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| ExxonMobil says we need to destroy our grandchildren's future to save them Exxon. Mobil anxiously grasps its gigantic but unsustainable gold mines, pumps cash (much of it from your wallet to places far away), pours GHGs into the atmosphere, pushes its publicity machine, and doesn' t seem to comprehend the relationships between a healthy climate and the lives of our grandchildren. They try to confuse you in the process. Their actions delay the creation of millions of jobs and our ability to author a healthier future. And that''s putting it politely. Exxon. Mobil will be holding its Annual Meeting of Shareholders this week, on May 26 in Dallas. If you get your news from the status quo media, you might not have a full picture of the company (see NYT suckered by Exxon. Mobil in puff piece titled 'Green is for Sissies'). |
27th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Should we prefer investing in renewable energy to cleaning up the dirty stuff? by David Roberts A couple weeks ago, Michael Levi at the Council for Foreign Relations (one of the best energy analysts out there; bookmark his blog) wrote a post called 'In Defense of CCS.' (For non- nerds: CCS is carbon capture and sequestration.) I' ve done plenty of bashing of CCS, so I read it with interest. It is structured as a fisking of a recent anti- CCS op- ed in the NYT. One of the arguments he debunks, however, deserves a closer look: 'Carbon dioxide is a worthless waste product, so taxpayers would likely end up shouldering most of the cost. |
27th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| JP Morgan invented credit-default swaps to give Exxon credit line for Valdez liability Credit- default swaps are widely seen as a major contributor to the recent financial meltdown. But the origin of CDS''s with the Exxon Valdez oil disaster isn' t as widely known. |
27th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| ANALYSIS-World warms, public cools to climate action OSLO, May 27 (Reuters) - This year is on track to be the warmest worldwide since records began in the 19th century yet voters seem to be cooling to strong action to combat climate change. Their doubts may be quietly sapping the will of governments and companies to cut greenhouse gas emissions after the Copenhagen summit in December failed to agree a treaty meant to slow more droughts, floods and rising seas, analysts say. "There has been a resurgence of scepticism" that humans are to blame for global warming, said Max Boykoff, an assistant professor and expert in environmental policy at the University of Colorado- Boulder. Yet so far in 2010 there has been record warmth especially in many tropical regions, Australia and parts of the Arctic -- despite a chill start to the year in western Europe and some eastern parts of North America. "It''s more likely than not -- greater than a 50 percent chance -- that it will be the warmest year on record," said Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the British Met Office Hadley Centre, referring to global temperatures. That would eclipse 1998 and 2005 as the warmest years since records began and undermine an argument used by some sceptics that warming has peaked. The decade just finished was the warmest on record, ahead of the 1990s. See also: Americans Are Becoming Global Warming Skeptics - U.S. News & World Report |
27th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Do Humans Need a Golden Rule 2.0? Weighing the climate challenge, a popular novelist proposes that humans need a new Golden Rule. |
27th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Debt crisis hits climate change battle - Financial Times The private sector will have to pay more towards efforts to tackle climate change as the European sovereign debt crisis leaves governments facing pressure to cut spending, Norway has warned. 'We all see that many European states have to focus on debt reduction and that will of course reduce their ability to increase public funding for climate actions,' he told the Financial Times. His comments came as officials from more than 50 countries prepared to gather in Oslo on Thursday for one of the biggest meetings on global warming since the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December. Norway, which has promised to use some of its oil wealth to fight climate change, burnished its commitment by announcing $1bn ( 817m, £694m) to help Indonesia tackle deforestation " the main focus of the Oslo event. |
27th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| On attribution How do we know what caused climate to change " or even if anything did? This is a central question with respect to recent temperature trends, but of course it is much more general and applies to a whole range of climate changes over all time scales. Judging from comments we receive here and discussions elsewhere on the web, there is a fair amount of confusion about how this process works and what can (and cannot) be said with confidence. For instance, many people appear to (incorrectly) think that attribution is just based on a naive correlation of the global mean temperature, or that it is impossible to do unless a change is 'unprecedented' or that the answers are based on our lack of imagination about other causes. |
27th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 'Playing God' with the climate? Biotech supremo Craig Venter's latest foray into "synthetic life" is raising all sorts of questions within the domain of medical and scientific ethics. One of the potential uses which he's looking at for synthetic bacteria - sucking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - potentially also breaks new ground in the ethics of human effects on the natural world. Craig_VenterDr Venter's proposed CO2-suckers, if they ever materialise, would basically constitute a new entry into the field of geo-engineering - using technology to ameliorate human-induced climate change. |
23rd May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. National Academy of Sciences labels as 'settled facts' that 'the Earth system is warming and that much of this warming is very likely due to human activities' - New report confirms failure to act poses "significant risks" A strong, credible body of scientific evidence shows that climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems . Some scientific conclusions or theories have been so thoroughly examined and tested, and supported by so many independent observations and results, that their likelihood of subsequently being found to be wrong is vanishingly small. Such conclusions and theories are then regarded as settled facts. This is the case for the conclusions that the Earth system is warming and that much of this warming is very likely due to human activities. See also: US top scientists urge coal, oil use penalties Academy of Sciences defends climate-change research, conclusions |
