The New Republic

Does the world's leading climate-science body need to be revamped? That's basically been the consensus position among observers over the past week (see, e.g., the Times). It all started when the Amsterdam-based InterAcademy Council released its independent review of the IPCC. READ MORE >>

At this point, it's safe to say that the explosion on the Vermilion platform in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday won't be another BP disaster. The AP has a handy comparison of the two accidents. And, after talking to a few people about this, here's some more context. READ MORE >>

Not good. Some updates from CNN: An oil rig has exploded 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana… The accident took place 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana on the Vermilion Oil rig 380, which is owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy. U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough tells CNN that all 13 workers involved in the rig explosion are accounted for, but one person is injured. … READ MORE >>

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First it looked like the Senate might pass a big comprehensive climate-change bill. Then we found out, no, there weren't 60 votes for any such thing. Well all right, greens muttered, why don't we just settle for a cap on utility emissions and a renewable electricity standard? Nope, not enough votes for that either. Ooookay, well how about a bill that at least regulates the oil industry, what with all that gook bobbing around in the Gulf? No, no, and… no. And yes, it was awfully quaint for greens to have believed that a legislative body might actually be able to pass legislation. READ MORE >>

Now this is a pretty striking about-face: The world's most high-profile climate change sceptic is to declare that global warming is "undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today" and "a challenge humanity must confront", in an apparent U-turn that will give a huge boost to the embattled environmental lobby. READ MORE >>

Of all the pet causes by climate skeptics, the obsession with Michael Mann has always struck me as one of the weirdest. Most of the broader public probably has no idea who Mann even is—he was one of the climatologists who created the "hockey stick" graph that used various bits of proxy data (such as tree-ring samples and ice-core measurements) to reconstruct global temperatures over the past 1,000 years. READ MORE >>

Via Jon Hiskes, The Onion has the story: READ MORE >>

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Yesterday, a massive ice island four times the size of Manhattan snapped off of Greenland's Petermann Glacier. Ominous, no? A disturbing sign of a warming planet? Well… actually, it's hard to say. It's true that, in a broad sense, Greenland has been losing ice faster than it has been accumulating snow in recent years. The thing's clearly melting. But linking this one specific glacier calving to global warming is more difficult, and something many glaciologists are reluctant to do. READ MORE >>