Study: Permafrost Thaw Exacerbates Climate Change
The climate is warming in the arctic at twice the rate of the rest of the globe creating a longer growing season and increased plant growth, which captures atmospheric carbon, and thawing permafrost, which releases carbon into the atmosphere.

This study measured CO2 emissions from permafrost thaw and its impact on the carbon balance on an ecosystem level. According to Dr. Natali, “There is 100 times more carbon stored belowground than aboveground in the arctic, so observed changes in plant productivity are only a very small component of the story. Given the amount of carbon stored belowground in the arctic, it is very unlikely that plant growth can ever fully offset C losses from permafrost thaw.”

Too bad ocean acidification due to human emissions is threatening this negative feedback loop which cools the planet.

Study: Plankton make scents for seabirds and a cooler planet
When phytoplankton are eaten by grazing crustaceans called krill, they release a chemical signal that calls in krill-eating birds. At the same time, this chemical signal — dimethyl sulfide, or DMS — forms sulfur compounds in the atmosphere that promote cloud formation and help cool the planet. Seabirds consume the grazers, and fertilize the phytoplankton with iron, which is scarce in the vast Southern Ocean. The work was published March 3 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A role for DMS in regulating climate was proposed by Robert Charlson, James Lovelock, Meinrat Andreae and Stephen Warren in the 1980s. According to the CLAW hypothesis, warming oceans lead to more growth of green phytoplankton, which in turn release a precursor to DMS when they die. Rising levels of DMS in the atmosphere cause cloud formation, and clouds reflect sunlight, helping to cool the planet. It's a negative feedback loop to control the planet's temperature.

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"Arctic sea ice reached its annual maximum extent on March 21, after a brief surge in extent mid-month. Overall the 2014 Arctic maximum was the fifth lowest in the 1978 to 2014 record."

Source.

Study: New Southern Hemisphere climate data provides clearer global picture
Scientists compiled climate data from hundreds of different locations and used a range of methods to estimate Southern Hemisphere temperatures over the past 1000 years.

In 99.7 percent of the results, the warmest decade of the millennium occurred after 1970.

And surprisingly, only twice over the entire past millennium have both hemispheres simultaneously shown extreme temperatures.

One of these occasions was a global cold period in the 17th century; the other was the current warming phase.

Lead author Dr Raphael Neukom from Switzerland said the study showed the ‘Medieval Warm Period’, as identified in some European chronicles, was a regional phenomenon.

Follow up to the peer reviewed paper saying it's ok to lie if it's for global warming. Well put by Rush Limbaugh.


Gawker: Arrest Global Warming Deniers

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I mentioned Jonah Goldberg's column at National Review. I think it was also published concomitantly and coherently at the New York Post. (interruption) Concomitant? It's not... (interruption) No, I didn't make up the word. You've never heard of concomitantly? (interruption) Look it up! It was published concomitantly and coherently with the New York Post.

Cohesively, too -- meaning it looks the same in the New York Post as it does at National Review. Same words. "Climate Activists Uncaged." (interruption) What? (interruption) I told you it was a word. Concomitant is a word. They thought I was making up a word on the other side of the glass. "Gawker's Adam Weinstein suggests arresting those on the wrong side of the climate change debate."

By the way, our buddy Marc Morano, former "our man in Washington" from Rush The TV Show, he's got a website in Climate Depot where he chronicles all of the leftist propaganda on this issue and apparently two accredited, concomitant climate scientists have come out and said that it's perfectly fine to exaggerate and lie about global warming impacts in order to get people's attention and money.

It's perfectly the fine to make it up, perfectly fine to exaggerate. It's entirely within the bounds of propriety to really, really hype things to get people's attention and get their money. Do you realize, folks, the left... I don't care where you find them, global warming movement, militant feminist, militant gays. Do you realize there literally is no moral foundation propping them up?

The whole notion of right and wrong, truth or fact versus lies and BS is irrelevant.