23rd May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Singularity > Climate Change > Peak Oil > Financial Crisis While lying awake late at night worrying about what kind of world my children will inherit, I find it helpful to come up with schemas for the most obvious and inevitable of the large societal problems. It makes them seem slightly more manageable to place them in order of importance, or time. Further, being clear on what are the biggest and most important problems is an essential prerequisite to thinking about solutions: these problems all interact, and solutions to the smaller of them may not be radical enough to address the larger of them. read more |
23rd May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Economic impacts of biodiversity loss: case studies From forests in Japan to sea turtles in Tanzania to Scottish school dinners, the evidence of the global biodiversity crisis is evident. See also: The price of consuming the planet UN study backs economic changes to save natural world: report Visualizing Earth's Shared Assets |
23rd May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Last chance for a slow dance? All the world fiddles as we near global warming’s point of no return. Ha! Ha! Dance the Hambopolska! 1896 Svante Arrhenius suggests burning coal could raise the planets temperature. How bout that Lindbergh! Lindy Hop! 1930s Amateur scientist suggests warming in North America due to Arrheniuss proposed greenhouse effect. |
23rd May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Last chance for a slow dance? All the world fiddles as we near global warming’s point of no return. Ha! Ha! Dance the Hambopolska! 1896 Svante Arrhenius suggests burning coal could raise the planets temperature. How bout that Lindbergh! Lindy Hop! 1930s Amateur scientist suggests warming in North America due to Arrheniuss proposed greenhouse effect. |
23rd May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Polluted by profit: Johann Hari on the real Climategate Why did America's leading environmental groups jet to Copenhagen to lobby for policies that will lead to the faster death of the rainforests " and runaway global warming? Why are their staff dismissing the only real solutions to climate change as "unworkable" and "unrealistic"? Why are they clambering into corporate "partnerships" with BP, which is responsible for the worst oil spill in living memory? |
23rd May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| New Scientist's 'Living In Denial' Special Issue Discusses Climate Deniers head_in_sand.jpg The magazine New Scientist has devoted a special issue to the 'Age of Denial,' including a lot of examples of climate deniers' efforts to distort and attack climate science.DeSmogBlog's own Richard Littlemore has an essay in the issue entitled 'Living in denial: How corporations manufacture doubt,' which discusses how polluting industries have followed the tobacco playbook in order to confuse the public about climate change.Littlemore writes:'The doubt industry has ballooned in the past two decades. There are now scores of think tanks pushing dubious and confusing policy positions, and dozens of phoney grass-roots organisations created to make those positions appear to have legitimate following.'<!--break-->Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine and columnist for Scientific American, explains the difference between a skeptic and a denier in his piece ... |
20th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Green advantage Dwindling metal supply threatens drive to go green See also: Mining garbage for tomorrow's metals |
20th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Oil companies fund initiative to repeal California's landmark climate law by Jonathan Hiskes Texas oil companies are funding an attack on Gov. Schwarzenegger's signature environmental accomplishment, the 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act.Gov. Schwarzenegger's OfficeBig Oil is nothing if not brazen, so while BP works to protect its tattered reputation in the Gulf, two Texas oil companies are on the attack in California. Their target is Assembly Bill 32, the most ambitious cap-and-trade climate plan in the nation, which was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in 2006 and is set to really kick into gear next year. Their weapon is a ballot initiative that would mothball the plan until state unemployment drops to below 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters (from a current 12.6 percent), which would effectively kill the plan for the time being. |
20th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Man-made climate change blamed for 'significant' rise in ocean temperature The world's oceans are warming up and the rise is both significant and real, according to one of the most comprehensive studies into marine temperature data gathered over the past two decades. |
20th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 12 ways to cash in on the 'collapse of Eaarth' The war is over mining rights to Pandora's unobtanium, a powerful new energy source needed back on Eaarth to save our planet, where rapid population growth is exhausting limited natural resources, resulting in a dying civilization. Obviously this is a metaphor for today's global threats. The goals of Avatar 2154: Maximum security and wealth preservation for future generations of members from the elite of Wall Street, Washington, Corporate America CEOs and the Forbes 400. Avatar 2154 secretly supports climate-change-deniers in think tanks, academic research and politicians who negate the impact of scientific facts. This effort is necessary when high-profile voices like Al Gore and Bill McKibben surface and new propaganda is required to attack their efforts stirring global climate initiatives. |
18th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Making the Simple Complicated - New York Times - blog Making the Simple ComplicatedNew York Times (blog)In the case of global warming, we may arguably be more confident that the amount of carbon should stay relatively flat than we are about the per-ton damage ...and more |
