Physicist Turns Tables on Congressional Climate Deniers. By Margot Roosevelt, LATimes, 4/4/11. “A team of UC Berkeley physicists and statisticians that set out to challenge the scientific consensus on global warming is finding that its data-crunching effort is producing results nearly identical to those underlying the prevailing view. The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project was launched by physics professor Richard Muller, a longtime critic of government-led climate studies, to address what he called ‘the legitimate concerns’ of skeptics who believe that global warming is exaggerated. But Muller unexpectedly told a congressional hearing last week that the work of the three principal groups that have analyzed the temperature trends underlying climate science is ‘excellent... We see a global warming trend that is very similar to that previously reported by the other groups.’… Muller said his group was surprised by its findings, but he cautioned that the initial assessment is based on only 2% of the 1.6 billion measurements that will eventually be examined.

“Other scientists noted that temperature is only one factor in climate change. ‘Even if the thermometer had never been invented, the evidence is there from deep ocean changes, from receding glaciers, from rising sea levels and receding sea ice and spring snow cover,’ [Peter Thorne, a leading expert at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.] said. ‘All the physical indicators are consistent with a warming world. There is no doubt the trend of temperature is upwards since the early 20th century. And that trend is accelerating.’”

U.N. Warns of Long-Term Climate Change Impacts on Food Production. By Gargi Parsai, The Hindu, 4/1/11. “‘Potentially catastrophic’ impacts on food production from slow-onset climate changes are expected to increasingly hit the developing world in the future, and action is required now to prepare for those impacts, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned on March 31st in a report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Food production systems and the ecosystems they depended on were highly sensitive to climate variability and change. Changes in temperature, precipitation and related outbreaks of pest and diseases could reduce production. Poor people in countries that depended on food imports were particularly vulnerable to such effects, the FAO said… A crucial measure highlighted in the FAO submission is need to develop staple food varieties better adapted to expected future climatic conditions. Plant genetic material stored in gene banks should be screened with future requirements in mind and additional plant genetic resources -- including those from wild relatives of food crops -- must be collected and studied because of the risk that they may disappear.”

Combating the Fossil Fuel Industry with Political Will. Speech by Steve Valk, USC Daily Gamecock, 4/3/11. “It's been a while since I graduated from USC. When I left, Jimmy Carter had just been elected president and Elvis was still shaking his then-considerable hips on stages across America. I return this evening on a mission -- to help citizens discover their voice and the power they have to make a difference, particularly when it comes to enacting policies that will keep the Earth livable for future generations… We're on track to leave an unmanageable mess for those future generations and they're going to be plenty aggravated that we didn't do something about it when we had the chance. What's stopping us? Why aren't we making the transition to clean energy that will produce millions of new jobs, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and lower the risks of climate change?...

“It comes down to political will, and the fossil fuel industry buys as much of that as it needs, beginning with think tanks that confuse the public into believing the science on climate change isn't settled. Add to that millions of dollars in campaign contributions to members of Congress and limitless TV advertising from coal and oil interests and it's little wonder that legislation to put a price on carbon has stalled in Washington. It starts with ordinary citizens sitting down with their members of Congress and having an honest discussion about the problem we're facing and the way to solve it. In a time of cynicism and animosity toward politics, we have to develop a relationship of respect and trust with lawmakers that gives them the courage to do the right thing. ” ~ The Daily Gamecock is the student newspaper at the University of South Carolina. Steve Valk, communications director of Citizens Climate Lobby, is a 1976 graduate of USC's College of Journalism. He lives in Atlanta.