ScienceInsider

by Erik Stokstad

Congress wants the Department of Interior to figure out what it doesn't know about Arctic ecosystems in order to better plan for oil and gas exploration. Tucked into a House-Senate conference report (pdf) for the fiscal year 2010 Interior/Environment spending bill is language (after the jump) suggesting that the DOI's Mineral Management Service get an independent assessment (i.e. by the National Research Council) of data gaps about the biodiversity and functioning of coastal and marine ecosystems. There's no money provided.

Conservationists are happy about the call, but realistic. "They're only identifying the gaps, not filling them," says Stan Senner of Ocean Conservancy in Washington, D.C. "We can all acknowledge the need for more science guide all the decisions" that will need to be made about development.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/artic/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

by Antonio Regalado

Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc this week floated an ambitious proposal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Reuters reports. The plan calls for Brazil to cut emissions by 2020 to 40% below a business-as-usual scenario.

Under Minc's plan, considered the most aggressive within government, cuts would come primarily by limiting deforestation in the Amazon and reducing emissions from agriculture. Brazilian negotiators aren't expected to have a final position until next month, in time for the United Nations December meeting on climate change in Copenhagen. Meanwhile, Brazil's emissions continue to grow. The Environment Ministry released data (in Portuguese) estimating that Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions had grown by about 40% between 1994 and 2007, not including deforestation. Cattle and fertilizer use in agriculture were among the largest contributors.

by Eli Kintisch

Not many surprises this morning at the first of three mega climate hearings at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Barbara Boxer (D–CA) though some early confirmations of suspected fault lines between Democrats on the bill. A particularly important Democratic lawmaker is Max Baucus of the coal state of Montana. From Congress Daily (subs. required):

Baucus said he has "serious reservations" about the bill's requirement
that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions be reduced 20 percent below 2005 levels
by 2020, a higher goal than the 17 percent reduction by 2020 target in a
House-passed bill and the 14 percent level once suggested by President
Obama...

by Eli Kintisch

The BBC on the urgent plight of the corals:

The prospects of saving the world's coral reefs now appear so bleak that plans are being made to freeze samples to preserve them for the future.

A meeting in Denmark took evidence from researchers that most coral reefs will not survive even if tough regulations on greenhouse gases are put in place.

Scientists proposed storing samples of coral species in liquid nitrogen.

That way, the corals could be reintroduced to the ocean in the future.

by Erik Stokstad

President Barack Obama didn't launch any new initiatives in his visit today to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he highlighted clean energy technology and the need for climate change legislation. But he did wonder if he'd be able to leave the campus. "I understand a bunch of engineering students put my motorcade on top of building 10," he quipped. MIT has an archived webcast of his speech.

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill, H.R. 3585, that would require the Department of Energy to create a road map for solar energy technology development and to get more industry input. The bill requires industry grants to be merit-reviewed and increases the authorization for funding from $250 million to $550 million by 2015 (current appropriation is about $200 million). DOE would also have to establish an R&D program for recycling of solar panels. No companion bill has been introduced in the Senate.

Researchers in Germany released a study (PDF, auf Deutsch) yesterday showing how by 2050 Germany could reduce its emissions by 95% from its 1990 levels while maintaining its living standards. Renewable energy for electricity, traffic, and heating would do 60% of the job, the rest would come from industry, farming, and waste management.

After dodging a shutdown of its animal research, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is proposing to hire a vice chancellor for research to manage grants and compliance with federal rules.

Writer Bill McKibben has built an international climate activism movement around a concentration: 350 ppm. Two years ago he launched 350.org after NASA climate scientist Jim Hansen told him that was the carbon dioxide concentration needed to prevent dangerous man-made warming (pdf). But the atmosphere already is around 390 ppm—and scientists expect the concentration to rise beyond 550 ppm if drastic measures aren't taken soon to reduce humanity's carbon emissions. So it's an understatement to say that McKibben's goal is a tough one.

But McKibben is undeterred, and his movement has gone viral. This weekend will see more than 4000 rallies around the world, including hundreds in the developing world, to drum up for a climate treaty in Copenhagen. ScienceInsider spoke to McKibben on the eve of the event.

by Eli Kintisch

Two stories from today:

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 4 among 1,500 adults reached on cell phones and landlines, finds that 57% think there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been getting warmer over the past few decades. In April 2008, 71% said there was solid evidence of rising global temperatures.

Over the same period, there has been a comparable decline in the proportion of Americans who say global temperatures are rising as a result of human activity, such as burning fossil fuels. Just 36% say that currently, down from 47% last year.

And

The UK's Met Office Hadley Centre, today unveils a new map of the world showing devastating impacts on the world's agriculture, water resources, and weather systems if climate change is left unchecked ...

by Eli Kintisch

Hearings begin 27 October on the Senate version of the climate bill. The American Geophysical Union, the American Chemical Society, and 16 other major science groups groups are urging Congress this morning to take action on carbon emissions:

For the United States, climate change impacts include sea level rise for coastal states, greater threats of extreme weather events, and increased risk of regional water scarcity, urban heat waves, western wildfires, and the disturbance of biological systems throughout the country. The severity of climate change impacts is expected to increase substantially in the coming decades. If we are to avoid the most severe impacts of climate change, emissions of greenhouse gases must be dramatically reduced.

by Eli Kintisch

The U.S. Congress will explore deliberate tinkering with the climate in its first ever hearing on geoengineering early next month, ScienceInsider has learned.

Congressional committees have shied away from focusing hearings on the controversial topic until now. One reason might be that talk of a technical fix could distract from needed emissions cuts, especially with the U.S. Senate and international negotiators debating new controls on carbon pollution.

The House of Representatives' science and technology committee has slated the hearing on the controversial subject for 5 November. The exact focus of the hearing is not known, but the meeting could be a first step towards establishing dedicated federal support for geoengineering research, which currently does not exist.

Bill Fulkerson, an energy policy expert with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, said that geoengineering research is “the most neglected part of the climate strategy we have” and that a research program is “exactly what’s needed.”

While the committee has not announced the hearing or finalized its list of witnesses, sources say it may feature John Shepherd, a scientist of the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom who led a recent study by the U.K. Royal Society on geoengineering; Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science; or Lee Lane, an official with the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy's geoengineering project. All three have called for government funding of geoengineering research.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced two new agricultural policy grants; the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa gets $15 million to aid African nations in developing policies to boost yield and sustainability. Michigan State University and the New Partnership for Africa's Development receive $10.4 million to help develop regulatory frameworks for biotechnology.

The United States has officially proposed to list six threatened shark species—oceanic whitetip, dusky, sandbar and great, scalloped and smooth hammerheads—under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

The U.S. Senate this afternoon passed its version of the $33.5 billion fiscal year 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill, sending the bill to the president's desk.

The Government Accountability Office has criticized NASA on its computer security.

A new Web site aims to connect Chinese scientists with one another and their colleagues back home.