Rep. Edward Markey To Run For MA Senate | Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) has announced that he will run in the special election to fill the seat long-time Senator John Kerry will exit. Kerry has been nominated to replace outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in President Obama’s second term. Markey, one of the drafters of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill in 2009, is the most prominent Democrat to announce their intention to run in the special election. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), who lost his place in the Senate to Elizabeth Warren, is also thought to be planning on seeking Kerry’s seat.
By Hayes Brown on Dec 27, 2012 at 3:45 pmFriday, December 28, 2012
West Antarctica Warming Three Times Faster Than Global Average, Threatening To Destabilize This Unstable Ice Sheet
This is a repost of a National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) news release (plus links and excerpts from other recent studies at the end).
BOULDER—In a finding that raises further concerns about the future contribution of Antarctica to sea level rise, a new study finds that the western part of the continent’s ice sheet is experiencing nearly twice as much warming as previously thought.
Researchers have determined that the central region of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is experiencing twice as much warming as previously thought. Their analysis focuses on the temperature record from Byrd Station (indicated by a star), which provides the only long-term temperature observations in the region. Other permanent research stations with long-term temperature records (indicated by black circles) are scattered around the continent. On this map, the color intensity indicates the extent of warming around Antarctica. (Image by Julien Nicolas, courtesy of Ohio State University.)
\ABS\Auto Blog Samurai\data\Obama Care\thinkprogress\WAIS.jpg "WAIS")
The temperature record from Byrd Station, a scientific outpost in the center of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), demonstrates a marked increase of 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit (2.4 degrees Celsius) in average annual temperature since 1958. The rate of increase is three times faster than the average temperature rise around the globe for the same period.
The study was published Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience ["Central West Antarctica among most rapidly warming regions on Earth" (subs. req'd)]. It was conducted by scientists at Ohio State University (OSU), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with funding coming from the National Science Foundation, which is NCAR’s sponsor.
“Our results indicate that temperature increases during the past half century have been almost twice what we previously thought, placing West Antarctica among the fastest warming regions on Earth,” says NCAR scientist Andrew Monaghan, a co-author. “A growing body of research shows that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is changing at an alarming rate, with pressure coming from both a warming ocean and a warming atmosphere.”
This study reveals warming trends during the summer months of the Southern Hemisphere (December through February), notes co-author David Bromwich, professor of geography at Ohio State University and senior research scientist at the Byrd Polar Research Center.
“Our record suggests that continued summer warming in West Antarctica could upset the surface mass balance of the ice sheet, so that the region could make an even bigger contribution to sea level rise than it already does,” Bromwich says. “Even without generating significant mass loss directly, surface melting on the WAIS could contribute to sea level indirectly by weakening the West Antarctic ice shelves that restrain the region’s natural ice flow into the ocean.”
Researchers consider the WAIS especially sensitive to climate change because the base of the ice sheet rests below sea level, making it vulnerable to direct contact with warm ocean water. Its melting currently contributes 0.3 millimeters to sea level rise each year. This is second only to Greenland, whose contribution to sea level rise has been estimated as high as 0.7 mm per year.
Due to its location some 700 miles from the South Pole and near the center of the WAIS, conditions at Byrd Station are an important indicator of climate change throughout the region.
In the past, researchers haven’t been able to make much use of the Byrd Station measurements because of incomplete temperature observations. Since its establishment in 1957, the station has not been occupied continuously. A year-round automated station was installed in 1980, but it has experienced frequent power outages, especially during the long polar night when its solar panels can’t recharge.
The new study fills in the data gaps with a powerful computer model of the atmosphere and a numerical analysis method
In addition to offering a more complete picture of warming in West Antarctica, the new study shows for the first time that significant melt is occurring during summer. Monaghan says the summertime warmth is particularly troubling because that is the season in which enhanced surface melting could most affect the WAIS and potentially weaken the ice shelves that buttress it.
“We’ve already seen enhanced surface melting contribute to the breakup of the Antarctic’s Larsen B Ice Shelf, where glaciers at the edge discharged massive sections of ice into the ocean that contributed to sea level rise,” he says. “The stakes would be much higher if a similar event occurred to an ice shelf restraining one of the enormous WAIS glaciers.”
“West Antarctica is one of the most rapidly changing regions on Earth, but it is also one of the least known,” says Bromwich. “Our study underscores the need for a reliable network of meteorological observations throughout West Antarctica, so that we can know what is happening—and why—with more certainty.”
– NCAR
Arizona Attorney-General Calls For Arming School Principals
Arizona Attorney-General Tom HorneMerging an environment of state budget cuts with calls for heavily arming schools, Arizona Attorney-General Tom Horne has suggested arming school principals or “another designee.” On Friday, the National Rifle Association in a press conference called for there to be armed police officers in every school to prevent attacks along the lines of the elementary school shooting in Newtown, CT, rather than stricter gun control. With state budgets hurting, however, Horne noted that “school resource officers,” members of the police force specially trained to handle instances of juvenile law, emergency response, and student counseling, are on the decline in Arizona schools.
