writeaboutwarming

April 11, 2013 – The budget that the President sent to Congress yesterday would reduce the deficit to 2.8% of GDP by 2016.   Further predictions are made about reductions in 2023, but we all know that’s meaningless.   The point I’d like to make here is that the President continues to try to work with Republicans in decreasing the deficit, which would be of benefit to us all.   Setting that mutual goal aside, the similarities between the President’s budget and the Republican budget pretty much end there.   The R’s are already staking out their territory on the evening news, a dishearteningly familiar strategy.   Whether or not the President’s budget is DOA remains to be seen.   Let’s take a look at it. First and perhaps foremost, the President proposes to make the tax credit for renewable energy production permanent.   This should be more than offset by the retraction of oil industry subsidies.   His budget also proposes clean energy research ...

May 14, 2012 - One of the more sophisticated devices available to climatologists in their struggle to gain further understanding of the changing climate is the polar-orbiting satellite.  Capable of continuously scanning our planet from north to south, instruments aboard the satellite can also monitor volcanic eruptions, gather sea surface temperatures, and locate emergency beacons indicating aviators or mariners in distress.  Oh yes, and they help forecast the weather.  Without these satellites, weather and climate forecasts are less accurate.  Furthermore, climatologists' ability to monitor natural disasters declines significantly. The NRC (National Research Council) has issued a new report concerning ongoing satellite programs, an update of a decadal report published in 2007.  Long story short, these programs are in trouble.  I'll bet you'll never guess what the problem is!  Gosh, you're good: not enough money.  While the launching of the next...