18th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Q&A: "Old Rich" Countries Owe Debt for Climate Crisis NEW YORK, May 17 (IPS) - Countries closest to the equator will suffer most from climate change, according to Gwynne Dyer, a geopolitical analyst and journalist who predicts catastrophic events over the next few decades if temperatures continue to rise. |
18th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Fast Train to Nowhere? Before the UK commissions a high speed rail network, we should ask ourselves some big questions. |
18th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Michael McCarthy: This is no forecast. Climate change is here and now You can look at the warming of Lake Tanganyika as a geographical and scientific curiosity; but you're probably wiser to look at it with a considerable sense of foreboding. |
18th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 'Climate dice' now dangerously loaded: leading scientist Evidence for global warming has mounted but public awareness of the threat has shrunk, due to a cold northern winter and finger-pointing at the UN's climate experts, a top scientist warned Wednesday. |
17th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Radical new tack urged on climate The failure of the UN climate process and questioning of the science mean a new approach is needed, a report says. See also: Climate crash |
17th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ocean ecosystems in the age of Cassandra - As warnings mount, how can we speed science into policymaking? Just within the past month, several news items underscored the dire situation our oceans face. Kristen L. Marhaver, a Ph.D. Candidate in Marine Biology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has the story in this repost. Chemists warned that we must focus more attention on ocean acidification. As the seas absorb more CO2 emissions, pH levels decrease and wreak havoc on marine life, which is why the phenomenon is also called the 'evil twin of global warming.' Meanwhile, biologists warned that not enough attention is focused on the rapid extinction of the world's species, some of which will disappear before we've discovered them. |
17th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| BIODIVERSITY: We Can Live Without Oil, But Not Without Flora and Fauna UXBRIDGE, Canada, May 10 (Tierramérica) - The policies and deals that contributed to the massive oil spill under way in the Gulf of Mexico are also jeopardising the Earth's vital biological infrastructure, according to the Global Biodiversity Outlook 3, published Monday. |
17th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Money's Hunger Industrial civilisation is trashing the environment. Should we try to reform it or just watch it go down? |
17th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| It's the end of the world - as we know it This article concisely summarizes most of what has been discussed in Energy Bulletin over the past few months regarding Peak Oil. Reading all this news, I realized we are now actually facing The End of The World (As We Know It). I struggled for awhile with how to write about this. Despair is not the answer. read more |
17th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| What we can learn from studying the last millennium - or so With all of the emphasis that is often placed on hemispheric or global mean temperature trends during the past millennium, and the context they provide for interpreting modern warming trends, one thing is often lost in the discussion: space matters as much as time. Indeed, it is likely that the regional patterns of past climate changes, rather than simple hemispheric or global mean temperature trends, will best inform our understanding of the dynamical mechanisms involved. Since much of the uncertainty in future projections relates to regional climate change impacts, it makes particular sense to focus on those changes in the past that involve regional changes and the underlying mechanisms behind them. |
17th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 10 Reasons to Be Alarmed About Our Catastrophic Oil Addiction War, terrorism, economic instability -- these are just a few of the reasons to be concerned about our addiction to oil. |
17th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ian Welsh: Global Warming: A localized pause and then the end of our civilization The majority of the American population now thinks that global warming probably doesn't exist. Part of that is the huge amount of money which has... |
17th May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ice cap thaw may awaken Icelandic volcanoes OSLO (Reuters) - A thaw of Iceland's ice caps in coming decades caused by climate change may trigger more volcanic eruptions by removing a vast weight and freeing magma from deep below ground, scientists said on Friday. See also: Iceland volcano unlikely to slow global warming: scientists Volcano emitting 150-300,000 tonnes of CO2 daily: experts 'Observations suggest that the ongoing rise in global average temperatures may already be eliciting a hazardous response from the geosphere.' Grounding of Europe's Jets Cancels Out CO2 Emissions from Volcano |
20th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pumping tax dollars to big oil - Getting priorities right on tax subsidies for oil companies ExxonMobil paid no U.S. federal income tax in 2009. In fact, it was entitled to a $156 million tax refund. Why? CAP's Sima J. Gandhi, has the answer in this repost. The answer is more boring than you think: It overpaid its 2008 taxes. ExxonMobil was required to bolster its pension plan by $3 billion when the market went down in 2008. According to Alan Jeffers, Exxon's media relations manager, this overpayment reduced the amount of taxes owed in 2008, but the tax adjustment wasn't made until one year later, which led to an overpayment and the refund in 2009. |
20th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Where's the apology from the right for lying about Climategate? At last! The controversy is over. It turns out the "scientific" claims promoted for decades by whiny self-righteous liberals were a lie, a fraud, a con--and we don't need to change after all. The left is humiliated; the conservatives are triumphant and exultant. The year is 1954, and the "science" that has been exposed as a "sham" by conservatives is the link between smoking and lung cancer. Welcome to Tobaccogate, as Fox News would call it. The conservatives are championing professor Clarence Cook Little, who says he has discovered insurmountable flaws in the use of statistics and clinical data by "anti-tobacco" (and quasi-commie) scientists. |
