But it’s not permafrost-permafrost;

Researchers from McGill and the U.S. Geological Survey, more used to measuring thawing permafrost than its expansion, have made a surprising discovery. There is new permafrost forming around Twelvemile Lake in the interior of Alaska. But they have also quickly concluded that, given the current rate of climate change, it won’t last beyond the end of this century.

Might even be gone before the funding runs out.

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (UK);

A Huddersfield businessman has been arrested in the United States in connection with an alleged $189m dollar fraud. Mohammad Safdar Gohir was detained in Las Vegas where he had flown to watch the Amir Khan flight. […]
A German prosecutor said the man was under investigation for participating in a scheme to evade taxes through trading European Union carbon emission certificates using a business based in Dubai.[…]
The arrest is part of a global probe that has also affected Deutsche Bank, where prosecutors are investigating 25 staff, including co-Chief Executive Juergen Fitschen and finance chief Stefan Krause, on suspicion of tax evasion, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
At least 14 people have been jailed in three countries so far for their involvement in carbon trading VAT fraud.

More compelling evidence that achieving a “carbon-free world” based solely on a prohibitionist model is an expensive and wasted effort.*

Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Toronto Star, 2014;

The dramatic decline in the monarch butterfly population in eastern North America is due largely to the steady loss of milkweed crops in U.S. breeding grounds, according to a new study that researchers say provides the first proof of the critical connection.
Scientists at the University of Guelph say they picked apart the various factors linked to the drop in migratory monarch butterflies and confirmed theories that the lack of milkweed is likely responsible for the plummeting butterfly population.

Environmental Working Group, 2013

In recent years, millions of acres of America’s native grasslands have been plowed under to grow corn for ethanol to blend into gasoline. And new research is clearly pointing to the federal ethanol mandate as a main driver of this tsunami of land conversion in the Midwest.

h/t Jamie Mac

Climate, disrupted: Will record streak without major hurricane landfall end?

Taking the #4 spot this week on the Planetary Climate Crisis Countdown;

Corn futures fell, heading for the biggest monthly loss since June, as U.S. planting neared completion and prospects improved for early crop development. Wheat also fell, while soybeans gained. […]
Prices also declined on speculation that world inventories will rise with improving global weather conditions…

A journalist has been spotted in the wild.

I see things like Gov. Jerry Brown’s dog-and-pony show Monday in Sacramento and think more about his motivation than I do about his message. Brown spoke at a conference about climate change, and the media in attendance relayed his concern that global warming threatens our state.
He said California is at the “epicenter” of global climate change. He said the state must prepare for longer fire seasons, for rising oceans and for extended droughts. And he had charts and graphs to prove his points, so it must be true.
If I wasn’t on the downhill side of my journey up and over the hill, I’d be very worried …

Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Government of Manitoba: While climate change is predicted to result in fewer deaths related to extreme cold events during the winter, warmer summer temperatures will likely increase the occurrence of heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Extreme weather events such as heat waves and floods can lead to higher incidences of sickness and loss of life.
Winnipeg, Manitoba: On this warm spring day, 461 Winnipeg properties still struggle with frozen pipes. Two Winnipeg city councillors were hoping for help from some western neighbours, but Regina and Brandon won’t be committing any resources to help thaw Winnipeg out.

Merkel Snubs UN Climate Conference: Merkel’s decision to snub the event is likely another sign that efforts to forge a climate agreement are already dead in water.
h/t Maz2

Climate Change Research Axed in Australia;

The budgetary facts are inescapably grim for researchers and scientists based in renewable energies and research. The funding for all government programs related to climate change is set to shrink at an alarming rate, going from $5.75 billion this year to a scant $500 million in the next four years. Additionally, the Emissions Reduction Fund which is meant to help lower greenhouse gas emissions in Australia is going to be reduced to only $1.14 billion. This was devastating news after Environment Minister Greg Hunt had gone on record promising to provide $2.55 billion to fund the program. Nevertheless, it is not only climate change programs that are feeling the pinch of the Abbott budget. The Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, will have $111 million worth of funding slashed over the next four years, which will affect an uncertain number of programs and a loss of tenth of the CSIRO workforce.