Posted on 18 November 2012 by John Hartz

This is the second edition of a biweekly roundup of selected news articles and blog posts about climate change and its impacts. This new series replaces the weekly roundup.

Cap-and-Trade Auction: California

California environmental officials moved ahead with a first-ever auction of greenhouse gas pollution credits despite a last-minute lawsuit filed by the state Chamber of Commerce to invalidate the sale.

California holds cap-and-trade auction of greenhouse gas credits Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times, Nov 15, 2012

Global Perspective Needed

In traditional foreign policy, countries focus primarily on their own national interests. In many respects, global climate change negotiations have followed that trend. ("Why should the United States agree to emissions cuts if China does not?" "Will we get more from the bargain than we give?") The real lesson of Sandy and Nilam is that we're all in this together as a global community. When weather catastrophes are linked to changes in the global climate, and strike opposite sides of the world with such fury in two successive weeks, we can no longer afford to think solely in terms of national interests.

U.S. Climate Disaster in Global Perspective by Robert Adler, The Huffington Post, Nov 16, 2012

Hurricane Sandy: What next?

"Here we have a crisis that was supposed to be a wake up call about climate change. And it was, for a little while,” she (Naomi Klein) explains. “Yet when we think about reconstruction, we are talking about how to hold back the next storm, not how to prevent the storms from continuing to escalate."

Naomi Klein Discusses Climate Change Challenges After Hurricane Sandy (VIDEO) by Jessica Leader, The Huffington Post, Nov 16, 2012

Keystone Pipeline: North America 

“It appears major environmental organizations and strong environmental supporters of the president are suggesting this is a litmus test for whether the second Obama administration is with them or against them,” said Ebinger, who’s a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution research center in Washington.

With election over, will Obama OK Keystone pipeline? by Sean Cockerham, McClatchy Newspapers, Nov 16, 2012

Public Opinion: California

California voters strongly support the state's ambitious program to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming, according to a new post-election poll.

State voters support cap and trade by  Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times, Nov 16, 2012

Public Policy: US

The entire House GOP leadership team has registered its opposition to climate legislation that raises revenue, underscoring the long odds that taxing carbon emissions has in negotiations on the fiscal cliff.

House GOP leaders pledge to oppose climate change ‘tax’, by Ben Geman,E² Wire/The Hill, Nov 15, 2012

Environmental advocates have expressed frustration with the lack of discussion of climate change in the presidential race this year, a reticence that persisted even after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. On Wednesday, in his first post-election news conference, President Obama offered his most extensive remarks on climate change in months. They did not particularly thrill environmentalists.

Obama on Climate Policy: Not Just Now, Thanks by John Broder, Green Blog, New York Times, Nov 16, 2012

I am a firm believer that climate change is real, that it is impacted by human behavior and carbon emissions. And, as a consequence, I think we’ve got an obligation to future generations to do something about it.” So spoke newly re-elected President Barack Obama at a press conference on November 14 when questioned by a reporter.

All-of-the-Above Energy Strategy Trumps Climate Action by David Biello, Scientific American, Nov 16, 2012

Scientific Consensus

Scientists do not disagree about human-caused global warming. It is the ruling paradigm of climate science, in the same way that plate tectonics is the ruling paradigm of geology. We know that continents move. We know that the earth is warming and that human emissions of greenhouse gases are the primary cause. These are known facts about which virtually all publishing scientists agree.

Why Climate Deniers Have No Scientific Credibility - In One Pie Chart by James Powell, DeSmog Blog, Nov 15, 2012 

Summer Climate Change

Analysis of 90 years of observational data has revealed that summer climates in regions across the globe are changing -- mostly, but not always, warming --according to a new study led by a scientist from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences headquartered at the University of Colorado Boulder.

CIRES study shows summer climate change, mostly warming, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), Nov 13, 2012