Whatever they believe is going to be what everybody else believes no matter what it takes to make that happen. What they believe does not have to be true. If they want it to be true, you're gonna agree with it or you're gonna be harassed and threatened and intimidated. They establish these rules for themselves no matter what it takes. This threat is so existential that even if we have to lie, we'll do it.

This is the way they think -- proving, by the way, this is a religion. That's a technique that people oftentimes use to permit evil in what they're doing. If what they're fighting is indeed the essence of evil, then you are entitled to do anything to beat it back. There are no rules. So this is what the left reserves for themselves. That is that we, everybody who opposes them, are the essence of evil.

So whatever they have to do to stop us is permissible, even called for. So if we've got if exaggerate global warming to get people's attention and get money for it, then that's perfectly fine. There is no moral foundation. Right and wrong, justice and truth, are irrelevant. Our desired outcome is all that matters. "A writer for..." This is Jonah Goldberg writing here in National Review Online, concomitantly with the New York Post.

"A writer for the website Gawker recently penned a self-described 'rant' on the pressing need to arrest, charge, and imprison people who 'deny' global warming. In fairness, Adam Weinstein doesn't want mass arrests. (Besides, in a country where only 44 percent of Americans say there is 'solid evidence' of global warming and it's mostly due to human activity, you can't round up every dissenter.)"

So this guy, see, he's reasonable. He doesn't want to put everybody in jail. Oh, no, no! No. 'Cause he knows he can't put everybody who dissents in jail.

"Fact-checking scientists are spared. So is 'the man on the street who thinks Rush Limbaugh is right. ... You all know that man. That man is an idiot." He only thinks what he thinks because he listens to Limbaugh. "He is too stupid to do anything other than choke the earth's atmosphere a little more with his ... F-150's gassy exhaust.'" So you people, you drive Ford F-150s or whatever.

You're not gonna be jailed. Don't worry about it. You're just idiots. It is I, the man poisoning your minds, that they want to imprison. "But Weinstein's magnanimity ends there. Someone must pay. Weinstein suggests the government simply try the troublemakers and spokespeople. You know, the usual suspects. People like Limbaugh himself as well as ringleaders of political organizations and businesses that refuse to toe the line.

"'Those malcontents must be punished and stopped,'" says this guy at Gawker. Now, I don't know why a guy at Gawker is getting the attention of Jonah Goldberg. Well, actually I do, 'cause he's not just a guy at Gawker, which most people never heard of. What it is is this is going to be become mainstream thought if it isn't already. That is the whole point here. This stuff isn't new. We've been laughing at it for 25 years.

But all the while they have been deadly serious about it. They really mean this stuff. There ought to be trials. There ought to be people like me put in cages, made an example to show you idiots out there what awaits you if you get too vocal along with me. Now, "Weinstein says that this 'is an argument that's just being discussed seriously in some circles.'

"He credits Rochester Institute of Technology philosophy professor Lawrence Torcello for getting the ball rolling. Last month, Torcello argued," and we told you about this, "that America should follow Italy's lead. In 2009, six seismologists were convicted of poorly communicating the risks of a major earthquake.

"When one struck, the scientists were sentenced to six years in jail for downplaying the risks. "Torcello and Weinstein want a similar approach for climate change." 'Cause apparently six seismologists downplayed the earthquake risk, then an earthquake happened, so they want to put these guys in jail. Well, ergo, I (and a few nameless others) are opposing global warming.

When it happens, they want me put in jail -- and it's happening now. They put me on trial. Mr. Goldberg writes, "This is a great standard for free speech in America. Let's just agree that the First Amendment reads, 'Nothing in this clause shall be considered binding if it contradicts legal practices in the Abruzzo region of Italy.' The truth is this isn't as new an outlook as Weinstein suggests.

"For instance, in 2009, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman insisted that 'deniers' in Congress who opposed the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill were committing 'treason' while explaining their opposition on the House floor. (That same year, Krugman's fellow Timesman Thomas Friedman wrote that China's authoritarian system was preferable to ours, in part, because it lets 'enlightened' leaders deal with climate change.)" And enlightened leaders get to people the people they disagree with in jail.

