Rajendra Pachauri on Air Capture

Rajendra Pachauri, head of the "policy neutral" IPCC, has come out in support of air capture of carbon dioxide:

Drastic cuts in carbon emissions may not be sufficient to avoid the worst ravages of global warming and the world will need to suck carbon from the atmosphere to avert permanent damage to the climate, according to a leading world authority on climate science.

In an interview with The Times, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), proposed that new techniques should be applied to help to mop up atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide that have been pumped into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels.

“There are enough technologies in existence to allow for mitigation,” he said. “At some point we will have to cross over and start sucking some of those gases out of the atmosphere.”

Speaking days before the start of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, Dr Pachauri, who collected the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC with Al Gore, said that such a strategy needed to be pursued as a matter of urgency.

Since the IPCC did not discuss air capture, I wonder where this view comes from. Maybe he has been reading the latest issue of Nature Geoscience.

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25 Characteristics of a Good Husband

Men,

I thought these were all good ideas to share.

God bless, Lou

www.sportsleader.org
http://www.youtube.com/user/SportsLeaderUSA

25 CHARACTERISTICS OF A HUSBAND WHO TRULY LOVES AND SERVES THE NEEDS OF HIS WIFE
By: Dr. Robert Lewis

1. Includes his wife in envisioning the future.

2. Accepts spiritual responsibility for his family.

3. Is willing to say "I'm sorry" and "Forgive me" to his family.

4. Discusses household responsibilities with his wife and makes sure they are fairly distributed.

5. Seeks consultation from his wife on all major financing decisions.

6. Follows through with commitments he has made to his wife.

7. Anticipates the different stages his children will pass through.

8. Anticipates the different stages his marriage will pass through.

9. Frequently tells his wife what he likes about her.

10. Provides financially for his family's basic living expenses.

11. Deals with distraction so he can talk with his wife and family.

12. Prays with his wife on a regular basis.

13. Initiates meaningful family traditions.

14. Initiates fun family outings for the family on a regular basis.

15. Takes the time to give his children practical instruction about life.

16. Manages the schedule of the home and anticipates pressure points.

17. Keeps his family financially sound and out of harmful debt.

18. Makes sure he and his wife have drawn up a will.

19. Lets his wife and children into the interior of his life.

20. Honors his wife in public.

21. Explains sex to each child in a way that gives them a wholesome perspective.

22. Encourages his wife to grow as an individual.

23. Takes the lead in establishing sound family values.

24. Provides time for his wife to pursue her own personal interests.

25. Is involved in a small group of men dedicated to spiritual growth.

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Implications of Open Source Climate Science

Andy Revkin at the NYT asked me the following yesterday:

I asked him, in essence, if the shape of the 20th-century temperature curve were to shift much as a result of some of the issues that have come up in the disclosed e-mail messages and files, would that erode confidence in the keystone climate question (the high confidence expressed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 that most warming since 1950 is driven by human activities)?

You can see my response at DotEarth. I am particularly heartened to see the reaction of Raymond Pierrehumbert, of Real Climate and University of Chicago, who I collaborated with on a NRC project and paper some time ago. Here is how he starts his comment:

I often find myself disagreeing with Roger, but in this instance I find little to fault with his nice summary of the situation.

Please join the discussion over at DotEarth.

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An Exchange with Gavin Schmidt

Over at my colleague Ben Hale's blog deep in the comments of a receding thread, Gavin Schmidt of RealClimate and NASA GISS and I have been having an exchange over my recent post on CRU emails and what they suggest about peer review. In that post I criticized Gavin's defense of the comments made in the CRU emails with respect to peer review and he took exception to that criticism. So in the interests of giving Gavin a forum to set the record straight I have asked him the following questions:

1. Was there anything in the emails with respect to peer review specifically, that you find troubling or of concern? A yes or no is just fine.

2. If yes, please explain.

Gavin, I look forward to your responses, and I am sure many others do as well. This comment thread will be strictly reserved for Gavin's responses, questions directed specifically to Gavin and his subsequent responses.

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Air Capture Update

I have a short, invited correspondence in the current issue of Nature Geoscience on air capture. Here is how it begins:

The world is struggling to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions through conventional mitigation, and initially high expectations for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (Copenhagen, 7–18 December) are seemingly being scaled back almost daily. It thus seems that brute force efforts to remove and sequester carbon dioxide, such as air capture, will come to occupy an ever greater role in climate-policy discussions. Air capture refers to the direct removal and sequestration of carbon dioxide from ambient air. Investigations of the technologies that would remove this carbon dioxide, along with the associated costs and benefits, are attracting growing attention.

This issue is focused on carbon sequestration has a range of articles worth a look.

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Van Sweringen Photography: Yehuda approves!

How cool! I went to read the Yehuda Moon comic strip last night, and something on the website looked very familiar.

It took a while for it to hit me, but those are my photos used as examples of the Van Sweringen Flickr group. Thanks, Yehuda! So nice of you to pick my photos. From left to right, they are: Somervillain's Raleigh DL1, the Co-Habitant's Raleigh DL-1, and the Co-Habitant's Pashley.

The Co-Habitant's "track bike". I guess the Pashley does look very much Van Sweringen-ish, especially with those bags attached.

If you have no idea what I am talking about here, then clearly you are not yet addicted to the microcosm of Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery. Do yourself a favour and pay them a visit; best comic strip ever!

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Enya - Day 5

Took my camera when doing the evening rounds tonight and snapped a few (not very good) photos of Enya and Maude. The sun was going down and the light was great, to start, but it dropped below the cloud level so when she decided to put on a really good show, the photos did not really work. Anyway, here are a handful.

Not really a lot to report. We have a new grazer arriving from the South Island tomorrow. A Coalman's Touch gelding who belongs to Annika who is leasing Hooty off me this season. He will hang out here for a couple of months whilst they settle on their new property and get a few fences up in preparation for his move up to the Waikato. He may be here tomorrow as was picked up today but I will wait and hear from Majestic's who are bringing him up.

We have had quite a lot of rain in the last 48 hours so have mud again but I will not complain as the rain is awesome for the grass and we would really like a good hay crop this year!

Discovering the joys to be found at the bottom of a feed bin

Tongue tied

Supper time

Leg stretches

Cheeky foals R Us

Future dressage star?

Pretty

With mum

Trot

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