20th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Betting on climate change Last year, Beluga Shipping discovered that there's money in global warming. Beluga is a German firm that specializes in 'super heavy lift' transport. Its vessels are equipped with massive cranes, allowing it to load and unload massive objects, like multi-ton propeller blades for wind turbines. It is an enormously expensive business, but last summer, Beluga executives hit upon an interesting way to save money: Shipping freight over a melting Arctic. Beluga had received contracts to send materials on a sprawling trip that would begin in Ulsan, South Korea, head north and west to the Russian port city of Archangelsk-located near the border with Finland-and wind up in Nigeria. |
20th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Video: Emily Hunter Investigates the Tar Sands - Part 1 Tar Sands TV-documentary |
20th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Cutting climate Why the EU can and must cut emissions faster |
20th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Some Of Our Heat Is Missing As seen on a YouTube here : [link]. The Earth is heating up, as evidenced by a number of direct measurements. However, we do not know where all the heat is located. Here's what Kevin Trenberth has written, which should be clear for anybody who has a reasonably good command of the English language :- [link] |
20th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Global warming monitoring needs to find 'missing heat', say scientists Further study on oceans needed before hidden heat 'comes back to haunt us', say researchers in ColoradoExperts need to beef up ways to measure the heat content of oceans as a way to track more reliably the course of global warming, scientists say today.Kevin Trenberth and John Fasullo, climate scientists at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, say that only about half of the heat believed to have built up in the Earth in recent years can be accounted for. New instruments are needed to locate and monitor this missing heat, they say, which could be storing up trouble for the future."The heat will come back to haunt us sooner or later," Trenberth said. |
16th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Peak Wood The combination of accelerated deforestation and fossil fuel use has resulted in the climate change crisis we face today. |
16th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Police quiz climate change sceptics Local police are being helped by officers from the National Domestic Extremism Team, leading the climate sceptics to question the involvement of a unit set up to counter home-grown terrorists and radicals. A unit spokesman said the two officers were assigned because of their expertise in computer forensics and because they had experience of dealing with environmental activists. There have been indications that the hackers could have been based in Russia, and some experts believe they may have been hired by sceptics based in the US. See also: 'No malpractice' by climate unit |
15th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The peak oil crisis: China's latest drought There will be at least three major consequences of recurring drought conditions in southwestern China. First will be that millions of people and head of livestock will have to find a source of water or move. Next comes the food supply. The third problem of a lasting drought is the collapse of hydro-generated power in China. Should the hydro-power shortages continue for long we can expect that higher oil imports and world prices will not be far behind. read more |
15th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Arctic oil drilling threatens Norway government OSLO (Reuters) - A classic battle pitting the oil industry against environmentalists and fishermen in Norway's Arctic seas is set to intensify on Thursday when the most thorough environmental study of the project to date is released. |
15th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
 Say Noah to climate change "Looks like we've scaled back our climate goals" |
15th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| It can't possibly be that easy Over the weekend, I read Paul Krugman's big essay on climate economics, Building a Green Economy. Now, it's important to note that the goal of the Waxman Markey bill is to reduce US carbon emissions by 83% by 2050. So essentially, the CBO is saying, and Krugman is endorsing, that this level of emissions reduction will have so small an effect on economic growth that it's going to be indistinguishable from noise. I don't dispute that environmental economists think this, but I find it to be a completely facially implausible conclusion. read more |
15th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Beyond green growth: why we need a world without economic growth Beyond concepts of green growth or sustainable growth there is also that of 'no growth'. From OurWorld 2.0, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkLast March, Tim Jackson put forward the idea of prosperity without growth in a report published by the United Kingdom's Sustainable Development Commission and followed up with a book of the same name released last November. The book is a best seller (ranked 1,729 on Amazon) and in it he argues convincingly that we can still prosper without adhering to the encoded mantra of expansion and growth that permeates modern market economies. More recently, in January 2010, Andrew Simms and Victoria Johnson at the new economics foundation (nef) published a more emphatic message in their report entitled Growth isn't possible. |
15th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Taxpayer dollars subsidizing destruction by Lester Brown One way to correct market failures is tax shifting-raising taxes on activities that harm the environment so that their prices begin to reflect their true cost and offsetting this with a reduction in income taxes. A complementary way to achieve this goal is subsidy shifting. Each year the world's taxpayers provide at least $700 billion in subsidies for environmentally destructive activities, such as fossil fuel burning, overpumping aquifers, clearcutting forests, and overfishing. As the Earth Council study Subsidizing Unsustainable Development observes, 'There's something unbelievable about the world spending hundreds of billions of dollars annually to subsidize its own destruction.' A fishing trawler.Photo via winkyintheuk via FlickrThe perverse nature of harmful subsidies is especially apparent in the case of oceanic fisheries. |