The solution then, to Horne, is to model schools after the post-2001 mandate that airline pilots be armed in plane cabins. In proposing that only principals be armed, Horne believes he is taking a moderate stance:
“This proposal presents a golden mean between two extremes,” Horne said. “One extreme is to allow all teachers to bring guns to school, which could create more dangers than it prevents. The other extreme is to do nothing, which everyone will regret if a preventable incident like Newtown would occur in the future.”
The first extreme Horne lists is actually the preference of several conservatives who want to see more arms in school. Among those are Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell who wants to up the number of weapons in schools, Texas Governor Rick Perry who advocates concealed-weapons on school grounds, and members of the Oklahoma state legislature who want teachers to bring whatever guns they want. In proposing arming principals, Horne both manages to go beyond the position of the NRA’s call for more police officers in schools and point out the struggles that local budgets are undergoing as state and federal government budgets are cut.
New Hawaii Senator: Climate Change The ‘Most Urgent Challenge Of Our Generation’
Hawaii Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz (D), who was yesterday named to fill the Senate seat vacated by the death of Sen. Daniel Inouye (D), wants to tackle an issue that has largely disappeared from Washington’s political agenda in recent years: climate change.
Speaking briefly after being named to the seat by Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D), Schatz voiced his concern over the threat climate change poses to the world if nothing is done:
“For me, personally, I believe global climate change is real and it is the most urgent challenge of our generation,” Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz (D), whom Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) tapped for the seat, said in brief comments Wednesday.
While climate change poses a threat to everyone, it is particularly dangerous for the Hawaiian Islands. Sea level rises could drown its beaches and the communities around them, and two of the state’s major industries — fishing and tourism — would feel an especially large impact.
Across America, industries and the environment have been devastated by droughts and natural disasters that a changing climate has exacerbated, but little has caught the attention of policymakers. While climate change-related legislation has stalled in the U.S. in recent years, the United Nations climate summit ended earlier this month with only “modest” movement toward a deal to address the problem on a global level.
Statement by the President on EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's Announcement that She Will Leave the Administration Early Next Year
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
Over the last four years, Lisa Jackson has shown an unwavering commitment to the health of our families and our children. Under her leadership, the EPA has taken sensible and important steps to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink, including implementing the first national standard for harmful mercury pollution, taking important action to combat climate change under the Clean Air Act, and playing a key role in establishing historic fuel economy standards that will save the average American family thousands of dollars at the pump, while also slashing carbon pollution. Lisa has been an important part of my team, and I want to thank her for her service in my Administration and her tireless efforts to benefit the American people. I wish her all the best wherever her future takes her.
As 2012 comes to a close, we’re looking back at some of the year’s policy milestones, including legislation President Obama signed this summer that stopped student loan interest rates from doubling for more than 7 million students.
A look at the most popular blog posts of 2012 offers a good snapshot of a busy year at the White House.
view all related blog postsMcConnell Demands Spending Cuts To Offset Unemployment Insurance Extension
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) yesterday punted negotiations over how to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” back to the Senate, but in that chamber, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is now demanding spending cuts to pay for an extension to the federal unemployment insurance program that expires at the end of the year.
Without an extension, 2 million Americans will lose unemployment insurance on January 1; another million will fall out of the program in the early months of 2013. But with the Senate rushing to act before the end of the year, McConnell is again asking for spending cuts to offset the program’s extension, the Associated Press reports:
For the Senate to act, it would require a commitment from Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell not to demand a 60-vote margin to consider the legislation on the Senate floor. McConnell’s office says it’s too early to make such an assessment because Obama’s plan is unclear on whether extended benefits for the unemployed would be paid for with cuts in other programs or on how it would deal with an expiring estate tax, among other issues.
More than 500,000 have already lost unemployment insurance because Congress restricted eligibility the last time the program expired, and America’s unemployment program is one of the world’s stingiest. Still, it kept 2.3 million out of poverty last year alone, and the Congressional Budget Office projects that a full, year-long extension would lead to the creation of 300,000 new jobs.
Opponents of the federal unemployment program, which George W. Bush signed into law in 2008 (unemployment insurance is generally handled by states), have argued that it creates a culture of dependency and laziness. But the federal program requires recipients to search for a job while receiving payments, and one study showed that people on unemployment search harder for jobs than those who are not receiving money from the program.
Supreme Court Rejects Hobby Lobby Attempt To Block Obamacare Contraception Mandate
NEWS FLASH
Supreme Court Rejects Hobby Lobby Attempt To Block Obamacare Contraception Mandate | 
The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will not block an Obamacare mandate that employers must provide insurance coverage for contraception. Hobby Lobby, a craft chain, was seeking an emergency injunction against the mandate after both a federal and district judge ruled against it. While Hobby Lobby can still pursue its lawsuit that claims the mandate violates religious freedom, Justice Sonia Sotomayor ruled that it could not show that an injunction blocking the mandate from taking effect was “necessary or appropriate.”
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