{"id":249,"date":"2012-11-20T12:48:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T17:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/?p=249"},"modified":"2012-11-20T12:48:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-20T17:48:00","slug":"iowa-scientists-drought-a-sign-of-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/?p=249","title":{"rendered":"Iowa scientists: Drought a sign of climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\tTweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>

Note: As I’ve outlined in an essay you can find here<\/a>, the huge and mounting costs of climate change and global warming are external costs that would be included in the market for oil & gas if those markets were actually functioning correctly. \u00a0This is a great example of unpriced consequences of fossil fuels<\/a> and why it’s factually wrong to say things like “coal is cheaper than wind” because the market price for coal power electricity isn’t reflecting the true cost, an example of market failure.<\/em><\/p>\n

Posted on\u00a0November 20, 2012 at 6:41 am\u00a0by\u00a0Associated Press<\/a> in\u00a0Climate Change<\/a>,\u00a0global warming<\/a><\/p>\n

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DES MOINES, Iowa \u2014 This year\u2019s drought is consistent with predictions that global climate change would bring about weather extremes including more frequent droughts, said a report released Monday.<\/p>\n

The Iowa Climate Statement updates the 2010 report, reflecting the year\u2019s lingering drought and the belief that it signifies what many scientists have predicted \u2014 increasing instability in weather patterns will lead to extremes during both wet and dry years.<\/p>\n

Iowa has experienced such extremes in recent years; in 2008, flooding caused an estimated $10 billion in damage, making it the worst disaster in the state\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

More broadly, this year\u2019s drought brought about parched croplands, reducing corn yields across the nation\u2019s Grain Belt, from South Dakota to Indiana. And last month\u2019s Superstorm Sandy \u2014 a combination of a hurricane, a wintry storm and a blast of arctic air \u2014 devastated parts of the Eastern seaboard and killed more than 100 people.<\/p>\n

The report was signed by 138 scientists and researchers from 27 Iowa colleges and universities. They said they wanted to release the updated report now while the drought is still fresh in the public\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe drought is sort of a teachable moment,\u201d said Jerry Schnoor, co-director of the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research at the University of Iowa.<\/p>\n

The scientists are careful to avoid saying any single extreme weather incident is directly caused by global warming, saying too many factors are at play when it comes to weather. But, they did say increasingly volatile weather patterns have been predicted by scientists who study global warming.<\/p>\n

Patrick Michaels, director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Washington-based conservative think tank Cato Institute, said there\u2019s no evidence global warming contributed to this summer\u2019s drought. He doesn\u2019t deny that global warming is real and that man-made pollutants may contribute to it, but says it has a very small impact overall.<\/p>\n

Michaels said the scientists who signed on to the report are \u201cnibbling around the edges\u201d with their recommendations that Americans use more renewable energy sources, such as wind power and ethanol, and build homes to be more efficient. He says any action the United States takes wouldn\u2019t be that effective because China and India are emitting increasing amounts of pollutants that contribute to global warming.<\/p>\n

The Iowa scientists said they\u2019re statement is not one of gloom and doom, but meant to indicate investments can be made now to slow the economic impact of weather extremes and to help communities adapt to the changes.<\/p>\n

One scientist who helped draft the report, Dave Courard-Hauri, chairman of environmental science and policy program at Drake University, said continuing to deny the connection between increased storm volatility and a warming climate helps no one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gain nothing if we act as if there\u2019s uncertainty where there\u2019s not or that there is significant division among scientists regarding the causes of climate change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note: As I’ve outlined in an essay you can find here, the huge and mounting costs of climate change and global warming are external costs that would be included in the market for oil & gas if those markets were actually functioning correctly. \u00a0This is a great example of unpriced consequences of fossil fuels and why it’s factually wrong to say things like “coal is cheaper than wind” because the market price for coal power electricity isn’t reflecting the true cost, an example of market failure. Posted on\u00a0November 20, 2012 at 6:41 am\u00a0by\u00a0Associated Press in\u00a0Climate Change,\u00a0global warming DES MOINES, Iowa \u2026 Continue reading this post → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[55,57,58,22,56,23],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy_policy_economics","tag-climate-change","tag-drought","tag-environment","tag-externalities","tag-global-warming","tag-market-failure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250,"href":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}