ed when the Bush Regime blew the deficit up from $5 Trillion to $12 Trillion in 8 short years?  How about when Reagen blew up the deficit?  No, as usual, Steve is trying to use a topic to cover his true concern: a corporatist Democrat who isn’t 100% white is in the White House.  If Steve took the deficit seriously, he would fully support both the health insurance legislation that passed this year and push to reduce the bloated war budget.  Don’t take Steve seriously.

Scott from Loveland has a good point regarding health care solutions:

These bandages [high-deductible plans and open health savings accounts, espoused by Republican Teabagger Ken Buck] have been available for years and do not address the issue of those citizens who can afford neither.

That’s true.  It’s like the Republican Teabagger complaint about tax cuts: would one of you please tell the rest of us where the millions of jobs created by the Bush tax cuts are hiding?  The fewest jobs of any president post-WWII were created under Republican Teabagger economic policies.  The rest of us are still trying to fix your damn mess.  Your solution is ridiculous and has been proven to not work the way you think it works.

Martha from Denver speaks for a lot of progressives about Sen. Bennet:

He has finally come clean and admitted that he will be voting to continue the Bush tax cuts and against the Employee Free Choice Act. [...] He may earn a few Republican votes with his tactics, but when combined with the loss of thousands of votes from registered Democrats, he will lose this election. Be clear, he will lose because he stepped right of center.

Martha argues along the same lines that I have for years – Democrats need to stand for Democratic principles.  Not bipartisan principles or Republican principles; Democratic principles.  The number of issues which Sen. Bennet not only voted against his base’s wishes but cynically used micro-issues to raise cash and visibility from that base prior to those votes are long indeed.  It surprises me that so many Democrats are still willing to support somebody who on too many occasions hasn’t supported them.  Oh, when you vote for the lesser of two evils, you’re still voting for an evil.  Don’t expect a ton of good to come from that.

Baxter from Silverthorne addresses my top issue:

If Ken Buck is like every other Republican in the U.S. Senate, he will fight all attempts to curb greenhouse gas emissions with a comprehensive energy and climate bill.

While true, some additional context should be made clear.  Sen. Bennet early in 2009 voted to require that climate legislation be subjected to the 60-vote super-majority instead of the 50-vote majority requirement that wins most other contests.  What followed was a lot of hand-wringing and lamenting that with the largest majority in the Senate in years, 60 votes just couldn’t be found, gosh darn it.  No, it’s not as though Sen. Bennet found global warming to be a leading issue of the day.  Let’s not kid ourselves and blindly think Sen. Bennet is a global warming champion.  If anything, he found Senate procedure to be more important than any legislative topic.  Sure, he started talking about “filibuster reform” after all Senate work had ground to a near-complete halt by mid-2010.  It wasn’t like Republicans abused the rule throughout all of 2009 or anything.  Heck, it wasn’t even like Republicans told Democrats they would do just that when the session started, right?  And after being told this, Democratic Senators still continued to try to bring one, just one, Republican over on bill after bill after bill.

Leading up to voting this year, you should ask yourself this important question: will Sen. Bennet vote to change Senate rules on the first day of business in January, when rule changes only require 50 votes instead of 67 afterward?  If Sen. Bennet wins this election and Democrats retain control of the Senate, will the filibuster rules be changed back to what they were historically, or will they continue to ask the Republican Teabaggers to steamroll over them, yet come back to the voters in 2012 and ask for more money, more volunteering, and more votes from us?

2010 CO2 Concentrations To Date

The average 2010 CO2 concentration to date is 390.21ppm, based on data found here.

The average for 2010 will not be above 390ppm since there are three months left, and those three months have historically had concentrations slightly below or a little above the September measurement.  In 2010′s case, that measurement was 386.80ppm.  Using low estimates for the next three months, I think 2010′s average CO2 concentration will be closer to 389ppm.

Since we continue to spew billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year, this will be the last year for quite some time that the yearly average measured below 390ppm.

Republican Tea Partier Ken Buck Called Rape Allegations “Buyer’s Remorse”

Republican Tea Partier Ken Buck has done himself almost no favors in trying to get elected to the Senate this year.  One recent item was Ken Buck’s dismissal of a rape case, calling the allegations “buyer’s remorse”.  Those comments, and others in similar veins, go way beyond insensitivity, as some news reports have written.

Ken Buck is a shining example of what the Republican Party has become: middle-aged white guys who think the 1750s were the best time in America’s history.  Other humans were property and few people had the rights that the white males did.

When you hear a Republican Tea Partier say they want to take the country back, they’re not lying.  Ask them what year they’d like to take the country back to.  Then decide who you vote for this year.

Seniors Tighten Belts While Wall St. Rakes In Record Pay

I think perhaps we have things backwards in this country:

Senior citizens brace for Social Security freeze

Wall St on tap to pay $144 Billion in pay

Yet somehow those rich fat cats on Wall St have convinced policymakers to look at cutting Social Security benefits while giving them even more tax breaks.  That makes more elderly people slide into poverty while the country’s deficits race out of control.  All of the above, by the way, has been brought to you by Republican/Conservative economics.   Their policies have worked exactly as they’ve wanted them to for the past 40 years.  The sad part is too few Democrats are visibly standing up for the elderly and impoverished.  Given all that, I’m still confused why the elderly continue to vote for Republicans who in turn work to screw them over time and time and time again.

