Weather, Water, Energy 9-21-06

The giant news today, of course, is the $3 b. (that's billion) pledged by Richard Branson (after a chat with Al Gore) to fight global warming and push alternative energy, the money coming from his transportation companies. Like I've said about the attention of blogs, there are many things to be concerned about and to contribute to right now, but nothing comes close to this and all those other things depend on what we do with this. Now, if only Gates, Buffett, Soros, and those other happy giving guys just read this blog . . . . Terra Daily is a one-stop shop for our news today. Here's a story I can't stop myself from loving. CA is suing the top 6 automakers for their contribution to global warming. CA is a silly zoo on a lot of things, from its criminal justice "system" to what it's done to its education, but they are clearly the leaders here. Elsewhere, a day after Bushnev's "climate plan" that ignores carbon dioxide emissions, even OPEC has called for their reduction, echoing China's recent call. The Terra folks also alert us to a study in Nature reiterating the dramatic melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which a 2001 study said wouldn't melt much at all this century. Surely all that new fresh, cold water in our oceans couldn't cause any trouble, though. And a story I love more than CA lawsuits--The Royal Society, Britain's top science group, has told the British piece of ExxonMobil to knock off funding all the anti-global warming research the bastar. . . company officials have been sponsoring. We'll see how that works out for them. And finally from Terra Daily, Saudi Arabia is worried about the effects on their society and economy if the West weens itself from oil. Uh, boo hoo. . . . Back in 1992 Congress said that by 2010 30% of the fuels for US vehicles would come from oil-replacement fuels. Now Bushnev and his Politburo are saying that percentage will actually be 2.5%, with the goal not being met until 2030. In fairness to Georgi (!?!), who was elected president in 1992? . . . This is a weird story, but one that shows how diverse and unexpected water problems are and will be. Seems the U of CT (aka UCONN) pulls water from nearby rivers and about a year ago sucked a section of one dry, killing 8000 fish. Now they're working on plans to prevent reoccurrence with other rivers. Seems like something a university should do.