Weather, Water, Energy 7-27-07

I stopped reading the putrid Robert Samuelson a couple of decades back (he was one of the earliest signs of the media’s death spiral), but it’s clear he hasn’t gotten any brighter from this wonderful takedown of him by David Roberts and links at Grist, who also manage to put a bullet into the almost equally moronic Gregg Easterbrook. Both of those self-satisfied wise men will be early entrants into the Hall of Fame for the Unserious. . . . Joseph Romm sets out the necessary criteria for truly effective carbon offsets here at Climate Progress. . . . The Christian Science Monitor continues its zapping of corn ethanol with a good story on the unintended consequences of the heedless ramping up we’ve been doing. . . . Remember the story yesterday on how diesel fumes can lead to heart problems? Well, in CA, they start with plain old breathing. So let’s all jump on that bandwagon, shall we? . . . Speaking of CA, you know which state comes in behind it in electricity generated from solar panels? Don’t even pretend you said NJ. . . . The intricacies and permutations of setting up local “community wind projects” here. . . .Average temps in AK (Alaska, not Arkansas) up over 2 degrees in the last 30 years. That may sound like good news for Alaskans wanting tans, except the frozen ground they’ve built on is thawing. Not cool.