15th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Economist does not disappoint The March 20th -26th cover story of The Economist, 'Spin, science and climate change,' deftly bypasses the politics surrounding 'climategate', to tackle the more important issue: whether any of this has any bearing on climate change science and policy. This is a refreshing bit of journalism that everyone should read. It is no secret that we have been unimpressed by the quality of reporting of climate science or late. From the insinuation that data were manipulated (for which there remains no evidence, primae facie or otherwise), to the suggestion that 'climate skeptics' had somehow been kept from publishing in peer reviewed literature (how, we wonder, does Lindzen keep getting published?), to the blind repetition of false claims of major errors in the IPCC (when only a couple of actual errors " and none of them in the primary ... |
15th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Beyond the Limits of Earth Day: Turning Up the Heat on Climate This month marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, an event that has attracted millions to environmental causes. But winning passage of meaningful legislation on climate change requires more than slogans and green talk - it demands intense, determined political action. BY DENIS HAYES |
13th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| EU 'must double spending on energy projects' Europe must double spending on energy infrastructure by 2025 and aggressively' step up energy-efficiency if it is to meet a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by the middle of the century, according to the European Climate Foundation (ECF), a group promoting action on climate change in Europe. |
13th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 'Reef rat run' on the coastal coal highway Once again, the words "resources," "exports," "China" and "controversy" feature in the same blog. But this time they refer, of course, to the grounding of the China-bound coal carrier Shen Neng 1, which rammed into a sand bar on Saturday afternoon. Brisbane's Courier Mail has a story today which speculates that the ship might have been taking an illegal short-cut - "a Reef rat run" which saves time and money on the voyage to China. Conservationists have also complained that the federal and state governments have encouraged the growth of the resources sector but failed to acknowledge the environmental risks involved. [..the fossil fuel industry finds a novel way to bash the enviroment...] |
13th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The climate-change nightmares of military strategists WHEN a climate scientist forecasts that global warming will trigger mega-famines, floods of refugees and geopolitical meltdown, we may fear that they have a myopic world view. When a security specialist says the same thing, we should start to wonder. Gwynne Dyer has been a lecturer on international affairs for two decades. In Climate Wars he eloquently explores the "grim detail" of how governments will grapple with a challenge unprecedented since before there were governments. |
12th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Global climate deal impossible in 2010: U.N. BONN, Germany (Reuters) - The world will be unable to agree a full deal in 2010 to fight global warming, the U.N.'s top climate official said Sunday, as 175 nations struggled to revive talks after the antagonistic Copenhagen summit. See also: Lost Opportunities at Copenhagen, Life at 3.6 Degrees Warmer Copenhagen destroyed by Danish draft leak, says India's environment minister Bonn climate talks: picking up the pieces after Copenhagen | Saleemul Huq |
12th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Can capitalism fix the climate? Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It has taken capitalism about 250 years to generate enough waste and pollution to press dangerously against nature's limits. With such a damning record, there should be no grounds to expect a different outcome in the future. |
12th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate: How we got here The notion that greenhouse-gas emissions might affect the Earth's climate was first flagged up by scientists, and became a matter of politics only in the early 1990s. Now, much of the negotiating is done by lawyers. |
12th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate 'more urgent than ever' The need for a new global climate deal is "greater than ever", say developing country delegates at UN climate talks in Bonn. |
10th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 'World needs a barometer of life' The world needs a "barometer of life" to ensure threatened species and vital ecosystems are not lost forever, say scientists. |
10th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Must-read Krugman piece: Building a Green Economy Nobelist Paul Krugman has a long piece in the upcoming Sunday NY Times Magazine, basically climate economics 101. It is nearly 8000 words, so while you should read the whole thing, I'll post some of the highlights below. I'll also throw some links to the scientific and economic literature that the NYT, in its infinite wisdom/stupidity, refuses to include. The essay isn't primarily about the science, but this is what Krugman has to say on that, starting with the opening paragraph: If you listen to climate scientists - and despite the relentless campaign to discredit their work, you should - it is long past time to do something about emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. See also: Krugman weighs in |
10th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| World Bank needs to do better on energy sector investments post South African coal project by Jake Schmidt Today the World Bank approved a loan to build the fourth largest power plant in the world. The project is to be financed with a $3 billion loan to Eskom-the South African electricity company-and is the largest coal-plant loan in the Bank history. The 4,800-megawatt Medupi power plant would emit 25 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere-an amount equivalent to about half the annual emissions of Norway. This was a challenging and complicated project and was less about South Africa than about the World Bank's role in helping (or hindering) the world's efforts to address global warming. See also: World bank vote on South African coal power station - Friends of the Earth statement South Africa : Coal Plant Won't Promote Development, Say Groups |
