Bipartisanship, perhaps an oxymoron already, brings us an apparent oxymoron: "Drilling for Clean Energy" from Representatives Jim Marshall and Roscoe Bartlett, writing in the WaPo:

...a strategic plan to use the remaining value of our federally owned oil and natural gas reserves to fund a clean, affordable and independent energy future for America, a goal worthy of short-term environmental concessions and risks.

Their idea is to open up ANWR and offshore for drilling, but under changed financial terms that would capture more of the revenues for the federal government, and ensure that the money goes to develop solar, wind, nuclear, and "better" biofuels.

Make the Switch, Repower America

Al Gore has a new commercial on energy.

Pelosi firm: No vote on offshore drilling

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday ruled out a vote on new offshore oil drilling even as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he might be open to a compromise that included it.

This is a major major victory. Al Gore has told us that we have 10 years to change from carbon based fuels to renewable energy. Pelosi seems to have taken him seriously. She is our firewall between influence peddlers and the destruction of our planet. Could we say thank you?

Via Marc Ambinder, Gore will lay out "an unprecedented challenge" on energy and climate change and will set a national goal for a "clean energy future."

Who: Former Vice President Al Gore

What: A discussion on the future of America's energy needs

Where: D.A.R. Constitution Hall ­ 1776 D St., NW, Washington, DC

When: Thursday, July 17 at 12:00 p.m. EDT

I won't be able to go, which is a shame. I went to Gore's last speech at DAR, the atmosphere was electrifying.

This was going to be a single-payer post, but there was nothing new of interest on that topic; we already knew Republican Tim Murphy was on the wrong side and we already knew Democrat Jason Altmire had broken his promise to support HR676.

No big ideas here, just stuff for lovers of facts on the ground and anecdotal evidence. These are my notes on a "town hall meeting" in Monroeville, PA, the armpit of Pittsburgh, which in turn is said by some to be the armpit of the universe. Representatives Murphy and Altmire answered questions for about an hour.

From the LA Times - "Chunk of Ice Shelf Collapses Putting Larger Area at Risk"

From the accompanying article:
Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica that started Feb. 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins Ice Shelf and had been there for perhaps 1,500 years.

British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan attributed the melting to rising sea temperature due to global warming.

Scientists said that while they were not concerned about a rise in sea level from the latest event, it was a sign of worsening global warming.

Why isn't this man in jail for killing nine coal miners who died in the Crandall Canyon mine (so far this month)?

Perhaps because he's a heavy contributor to the GOP?
More details are at TexasKaos.

This is how global warming will become common sense.

Is this cool or what?

Think Progress Inhofe

The government of the Marshall Islands dispatched a ship to supply drinking water to outlying islands Wednesday after declaring a state of emergency amid a prolonged drought.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report:

Published on Saturday, February 3, 2007 by the lndependent/UK
Global Warming: The Final Warning
Carbon Dioxide Rate is at Highest Level for 650,000 Years
by Steve Connor

Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are at their highest levels for at least 650,000 years and this rise began with the birth of the Industrial Revolution 250 years ago, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas responsible for global warming and, in 2005, concentrations stood at 379 parts per million (ppm). This compares to a pre-industrial level of 278 ppm, and a range over the previous 650,000 years of between 180 and 300 ppm, the report says.

Present levels of carbon dioxide - which continue to rise inexorably each year - are unprecedented for the long period of geological history that scientists are able to analyse from gas samples trapped in the frozen bubbles of deep ice cores.

It's simple. All life on earth begins and ends with the seas. When the seas die, we all die. The food chains and biospheres that exist today literally will not survive dead oceans. Without the little critters at the bottom of the ocean food chain, the whole ocean biosphere goes. That's what's happening.

There are times when I really grok Al Gore. "Run for President? Love to, but I've got more important things to do. Like, this last ditch attempt to save life on earth, n shit."

I was cruising through the sphere today and wandered off into Kos. I usually don’t. I’ve been trying to reformulate my worldview. I found one of my axiomatic themes (geography determines economy) at Political Cortex. The change in climate, the development of quantum, photonic, encryption, simulated brains, feudal intellectual property rights, massive capital domination by a disproportionate few, not to mention electronic voting.

Look, I read and watch too much sci-fi, I admit that. But is anyone else a bit disturbed by this "closed session?" Ahem, some people think Operation Dark Storm would be a very bad idea.

"May there be mercy on Man and Machine for their sins."

Myself, I like sunshine, and I tend to think the answer is cracking down and getting serious about emissions and pollution, not tinkering with the frakking sky. But what do I know?

This is a great idea. I hope we see a lot more of this.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer today filed a lawsuit against leading U.S. and Japanese auto manufacturers, alleging their vehicles’ emissions have contributed significantly to global warming, harmed the resources, infrastructure and environmental health of California, and cost the state millions of dollars to address current and future effects.

“Global warming is causing significant harm to California’s environment, economy, agriculture and public health. The impacts are already costing millions of dollars and the price tag is increasing,” said Lockyer.

Well, that's a relief. I mean, it's a lot better than a five-year plan. Though not nearly so good as a Thousand-Year Reich. [Rimshot. Hysterical sobbing.] Assuming this isn't all yet more Republican methane, of course. [Cue the fart doll!]

Via the brilliant and well-supported Avedon (via Monkey Fist (via McGraw-Hill's Platts)):

The Bush administration plans to announce as early as next week a goal of stabilizing carbon dioxide levels in the global atmosphere at 450 parts per
million by the year 2106, congressional and non-government sources told Platts
Wednesday.

These guys can't even plan for a l'il ol' Iraqi invasion, and we're going to trust them to plan one hundred years out? I don't think so.

Besides, the window of opportunity is more like ten years, not a hundred. Via The Fist (via Attaturk ( via NASA scientist Jim Hansen)):

If the world continues with a “business as usual” scenario, Hansen said temperatures will rise by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 7.2 degrees F) and “we will be producing a different planet.”

On that warmer planet, ice sheets would melt quickly, causing a rise in sea levels that would put most of Manhattan under water. The world would see more prolonged droughts and heat waves, powerful hurricanes in new areas and the likely extinction of 50 percent of species...

...Hansen spoke as NASA released two studies that found sharp reductions in winter Arctic sea ice.

One of those studies was from Hansen's institute. “It is not too late to save the Arctic, but it requires that we begin to slow carbon dioxide emissions this decade,” Hansen said in a statement.

So what Bush wants to do--if indeed whoever's controlling his meds today wants him to do it--is too little, too late. Surprise!

Interestingly, Platts does qualify the story and give some of the media background:

UK Independent:

President Bush is preparing an astonishing U-turn on global warming, senior Washington sources say.

After years of trying to sabotage agreements to tackle climate change Bush drawing up plans to control emissions of carbon dioxide and rapidly boost the use of renewable energy sources.

After cutting funding for renewable resources in the 2007 budget? Chutzpah! Although I suppose Bush could shift reponsibility onto "the bureacracy"...

What I want to know is, what's in for The Base?

I had a bit of fun this evening. Al Gore was in town to present "An Inconvenient Truth" in L.A. today. He apparently did a Q&A at the Arclight--which I missed--but he then went to introduce the open-air, free screening at the California Plaza in downtown. We were also treated to a few songs by Jon Bon Jovi, and Mayor Villaraigosa said a few words as well.

Okay, perhaps that title is unfair; gasbags are members of the human race, and I know that. And they are authentically gasbags. We all know that.