It’s Up-In-The-Air Day at Cool Green Morning — with unsolved questions such as: Is airborne dust the cause of global warming? Are energy-efficient light bulbs backfiring? And doesn’t anyone in the U.S. Defense Department remember the Hindenburg? All the rising green news follows:

• More Than Just Hot Air: The Pentagon will spend $400 million to develop a giant, solar-powered surveillance blimp that will stay aloft at 65,000 feet for 10 years, reports Red Green and Blue.

• Dust in the Wind: Up to 69 percent of global warming over the last 25 years has been as a result of airborne sulfates sent aloft by volcanoes and dust storms, says a new and controversial study in Science. (Hat tip: Climate Feedback.)

• True, But Not Convincing: Scientists are still torn about the political usefulness of the climate change tipping point concept, says Dot Earth, even though the threat of tipping points is acknowledged as quite probable.

• The Sound and the Fury: The G-20 summit on economics began yesterday in Bonn, Germany — and here’s a guide to the groups that will be protesting on climate change matters, courtesy of Treehugger. Meanwhile, Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, says don’t expect much from the United States out of this meeting. (Hat tip: Yale Environment 360.)

• We Need Some Light on This Subject: A weekend New York Times article on the unreliability of compact fluorescent lightbulbs gets ripped by The Scientific Activist for being completely anecdotal.

(Image: Dust plume from the Saharan Desert blown over the Atlantic Ocean. Credit: NASA Visible Earth.)

Posted: March 30th, 2009 under Africa, Air Pollution, Climate Change, Climate Science & Research, Cool Green Morning, Deserts and Aridlands, Europe, Green Living, Policy, Science.
Tags: blimp, CFL, Climate Change, Climate Feedback, Dot Earth, G-20, New York Times, Pentagon, Red Green and Blue, Scientific Activist, tipping point, Treehugger, volcano, Yale Environment 360, Yvo de Boer