Weekly round-up 8/20/10: Extreme weather hits Pakistan

U.N. officials and climatologists are now saying that the devastating flood in Pakistan is the worst disaster to date caused by climate change. Scientist at the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva are sure that higher temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean contributed to this flood which is directly connected to climate change. According to the Washington, DC Express Newspaper, a publication of the Washington Post, there is a "global donor fatigue slowing needed aid in flood-ridden Pakistan". This newspaper article points out that there was $742M donated to the Haiti relief but only $45M donated to the recent Pakistan relief in the same time period. With over 20 million Pakistani flood victims, an additional $300 million is still needed. An estimated 6.5 million Pakistanis need shelter, food, clean water and medicine including 500,00 families left homeless in Punjab. More rain is expected to come, while the floodwaters cover a landmass the size of England! Please donate whatever you can to the relief fund. Every little bit counts!

On a brighter note, the deadly heat wave in Russia is finally over, though smoke still lingers in the air. Moscow's temperature plummeted on Thursday to 70-73 Fahrenheit. However, Russia is left with a loss of $14 billion off this year's gross domestic product. Also, air pollution sky-rocketed to four to ten times above the previous amount. Russia was not the only country to "feel the burn" this year. There were 17 countries that broke their previous heat records! This should speak volumes to those climate change deniers. The devastating flood in Pakistan, the deadly heat wave in Russia and the horrible flooding and mud slides in western China are all directly related.

Obama Calls Out Climate Action Obstructionists

President Obama is calling for a "strategy that reduces carbon" and accused Republicans in Congress of objecting against policies to do so. He also spoke at ZBB Energy Corp., a battery technology company, touting the clean energy workers for building and exporting batteries that help store solar energy. Obama is rightfully calling clean energy an economic boost.

On energy, we're willing to compromise on a whole host of different issues, but we've got to have a strategy that starts reducing carbon because we want those clean-energy jobs built here in the United States, not in China, not in Germany,” Obama said at a fund raiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Meanwhile, Illinois hit the ground running with clean energy by requiring utilities to buy more solar power as a part of a plan to generate 25% of the state's electricity from renewables by 2025. Governor Pat Quinn signed the two bills (House Bill 6202 and 5429) into law on Monday and go into effect in January 2011. The second bill protects the rights of homeowners to install solar panels on their roof. Way to lead the way, Illinois!

While America struggles with the most basic environmental protections, the Australian Green Party is becoming a force in Braidwood, Australia. There is a prediction the Greens could go from five to ten seats in the Australian Senate. This would give the Greens the much needed power to pass and block laws. They are already calling for a carbon tax and larger emissions cuts.

Climate change is real. Australia really needs to do something about it." said John Mitchell, a swing voter from inner-city Melbourne, who is determined to back the Greens for the first time.

Despite global environmental awareness, we are still building old style coal plants all over the country -- 30 more to be exact.

Building a coal-fired power plant today is betting that we are not going to put a serious financial cost on emitting carbon dioxide," said Severin Borenstein, director of the Energy Institute at the University of California-Berkeley.

The Obama Administration only promised $3.4 billion to investments in "clean coal" plants while new investments to traditional plants total more than $35 billion. These new dirty energy power plants will generate roughly 125 million tons of greenhouse gases a year.

Oil Spill Update

Although the oil spewing into the Gulf has ceased, there is still an underwater oil plume the size of Manhattan which is filled with hydrocarbons. I knew that "oil disappearing from the Gulf" story was baloney! Although the White House paints a rosier picture, about 79% of crude oil in still resting in the Gulf, No one knows the longevity of the oil plume or the long term effects coming from it.

"These hydrocarbons may well show up somewhere else, running undetected below the surface," said chief scientist of Woods Hole group Richard Camilli.