Now, if we followed Italy's lead like this guy wants us to for sentencing people for getting their predictions wrong about earthquakes? Shouldn't we jail the global warming alarmists? They're the ones whose predictions have turned out to be wrong, not mine. They're the ones who are wrong. They're the ones claiming the sea levels are gonna rise and all this is gonna happen.

Notice that they always make these predictions to come true in a hundred years when none of us are gonna be alive. There hasn't been any warming for 15 years. If you ask me, they -- guys like this Adam Weinstein -- are the fraudsters. If anybody needs to be put in jail, it's them for misleading people, if that's the route we're gonna go. But that's not what the jail is for.

The reason they're putting people in jail is not to punish them. It's to shut them up. Shut them up and get rid of them so they can't influence anybody else. And by getting rid of them, you frighten everybody else about speaking up so that they don't. So you end up with no opposition. Jail the prominent leaders of your option and you have silenced all opposition, which is what the left is all about.

We can sit here and you can say, "Come on, Rush. Nobody's gonna put you in jail over this. Come on, Rush, are you really trying to get us afraid for you that you're gonna go to jail?" No. What I'm telling you is there are people who would do it if they could. I just call your attention to what just happened this poor guy out at Mozilla. It's always been an objective of mine to make sure people really, honestly understand who liberals are and what the left is.

(interruption) How is it different than Third World banana republic?

Well, in terms of persuading, no. You're not gonna convince anybody that this is a banana republic, is the problem. (interruption) My point is that you're not gonna change any minds by say, "You know, these people are just like a banana republic." Most people are gonna think, "This could never be a banana republic. It's United States of America." So they're gonna discard your characterization of this as like what happens in a banana republic.

They'll laugh at it and joke about it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Frank Newport, Gallup poll: "Americans Show Low Levels of Concern on Global Warming." The current level of worry about global warming, current level of concern is 34%. Thirty-four percent in a Gallup poll are concerned about global warming. That 34% is the same number that it was in 1989. That's what Gallup has revealed today. In 1989, 34% were very concerned about global warming; in 2014, it's 34%.

This is why they are in a state of panic, because they have failed to gin up anywhere near majority worry or concern on this. People, so far, are rejecting the idea that they are to blame for destroying the planet and therefore must pay higher taxes and must agree to bigger, more oppressive and controlling governments. People are just not signing on to that. Therefore, the global warming people today have come out and said, "Well, this just means that we are entitled to exaggerate and make things up in order to get people's attention."

Go check ClimateDepot.com. I'm not making that up. Two renowned (if there are such things) climate scientists have said that they are totally justified in exaggerating and making things up to get your attention and your money. "Americans' concerns..." This is from the actual Gallup poll. "Americans' concerns about global warming and climate change have held steady over the past year, while concerns about other environmental threats tested by Gallup have increased.

"The percentage expressing a great deal of worry about pollution of drinking water, as well as contamination of soil and water by toxic waste, increased by seven percentage points." Worry? How can people in this country not be worried about everything, given what the news is every day? Hell, people are worried about coffee! People are worried about virtually everything. Worry and concern is what is the news.

Study: Discovery of a novel methanogen prevalent in thawing permafrost
"Scientists from The University of Queensland have discovered a microbe that is set to play a significant role in future global warming."

"UQ's Australian Centre for Ecogenomics researcher Ben Woodcroft said the methane-producing micro-organism, known as a ‘methanogen’, was thriving in northern Sweden’s thawing permafrost in a thick subsurface layer of soil that has previously remained frozen."

"[Mr Woodcroft] said global warming trends meant vast areas of permafrost would continue to thaw, allowing the microbes to flourish in organic matter and drive methane gas release, which would further fuel global warming."
Source.