10th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon cap would deny Iran precious petrodollars: Over $100 million a day by Brad Johnson Cross-posted from Wonk Room. A strong cap on carbon would significantly cut the flow of petrodollars to Iran's hostile regime, a Wonk Room analysis shows. The economic and political strength of Iran's dictatorship is a threat to the national security of the United States and the world, and its nuclear ambitions threaten to destabilize the Middle East. Yesterday, diplomats from 'six world powers have met for the first time to discuss imposing new sanctions on Iran for its failure to suspend work on its controversial nuclear program,' but negotiators have not yet figured how to achieve President Barack Obama's goal of being 'consistent and steady in applying international pressure.' Iran, 'which holds the world's second-biggest oil and gas reserves and supplies about 4.5 percent of the world's oil production,' uses its oil ... |
10th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Who's Hosting the Tea Party? Big Oil funds tax rallies and global warming deniers. Our Country Deserves Better has organized campaigns against health care reform and in support of new Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. The PAC spent $347,670 on ads supporting Brown’s recent candidacy. But that’s chump change compared to what Americans for Prosperity has spent on its PR campaigns. AFP is funded by the owners of the second largest privately held corporation in the country—the Wichita, Kan.-based Koch Industries Inc., an oil conglomerate with business interests throughout North America, including Wisconsin. In addition to being an astute businessman, Koch Industries’ founder, Fred Koch, also held strong political beliefs. In fact, Fred was a founding member of the radically conservative John Birch Society in the 1950s. The group, although less prominent than in its 1960s heyday, is headquartered in Appleton, Wis., and remains a strong supporter of limited government and Christian principles. Two of Fred’s four sons, Charles and David, have expanded their father’s business empire—for example, the company bought Georgia-Pacific Corp. for $13 billion in 2005, and the Lycra and Stainmaster brands from DuPont Corp. for $4.2 billion in 2004. In 2008, the company’s annual sales totaled $100 billion. Charles and David are each worth $16 billion—wealthier than the founders of Google ($15.3 billion each) and financier George Soros ($13 billion), but not as rich as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ($17.5 billion) or Bill Gates ($50 billion), currently the richest man in America. That’s why tea party critics like Scot Ross, executive director of the progressive watchdog group One Wisconsin Now, said AFP’s real aim is to make the rich richer and the middle class and low-income workers even worse off than they are now. See also: Irony-gate 2: Modern day Tea Partiers outsource denial to Lord Monckton - a British peer! |
8th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Energy production vs. environmental protection: The partisan divide by Josh Nelson Via Samantha Thompson, a new Gallup poll found that, for the first time in 10 years of polling, Americans prioritize energy production over the protection of the environment. Here is the key chart: While the chart is compelling, it falls short on multiple levels. 1. The options it presents are a false dichotomy. We have several energy sources at our disposal that are environmentally sustainable such as wind, solar and geothermal. It would be interesting to see how this poll would have played out had they included a third option: methods for increasing U.S. energy production in environmentally sustainable ways should be given a priority over less environmentally friendly methods. See also: Public supports energy over environment: poll |
8th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Exxon Mobil paid no federal income tax in 2009 - Steve Martin lives! The joke goes, The economy is so bad Exxon Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen. If only. Turns out the economy is never really bad for the oil giant, and the last thing they would want to do is cut off support to members of Congress who allow them to pull off the remarkable trick of making $45 billion in profits last year but paying no federal income tax. Think Progress reports the stunning news, which, sadly, is not a Steve Martin routine: Last week, Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in taxes last year. Most egregious, Forbes notes, is General Electric, which generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. |
8th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Arctic Sea Ice: Brace Yourself for the Spin Arctic Sea Ice 1978-2010.png The extent of Arctic sea ice peaked on March 31, 2010, the latest date for the maximum Arctic sea ice extent since the start of the satellite record in 1979, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Co. The ice also reached an extent that was 670,000 square kilometers (260,000 square miles) above the record low for the month, which occurred in March 2006. From these two factoids, you may expect a round of stories in the DenierSphere trumpeting a return to global cooling - an end to the worrying decline of Arctic ice that hit a low point in 2006. See also: Arctic winter ice recovers slightly despite record year low, scientists say |
8th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Cap and Trade Loses Its Standing as Energy Policy of Choice WASHINGTON " Less than a year ago, cap and trade was the policy of choice for tackling climate change. Matthew Cavanaugh/European Pressphoto Agency Environmental groups and their foes in industry joined hands to embrace the approach, a market-driven system that sets a ceiling on global warming pollution while allowing companies to trade permits to meet it. President Obama praised it by name in his first budget, and the authors of the House climate and energy bill passed last June largely built their measure around it. Today, the concept is in wide disrepute, with opponents effectively branding it cap and tax, and Tea Party followers using it as a symbol of much of what they say is wrong with Washington. |
8th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
 Al Gore's igloo Funny while it lasted! (See today's sketchpad.) Ha ha! Climate isn't completely ruined YET! It was cold for few days! Al Gore is FAT! Okay, but don't environmentalists do the exact same thing but the other way around? Don't they point to a hot day as proof of global warming? No. And we don't say that Al Gore is skinny, either. More about that in a minute (not Al Gore's weight but weather-related tactical arguments.) But first of all, the warmth of a given year isn't the real issue, anyway. Certainly the evidence for the warming trend line is compelling, not that that seems to make any impression on deniers. |