The 2nd article goes so far as to mention the “financial industry reform” legislation that passed this year.  Like a small number of other progressives, I’ll say this again: the reform was an absolute joke.  It won’t reform the financial industry.  It won’t prevent a repeat of the 2007-2009 economic crash that nearly destroyed the U.S. economy.  It was enough to allow the justified anger over that crash to wane to a point where politicians and Wall Streeters could point to the signed legislation and say, “See, something was done.  Nothing bad will happen ever again. Now go away and trust us to manage our businesses.”

The combination of these news stories might even have something to do with the “enthusiasm gap” that most of the corporate media and silly pundits can’t fathom.  Nah – it’s definitely the fault of the DFHs who didn’t get everything they wanted in 18 months.

Colorado’s Hot, Dry September Follows Hot, Dry Summer: Get Used To It

For those of us living in Colorado, we know that this summer was warmer and drier than normal.  We further know that September was one of the warmest and driest on record.  And just like the rest of the world, if we don’t stop forcing the climate system with our global warming pollution, this summer and this September will become the new normal.  Even hotter and drier years are on tap if that happens. I’m going to start on a local level.  The Denver metro area recorded its 5th driest and 7th warmest September on record in 2010.  The climatological period is 1971 to 2000; the length of reliable records date back to 1872.  September 2010 was thus in the top 5 driest and top 10 warmest out of more than 125 other Septembers.  In other words, it was very significant.  Some of the details of that warmth should be noted:

THERE WERE 8 NINETY DEGREE DAYS WHICH WAS 6 ABOVE THE NORM. FOR THE SEASON NOW…THERE HAVE BEEN 49 90 DEGREE DAYS WHICH IS 16 ABOVE NORMAL. ONE NOTEWORTHY STATISTIC WAS THAT DURING SEPTEMBER 2010 THERE WERE 25 DAYS THAT RECORDED TEMPERATURES OF 80 DEGREES OR HIGHER. ACCORDING TO LOCAL CLIMATOLOGICAL RECORDS…THAT IS THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF 80 DEGREE TEMPERATURES FOR SEPTEMBER IN DENVER SINCE 1872.

That’s part of how you get the 7th warmest September on record.  More importantly, overnight lows tend to drive records like this.  Higher overnight lows help keep daytime highs higher and month-long temperatures on pace for record highs. And how dry was it?

BETWEEN THE 18TH AND 22ND OF SEPTEMBER…THE DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT COLLECTED A TOTAL OF ONLY 0.06 INCH OF MOISTURE. THE REMAINING 25 DAYS OF THE MONTH WERE TOTALLY DRY…NOT EVEN A TRACE OF LIQUID. BETWEEN AUGUST 8TH AND SEPTEMBER 30TH ONLY 0.08 INCH OF RAINFALL WAS TALLIED.

Eight-hundredths of an inch of precipitation is incredibly low for a nearly two-month time period.  Combined with the heat, it’s what has led to my lawn and garden to nearly stop growing and turn brown.  Obviously, it also puts stress on local water supplies. Let’s look at this in a slightly different way.  When all the hourly temperature readings are averaged over the entire month of September, the average temperature for the month registered 67.0F.  Compared to 30 years of climatological records, that was 4.6F above normal.  When you read a number like that, you should keep in mind that the most likely set of climate model solutions project that level of warming for Colorado to become the new normal this century.  Left unchecked, global warming will make this September’s near-record heat and lack of precipitation just an average year in just a few decades’ time.  I want to share this graphic again, which shows the number of weeks per year which have high temperatures over 100F. I don’t think 2 months of 100F highs sounds like a future that I want to experience. How about you? Changing gears a little bit, I wanted to discuss Colorado temperatures and precipitation for September and the summer. According to NOAA’s NCDC, Colorado recorded its 112th warmest out of 116 Septembers.  So the heat didn’t just affect Denver or the Front Range metro area.  Colorado also recorded its 18th driest out of 116 Septembers.  A quick aside: Wyoming recorded its all-time driest September in 2010 while Minnesota recorded its all-time wettest September.  Those kind of seemingly paradoxical simultaneous conditions are exactly the kind of phenomenon projected to occur more and more often in the upcoming decades.  In other words, get used to it. Additional data from the NCDC shows that Colorado recorded its 106th warmest July-September on record.  In fact, take a long look at the map at that link.  An overwhelming majority of states across the continental U.S. had above average Jul-Sep temperatures.  A majority of states had their top-10 warmest Jul-Sep temperatures out of the past 116 years.  Two saw their all-time warmest Jul-Sep periods ever.  Again, these kind of conditions are only expected to occur with more frequency in the future … unless we stop our global warming pollution.  Colorado’s Jul-Sep precipitation was much closer to normal.  How is that, you might ask, when September was so dry?  Because July and August both came close to being notably wetter than normal. Some of these numbers may not seem that impressive or may not trigger some level of concern by themselves.  Think about them in context of water supplies, agriculture and ecosystem health and they should become worrisome.  These trends aren’t likely to go away.  In fact, just the opposite, they’re likely to get worse and do so soon.  How will millions of Front Range residents cope with dwindling water supplies, especially when farmers will want and need to grow crops for food.  While we might be able to adjust, countless flora and fauna species are accustomed to long-term stable climate conditions.  They’re not going to be able to adjust to radically different conditions on time-scales of years to decades.  Their health and survival now largely depend on our decisions and actions. You can do something tomorrow.  Find a 350.org event near you and help put pressure on decision makers to actually start making some decisions. Cross-posted at SquareState.