A roundup of the news, views and ideas from the main stream press and the blogosphere.  Click on the headline link to see the full article.
While You Were Getting Worked Up Over Oil Prices, This Just Happened to Solar
Tom Randall, Bloomberg
Every time fossil fuels get cheaper, people lose interest in solar deployment. That may be about to change.
After years of struggling against cheap natural gas prices and variable subsidies, solar electricity is on track to be as cheap or cheaper than average electricity-bill prices in 47 U.S. states -- in 2016, according to a Deutsche Bank report published this week. That’s assuming the U.S. maintains its 30 percent tax credit on system costs, which is set to expire that same year...
How can we get power to the poor without frying the planet?
David Roberts, Grist
In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus must sail his ship through the Strait of Messina, between two terrible dangers. On one side, in a cave in the rocks, is a six-headed, sharp-toothed monster named Scylla. On the other side, an overhang of rocks where “the waves and whirlwinds of fire are freighted with wreckage and with the bodies of dead men.†There lies the sucking whirlpool of Charybdis.
As we pilot our ship through the 21st century, humanity faces its own narrow strait, its own Scylla and Charybdis...
High Levels of Dangerous Chemicals Found in Air Near Oil and Gas Sites
Jamie Smith Hopkins, National Geographic
A five-state study raises new questions about the health impacts of the U.S. energy boom
Dirk DeTurck had a years-old rash that wouldn't go away, his wife's hair came out in chunks, and anytime they lingered outside their house for more than an hour, splitting headaches set in...
Calls for $100-a-barrel oil show many betting on rebound
Fuelfix via Bloomberg
For all the noise about oil’s collapse, the market is saying not that much has really changed: Higher prices will be back soon enough because the current slowdown in demand growth will prove fleeting...
Today’s prices can’t “be considered the new normal, or at least not yet,†Paul Horsnell, head of commodities research at Standard Chartered Plc in London, said by e-mail yesterday. “The back end of the curve does seem happier above $90.â€...
What is the emissions impact of switching from coal to gas?
Mat Hope, Carbon Brief
The US's shale gas boom is credited with helping the country cut power sector emissions 16 per cent since 2007. Official figures released earlier this week suggest a switch from coal to gas was largely responsible for the drop.
But there are competing theories. Last week, Greenpeace released analysis with the headline 'Renewables cutting US emissions more than gas as coal consumption drops'. Business Green and Thinkprogress reported the finding, amongst others. So why are the US's emissions falling?...
Fracking: In the path of the ‘shale gale’
Barney Jopson, Financial Times
Divisions among Democrats in Colorado highlight how shale gas has become a toxic issue...
We're damming up every last big river on Earth. Is that really a good idea?
Brad Plumer, Vox
Solar and wind power get all the attention these days, but the global hydropower frenzy that's currently underway could end up being just as consequential for the planet â€" for better or for worse.
Hydroelectric dams are still the biggest source of renewable energy around, generating 16 percent of the world's electricity. And, according to a recent study in Aquatic Sciences, more than 620 large hydroelectric dams are now under construction, largely in Latin America and Asia â€" with thousands more in various stages of planning.
There are upsides and downsides here. If built, these dams could provide electricity for millions of poor people who don't have it. But dams can also be extremely controversial. Some projects can end up displacing thousands of people and destroying river habitats â€" something the United States learned the hard way last century. What's more, recent research has questioned whether hydropower is as climate-friendly as once thought...
U.N. climate change draft sees risks of irreversible damage
Alister Doyle, Reuters
Climate change may have "serious, pervasive and irreversible" impacts on human society and nature, according to a draft U.N. report due for approval this week that says governments still have time to avert the worst.
Delegates from more than 100 governments and top scientists meet in Copenhagen on Oct 27-31 to edit the report, meant as the main guide for nations working on a U.N. deal to fight climate change at a summit in Paris in late 2015.
They will publish the study on Nov. 2...
Insurance Industry Shows ‘Profound Lack Of Preparedness’ For Climate Risks
Ari Phillips, Think Progress
The insurance industry exists to provide a first line of defense against disasters, but so far the industry’s response to climate change-related risks has been more fearful than forceful. An extensive new report found that out of 330 insurers, only nine merited top ratings when it comes to climate policies â€" only two of which are American companies, Prudential and The Hartford. Using insurers’ responses to a climate risk survey by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the report by environmental non-profit Ceres, found that barely 10 percent of the insurers’ surveyed had issued public climate risk management statements that explain the risks and implications of climate change to their businesses.
BoE demands climate answers from insurers
Pilita Clark, Financial Times
The Bank of England has written to dozens of insurance companies to assess the risk that climate change poses to their solvency and earnings, in a sign of regulators’ concern about the potential financial fallout of global warming...
The Zombie System: How Capitalism Has Gone Off the Rails
Michael Sauga, Der Spiegel
Six years after the Lehman disaster, the industrialized world is suffering from Japan Syndrome. Growth is minimal, another crash may be brewing and the gulf between rich and poor continues to widen. Can the global economy reinvent itself?...
A killer plague wouldn't save the planet from us
Fred Pearce, New Scientist
One-child policies and plagues that cut the population won't be enough to fix our ecological problems, models suggest. Only changes in consumption will do that...
Farm salt poisoning costs $27 billion annually
Fred Pearce, New Scientist
Salt is poisoning 2000 hectares of farmland daily, cutting crop yields in some areas by as much as 70 per cent...
How do trees change the climate?
Abby Swann, Real Climate
This past month, an op-ed by Nadine Unger appeared in the New York Times with the headline “To save the climate, don’t plant treesâ€. The author’s main argument is that UN programs to address climate change by planting trees or preserving existing forests are “high risk†and a “bad betâ€. [Ed. There is more background on the op-ed here]
However, I don’t think that these conclusions are supported by the science. The author connects unrelated issues about trees, conflates what we know about trees from different latitudes, and fails to convey the main point: tropical trees keep climate cool locally, help keep rainfall rates high, and have innumerable non-climate benefits including maintaining habitat and supporting biodiversity.
Numerous scientists have already replied to the original op-ed, highlighting the points above and adding others. But some of those responses made confusing arguments too, muddying things further. So what is going on? Why is it so complicated to say scientifically what trees do to climate? The answer lies in the fact that trees have multiple pathways for influencing climate, and the relative importance of these pathways varies depending on where we look on the globe...
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