8th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Paleo Lorraine A very intriguing study from Lorraine Lisiecki, published as a Letter in Nature Geoscience, researching the Milankovitch-sourced theories, and hinting that messing with the natural Climate cycle could have very serious consequences, shaking up five million years of progress, through feedbacks, towards relative Climate calm. |
6th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Faith-based economics in two graphs It took a French newspaper to unearth information put out by the U. S. government more than one year ago that provides a worrisome projection for world oil supplies from an agency that for years said such supplies would be no problem for the foreseeable future. Glen Sweetnam of the U. S. Energy Information Administration acknowledged in an interview that total liquid fuel supplies could actually fall between 2011 and 2015 "if the investment [in new capacity] is not there."While this report has been circulating on peak oil sites in the last week, it is a graph which accompanied Sweetnam's 2009 presentation (PDF) which I found particularly illustrative. |
5th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Arctic thaw frees overlooked greenhouse gas: study OSLO (Reuters) - Thawing permafrost can release nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, a contributor to climate change that has been largely overlooked in the Arctic, a study showed on Sunday. |
5th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| EPA may try to use Clean Water Act to regulate carbon dioxide The Environmental Protection Agency is exploring whether to use the Clean Water Act to control greenhouse gas emissions, which are turning the oceans acidic at a rate that's alarmed some scientists. With climate change legislation stalled in Congress, the Clean Water Act would serve as a second front for the Obama administration. |
5th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Collapse Competitively We are heading toward economic, political and social collapse, and every day that passes brings it closer. But we just don't know when to stop, do we? Which part of "the harder we try, the harder we fail" can't we understand? Why can't we understand that each additional dollar of debt will drive us into national bankruptcy faster, harder and deeper? Why can't we grasp the concept that each additional dollar of military spending further undermines our security? Is there some sort of cognitive impairment that prevents us from understanding that each additional dollar sunk into the medical industry will only make us sicker? |
5th April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| CLIMATE CHANGE: Native Peoples Reject Market Mechanisms SAN JOSé, Apr 1 (IPS) - Solutions to global warming based on the logic of the market are a threat to the rights and way of life of indigenous peoples, the Latin American Indigenous Forum on Climate Change concluded this week in Costa Rica. |
2nd April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Northern sea ice growth a fluke, not end of climatechange: researcher Arctic sea ice is nearly back to average global levels for the first time in at least a decade after years of spectacular declines. The surprise growth at a time of year when ice is normally melting has triggered a blizzard of I-told-you-sos among online climate change skeptics. |
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| U.S.: Big Energy Firms Blocking Solar Power in South Source: IPS As citizens, businesses and non-profit organisations seek to transition to cleaner power sources like solar and wind, some big energy firms whose business models rely on polluting sources are standing in the way. See also: Renewable Energy is Struggling against Polluting Firms |
2nd April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Economists Warn against Setting Price for Carbon Too Low PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In its first attempts to regulate carbon emissions, the U.S. government is hindering its own efforts by using flawed economic models that grossly underestimate the impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) on the climate and on our economic future, says a new report issued today by America's largest network of independent climate economists. |
2nd April 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
 Pre-order Joseph Romm's new book, Straight Up Anyone who has specific ideas for marketing the book or knows someone who might need review copy should email me at the address here. My new book doesn t come out until the week of April 19th. But you can pre-order it on Amazon.com (click here). You know you want to after getting all these Climate Progress posts for free for so long . Seriously, though, the timing couldn t be better for Straight Up: America's Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. We were always planning for it to come out the week of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and roughly the same time as when the Senate would start taking up the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill. |
31st March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Washington Considers A Decline Of World Oil Production As Of 2011 By Matthieu Auzanneau The U.S. Department of Energy admits that a chance exists that we may experience a decline of world liquid fuels production between 2011 and 2015 if the investment is not there, according to an exclusive interview with Glen Sweetnam, main official expert on oil market in the Obama administration |
31st March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate change sceptics on your TV | Richard Adams A survey of America's television weather forecasters finds that one in four of them think 'global warming is a scam'Winning over hearts and minds in the fight against climate change has run into a cold front: America's television weather forecasters.An academic survey of more than 500 US television meteorologists found that one in four of them say there is no global warming, and 27% agree with the statement "global warming is a scam".Perhaps even more worrying for the climate change camp are the 63% of weather presenters who think global warming is caused mainly by natural environmental change. A mere 31% agree with the scientific consensus that human activity is the cause.That's important, because TV weather forecasters have a daily direct line into American homes and are regarded as credible sources of information. |