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Study: Nitrogen isotopes in ice core nitrate linked to anthropogenic atmospheric acidity change

"Geng’s work showed that the long-term decrease in the nitrogen-15 isotope since 1850, and its leveling off in 1970, are linked to changes in air chemistry. Airborne nitrate can exist as a gas or a particle, and nitrate with lighter isotopes tends to exist as a gas. But he found that the total fraction of nitrate present as gas or particle varies with the acidity of the atmosphere, and the acidic air causes more of the light isotopes to exist as a gas."

"“The isotope records really closely follow the atmospheric acidity trends,” said co-author Becky Alexander, a UW associate professor of atmospheric sciences. “You can really see the effect of the Clean Air Act in 1970, which had the most dramatic impact on emission of acid from coal-fired power plants.”"
Source.

McKinsey & Company: Myths and realities of clean technologies
"So, is cleantech failing? In a word, no. Rather, the sector has experienced a cycle of excitement followed by high (and often inflated) expectations, disillusionment, consolidation, and then stability as survivors pick up the pieces. We’ve seen this before with other once-emerging technologies, such as cars, railroads, elevators, oil, and the Internet. Much of cleantech is just leaving its disillusionment or consolidation phase. For example, in transport, Tesla Motors is looking good; Fisker Automotive went into bankruptcy in 2013. In energy, SunPower is making healthy margins and SolarCity raised $450 million in 2013, but over a hundred other solar companies are gone. The shakeout is brutal—and typical. It has weeded out weaker players, making the industry as a whole more robust. Despite the rough patch, annual growth is at double-digit rates."


Source.

"… McKinsey has been ranked in the number one position of the "The Best Consulting Firms: Prestige" list of the Vault.com career intelligence website and was cited as the "most prestigious consulting firm of all" in a 2011 New York Times article. As of September 2013, over 100 McKinsey offices exist in 60 countries." Source.

Study: Tradeoffs and Synergies between Biofuel Production and Large Solar Infrastructure in Deserts
"Growing agave and other carefully chosen plants amid photovoltaic panels could allow solar farms not only to collect sunlight for electricity but also to produce crops for biofuels, according to new computer models by Stanford scientists."
Source.

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Community based hydo power:

"The plan is to install a 100kW micro hydroelectric generating plant on the south side of the River Calder at Whalley, Lancashire – green renewable energy"
Source.

More info on the community hydro project:
"Residents of Whalley in Lancashire opened a community share offer in November 2013 in a bid to raise the money needed to generate community-owned clean energy on the River Calder. Charity Bank agreed to lend Whalley Community Hydro half the amount required as long as the share offer generated the other half. The share offer has now raised more than £400k, and as a result Charity Bank has approved a loan for the remainder."
Source.

"Charity Bank is an independent ethical bank with a social purpose. It operates across the UK, with offices in Tonbridge, London, Cardiff and York." Source.

Study: A 12-Million-Year Temperature History of the Tropical Pacific Ocean
"New research by Yale University scientists challenges a long-standing paradigm for temperature variability in the Pacific Ocean, casting doubt on the existence of a past period of “permanent” El Niño-like conditions and suggesting that the tropics could grow markedly hotter."

"“There’s good news and bad news about future global warming,” said Mark Pagani, professor of geology and geophysics at Yale and an author of the research, published April 4 in the journal Science."

"“The good news is that global warming does not drive the Pacific Ocean into a permanent El Niño-like condition with all the other regional climate impacts that come with that. The bad news is that the tropics will warm as we continue to add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere — and the recent past was probably much warmer than generally assumed.”"
Source.

Study: Assessing the effects of anthropogenic aerosols on Pacific storm track using a multiscale global climate model
"In the first study of its kind, scientists have compared air pollution rates from 1850 to 2000 and found that anthropogenic (man-made) particles from Asia impact the Pacific storm track that can influence weather over much of the world."
Source.

Interesting graphic of the pacific storm track: here.

Troubling uploading it due to size or would have included it here.