Walter Russell Mead continues his critique of the UN climate change treaty process with a biting article about the Cancun conference.  Expectations that the conference will produce anything newsworthy are so low that the New York Times will not be sending a reporter to cover the full conference and the BBC, which sent 20 reporters to Copenhagen, will only send one to Cancun.

The German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle’s view of the Climate Change conference in Cancun.

A debate between Stewart Brand and Mark Z. Jacobson.

The resolution introduced by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to deny the EPA the power to regulate carbon and other greenhouse gases was defeated yesterday 47-53. Six Democratic senators, however, crossed over to support the Murkowski resolution - Evan Bayh (Ind.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Jay Rockefeller (W.V)

Lately, the public rarely gets to hear Al Gore speak about climate issues. It seems that Mr. Gore has been speaking at invitation-only meetings that are closed to the press. Since the CRU email “hide-the-decline” scandal, the Michael Mann hockey stick debunking, and the errors in the UN-IPCC report, Mr. Gore has been even less available. But, here he is speaking at the University of Tennessee commencement on May 14, 2010. And, while he doesn’t try to explain the controversies about the gathering and interpretation of climate data, he does …

from the Examiner.com

It’s good to be green - Al Gore buys $9 million seaside home
Al Gore laments media coverage of climate change debate

Here’s a link to photos of what may be Al’s new California home  - http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2010/05/exclusive-estimate-carbon-footprint-of.html

from FoxNews.com

EXCLUSIVE: Citizen’s Group Plans Extensive Audit of UN Climate Report

from the New York Times

“But centuries of rising temperatures and seas lie ahead if the release of emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation continues unabated, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. …

We presented this story in October, but it is a fitting documentary for Earth Day. It tells the story of a man who convinced his family to go totally environmental.

The “Science Catfight” over the climate change mandate is brought to you by the Colbert Report.  If you can get past the cat fight scenes, you might find that there are a few nuggets of common sense in the debate from Comedy Central that features AccuWeather.com meteorologist Joe Bastardi and Brenda Ekwurzel of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

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Science Catfight - Joe Bastardi vs. Brenda Ekwurzel

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Bill Gates, in a talk at TED last month, advocates reducing CO2 emissions to zero to avoid catastrophic effects of global warming.

California’s independent budget watchdog, the Legislative Analyst’s Office, predicts job losses in California due to, among other things, the state’s climate change legislation, according to a report today in Reuters.
In 2006, California passed a climate change law that mandates greenhouse gas emissions cutbacks to 1990 levels by the year 2020.