College students to study effects on climate change on birds

NASA provided more than $445,000 to University of Georgia so undergraduate students can attend classroom instruction and field classes that look into the effects of climate change on birds and their migration, the university announced this week. The grant subsidizes a year of classes that will begin with the fall 2010 semester and will cover global climate change models, research methods and ways to design field experiments. Students will conduct their experiments during the summer period.

Jeffrey Hepinstall-Cymerman, assistant professor of landscape ecology in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, said students will use NASA data, models, spatial analysis, statistics and field methods. Hepinstall-Cymerman will work with two professors in the Warnell School -- Robert Cooper and Michael Conroy -- as well as Marshall Shepherd, professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

The effect of climate change on birds is sometimes overlooked when the controversial subject is debated, but Conroy notes that if springs continue to get warmer, then it affects when the primary food source for birds—insects—emerge. If birds don’t adjust to that change, he said, newly-hatched birds won’t have enough food. ...

Although the NASA grant primarily funds instruction activities, the summer undergraduate research will offer undergraduate students the type of field research experience generally found only at the graduate level and will tie in with work Cooper is doing on breeding bird productivity along an elevational gradient at Coweeta.

“The mountainside is a surrogate for climate change,” said Cooper, “and leafout and insect emergence will be later at higher elevations. Migrating birds that arrive in the spring to breed may be right on time to hit peak insect numbers at higher elevations, but not at lower sites, a phenomenon that is likely to be even more extreme with increasing global temperatures.”

2009 International Conference on Climate Change

New York City will host the second international conference about climate change March 8-10. The key topic to be discussed: “Global Warming: Was It Ever Really A Crisis?”

Among the questions posed in a press release:

* How much of the warming during the 20th century was natural and how much was man-made?

* Why have global temperatures been cooling in the last decade, and how long will that trend last?

* What impact will the current international financial crisis have on efforts both here and abroad to curb greenhouse gas emissions?

* How do present temperatures compare to the Medieval Warm Period 1,000 years ago?

* What is the track record for forecasts made by computer models? By the IPCC?

* Does India’s and China’s refusal to cap or reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases spell the end of international agreements on climate change?

* Does new evidence reveal greater or lesser impacts from rising CO2 levels than computer models assume?

Many more details about the conference here.

Global warming due to planetary trends?

According to Rasmussen Reports, "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information":

Forty-four percent (44%) of U.S. voters now say long-term planetary trends are the cause of global warming, compared to 41% who blame it on human activity.

Seven percent (7%) attribute global warming to some other reason, and nine percent (9%) are unsure in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Your thoughts?

Wind farms' impact remains unclear

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wind farms could generate as much as 7 percent of U.S. electricity in 15 years, but scientists want to spend more time studying the threat those spinning blades pose to birds and bats.

The towers appear most dangerous to night-migrating songbirds, bats and some hunting birds such as hawks and eagles. The risk is not well enough known to draw conclusions, a panel of the National Research Council said Thursday in a study requested by Congress.

How do birders concerned about climate change balance the wind farms' potential reduction in the use of fossil fuels against the potential impact on birds and bats?

Any skeptics on global warming or climate change?

Al Gore spoke to Congress today about global warming. That article naturally highlights differences of opinion, as journalism is wont to do.

One organization that disagrees with Gore is the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which made a concerted effort to disseminate its side of the discussion before Gore's appearance today. It said, "The only facts and studies Gore considers are those convenient to his scare-them-green agenda. And in numerous instances, he distorts the evidence he cites." Do you see logical mistakes in the CEI paper?

Also, have you heard of the hypocrisy charges against Gore? He encourages the American public to purchase carbon offsets, which could benefit him financially. Some folks argue that this diminishes the strength of his argument about this "moral" issue, his description of global warming. What do you think?

So, where does Gore buy his ‘carbon offsets’? According to The Tennessean newspaper’s report, Gore buys his carbon offsets through Generation Investment Management, a company he co-founded and serves as chairman:

Gore helped found Generation Investment Management, through which he and others pay for offsets. The firm invests the money in solar, wind and other projects that reduce energy consumption around the globe…

As co-founder and chairman of the firm Gore presumably draws an income or will make money as its investments prosper. In other words, he “buys” his “carbon offsets” from himself, through a transaction designed to boost his own investments and return a profit to himself. To be blunt, Gore doesn’t buy “carbon offsets” through Generation Investment Management - he buys stocks.

I don't think that this discussion is over.