What’s more frightening than more Americans getting their news from Jon Stewart than a newspaper? When Jon Stewart says putting giant reflective mirrors into space will slow climate change…and he means it! It’s real scary stuff, kids, so we put it last in this morning’s Coolness to give you a good fright for the weekend! (Like you needed one.)

1. Wind turbines get bad press for killing migrating birds, bats…anything that flies. But a new study reported in CleanTechnica says cats and buildings kill far more…and that climate change poses the biggest threat of extinction to bird species. (Those darn outdoor cats…)
2. Were expectations too high for Copenhagen to begin with? A new study in Nature Reports Climate Change says researchers who study cooperation think “trying to get an effective multi-faceted treaty agreed between 192 nations is a waste of time,” reports Climate Feedback. Ouch! (But bilateral deals are a much more effective first step, says the report…and it seems U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern might now agree, reports The Guardian.)
3. Could reducing air pollution speed up global warming? A new report in Science magazine says some aerosols actually have an atmospheric cooling effect…perhaps akin to a giant antiperspirant. (Hat tip: Journal Watch Online.)
4. Nothing is ever easy, is it? Solar farms, it turns out, demand a lot of water for cooling — pitting them smack against water conservation in the perpetually H2O-challenged state of California, says EcoGeek.
5. Jon Stewart endorses geoengineering (you know, like placing reflective mirrors in Earth orbit or seeding clouds) as the most viable solution to climate change, prompted by the arguments of Freakonomics authors Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner. Problem is, Levitt and Dubner are wrong, say a growing number of people. Treehugger reviews the debate.

(Image credit: jpstanley/Flickr through a Creative Commons license.)

Posted: October 30th, 2009 under Air Pollution, Birds, Climate Change, Climate Science & Research, Cool Green Morning, Energy, Media, Policy, Water Conservation.
Tags: air pollution global warming, bird extinction, bird threat, CleanTechnica, climate change bird, Climate Feedback, Copenhagen, EcoGeek, Freakonomics, global warming, Jon Stewart, Jon Stewart climate, Jon Stewart geoengineering, Journal Watch Online, Nature Reports Climate Change, Science air pollution, Science magazine, solar farm water, solar water, Steven Dubner, Steven Levitt, The Guardian, Todd Stern, Treehugger, wind turbine bird

Comments

Comment from Global Changes
Time November 2, 2009 at 11:40 am

Were expectations too high for Copenhagen to begin with?

It may have been arranged by scientists to get politicians back to the table to discuss climate change. But I think politicians have simply jumped on the chance to use it as a publicity stunt. I don’t really think anything meaningful will happen at Copenhagen but I expect politicians to hail it as solving climate change so the don’t get asked about it any more.

John Stewart Makes a good point, technology got us in this mess, lets hope it can get us out of it.