Polar Ice Melting at Higher Rate

A large international study has determined that the melting of land ice in both Greenland and Antarctica is at a rate three times higher than during the 1990s.  While eastern Antarctica is gaining ice, losses on the rest of the continent are twice as large.

Update (December 24):  The temperature rise in West Antarctica may be twice as much as previous estimates (2.4 degrees Celsius since 1958).

Update (April 15, 2013):  The summer ice melt in parts of Antarctica is at the highest rate in 1000 years.

Sea Levels Rising Faster Than Projected

Research from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact shows that sea levels are rising 60 percent faster than projected from the 2007 IPCC report.

Update (February 3, 2013):  A technical report on Coastal Impacts prepared for the 2013 National Climate Assessment.

Median US Wealth Drops Sharply

A study by Edward Wolff shows that median wealth is at the lowest level since 1969.  Half of US households possess 1 percent of the wealth.

Update (December 4):  Jordan Weissmann writes about Wolff's study.

Update (February 13, 2016):  A more vivid illustration of Wolff's data:

Income Inequality has Grown in the US

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities demonstrates that the gap between the lowest and highest incomes has increased in most of the country since the late 1970s.  The ratio of the top fifth to lowest fifth exceeds 8 in fifteen states -- thirty years ago no state exceeded a ratio of 8.

Summary chart:

Forty year trend from the Census:

Turn Down the Heat

The World Bank has released a report that describes the impact of a 4 degree Celsius rise in global temperature.  Current trends would lead to this change by the end of the century.

Update (November 24):  The United Nations Environment Programme warns that the gap between carbon dioxide emissions pledges and reality continues to grow.

Update (November 25):  It looks like we are locked in to a 5 foot sea level rise.

Update (November 26):  Chris Hedges summarizes the World Bank report.

IEA Report

This year's report from the International Energy Agency forecasts that the United States will surpass Saudi Arabia as the world's top oil producer.  This increased production seems largely due to the hydraulic fracturing of shale.  It's not clear how much of the potential will pan out or what the net energy return would be.

Of perhaps greater significance is a statement in the report that no more than one third of proven fossil fuel reserves can be consumed by 2050 if global warming is to stay below 2 degrees Celsius.  Meanwhile, carbon dioxide emissions grew by 2.5 percent in 2011.

Update (November 19):  Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed takes a critical view of fracking.

Update (November 22):  A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers concludes that staying below the 2 degree Celsius target requires 5.1 percent annual reductions in carbon emissions (relative to GDP) for the next 40 years.

Update (November 30):  Michael Klare points out that the US will be the top oil producer by default as Saudi and Russian production declines.

Update (December 3):  Robert Howarth argues that fracking will speed up climate change.

Update (April 1, 2013):  Brad Jacobson reports that shale gas production has been hyped and may not be sustainable.

Update (April 5, 2014):  Michael Klare gives examples of "carbon delirium".

Update (May 21, 2014):  Louis Sahagun reports that the U.S. Energy Information Administration has revised their estimate of the amount of recoverable oil from the Monterey Shale deposits in California.  The new estimate of 600 million barrels (about one month of U.S. consumption) is about 96 percent below a previous estimate of 13.7 billion barrels.  The Monterey formation contains two-thirds of the U.S. shale oil reserves.

Update (June 7, 2014):  IEA estimates that $48 trillion needs to be invested to meet growing energy demand by 2035.  Richard Heinberg points out that the oil industry is actually cutting back on investment because oil prices are too low to justify development of harder to reach sources.

Global Inequality

In their report Born Equal, Save the Children demonstrates that while the number of people in extreme poverty has decreased from about 2 billion to less than 1.3 billion since 1990, the income gap between the poorest and richest children has grown 35 percent.  That gap is larger than that between adults.

A child in the richest 10% of households has 35 times the effective available income of a child in the poorest 10% of households.

The distribution of poverty has changed.  In 1990, 93 percent of people in poverty lived in low income countries.  Now 70 percent live in middle income countries.  The effect is that while absolute poverty is declining, many poor people struggle with relative poverty - unable to meet their needs where they live.

Taxes and the Economy

A report by the Congressional Research Service was withdrawn from official circulation after Senate Republicans raised concerns.  What could those possibly be?

The reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment and productivity growth.  The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie.  However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution.

Antarctic Sea Ice Grows

Climate is complex and while Antarctic sea ice has expanded slightly due to wind patterns, the net change globally is a loss of sea ice.

Update (September 19, 2014):  Antarctic sea ice extent is on track for another record year, but the growth is explained in part by melting land ice that refreezes when it reaches the ocean.

Update (October 13, 2014):  Joe Romm explains how expanding sea ice in Antarctica is a manifestation of global warming.

Update (February 26, 2017):  That growth trend in Antarctica suddenly reversed and now we see record low extent at both poles.

Relief

Update (November 4, 2018):  Ten years.