Weather, Water, Energy 1-31-07

Another UN org is begging the new General Secretary to call an international "climate summit" of world leaders to deal with the findings of the IPCC report coming out Friday (but being leaked already here). At first I doubted anything good would come from a meeting with Bushnev in it, but then I realized they were talking about "world leaders." . . . I realize that doesn't make you think of Australia's PM either, but the folks in Sydney are looking at a really scary future, as in "if residents do not cut water consumption by more than 50% over the next 20 years, the city will become unsustainable." . . . Dems here in the US, many dimes late and many dollars short, are finally calling for serious action on global warming, as this story indicates. Is it me or is it significant that the first three quoted are women? . . . And, again, the states are getting it much better and quicker than our federal "leaders," as these articles from the "I" states, IA and ID, and MN show. . . . Lots of good stuff at Grist today, including posts on palm oil, idiots and ethanol, and space mirrors. Go and spend some time. . . . Speaking of good stuff, here's a nice piece on the realities and cons of carbon offsets, background and problems, including this good bit of advice: The best schemes were those that built capacity, in other words, they generated further emissions reductions in their own right. "Simply taking a straight CO2 number and thinking that you are solving the problem is a bit naive," Scott told AFP. "It is not enough, you have to look at the question critically." Hmm, looking at questions critically, hmm, hmm . . . nah, too hard. Is "Survivor" on?