31st March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Coal fuels much of Internet "cloud", says Greenpeace SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The 'cloud' of data which is becoming the heart of the Internet is creating an all too real cloud of pollution as Facebook, Apple and others build data centers powered by coal, according to a new Greenpeace report. |
31st March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Koch Industries' Extensive Funding of Climate Denial Industry Unmasked koch.jpg Koch Industries has become a financial kingpin of climate science denial and clean energy opposition, spending over $48.5 million since 1997 to fund the climate denial machine, according to an extensive report today by Greenpeace. The Greenpeace report reveals how Koch Industries and the foundations under its control spent far more than even ExxonMobil in recent years to fund industry front groups opposed to clean energy and climate policies. Koch spent over half the total amount -nearly $25 million - funding climate denier groups from 2005 to 2008, a period in which Exxon only spent $8.9 million.Greenpeace's attempt to lift the veil of secrecy inherent to a private company like Koch Industries is no easy task. |
30th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Lovelock: 'We can't save the planet' Professor James Lovelock, the scientist who developed Gaia theory, has said it is too late to try and save the planet. The man who achieved global fame for his theory that the whole earth is a single organism now believes that we can only hope that the earth will take care of itself in the face of completely unpredictable climate change. Interviewed by Today presenter John Humphrys, videos of which you can see below, he said that while the earth's future was utterly uncertain, mankind was not aware it had "pulled the trigger" on global warming as it built its civilizations. See also: James Lovelock: Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change |
30th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The trillion-dollar question is: who will now lead the climate battle? Political and business leaders gather this week in an attempt to revive the world's faltering challenge to global warming. But they face a battle to lift the cloud of scepticism that has descended over climate science and chart a new way forwardSome of the planet's most powerful paymasters will gather in London on Wednesday to discuss a nagging financial problem: how to raise a trillion dollars for the developing world. Those charged with achieving this daunting goal will include Gordon Brown, directors of several central banks, the billionaire philanthropist George Soros, the economist Lord (Nicholas) Stern and Larry Summers, President Obama's chief economics adviser. See also: ENVIRONMENT: For Three Dollars More |
29th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| A Confederacy Of - Climate Dunces Earlier this week, Greenpeace did the rational world a huge favor by compiling a great overview of the denial industry. Dealing in Doubt: The Climate Denial Industry and Climate Science is a brief but critical summary of the attacks on climate science, scientists and, most notably, the IPCC |
29th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Shell Oil Behind London Science Museum Decision to Take Anti-Science Stance on Global Warming? London-Science-Museum.gif The Times of London reports that the London Science Museum has decided to change its position from promoting understanding of the science of global warming to one that they deem neutral in their climate science gallery. And by neutral they mean a stance at odds with the widely accepted science on climate change. Science accepted by NASA, the UN IPCC and climate scientists around the world. And science being visibly demonstrated right now " today - in places like Antarctica and Nepal where ice is shrinking and in Africa where bodies of water are rapidly decreasing from drought and climate changes and in our oceans where coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate. See also: Public scepticism prompts Science Museum to rename climate exhibition |
26th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Don't hound the climate scientists | Rajendra Pachauri One regrettable mistake about glaciers doesn't alter the vast evidence there is of climate changeTo dismiss the implications of climate change based on an error about the rate at which Himalayan glaciers are melting is an act of astonishing intellectual legerdemain. Yet this is what some doubters of climate change are claiming. But the reality is that our understanding of climate change is based on a vast and remarkably sound body of science " and is something we distort and trivialise at our peril.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published four comprehensive assessments of climate change and several important special reports since its founding in 1988. |
26th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| New Ways to Gauge the Finite Atmosphere An illustrator finds ways to bring to life largely invisible environmental conditions and trends. |
26th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Memes from the Deep End: Global Warming: Too important to be left to ad agencies There are two primary causes for this sorry state of affairs: First, Earth climate is very complex, involving a huge number of variables with highly non-linear interactions, operating over vastly different time scales; and second, there's Big Money at stake. |
25th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Real Climate Scandal Imagine another IPCC mistake. Where's the outrage when the agency lowballs the threat? The full analysis of how the IPCC has lowballed its estimate of sea-level rise, from when the IPCC report was released in 2007, is here. Now try looking for outrage over that on the blogosphere. Himalayan glacier mistake? Everywhere. Sea-level rise error? Not so much. |
25th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Parliament's last chance to tackle climate change The next parliament is the last one that can meet the 80% cut by 2050 target. Whoever wins the general election must tackle climate change immediatelyAt precisely the moment when this government has finally got its act together on addressing climate change, public confidence in the science of climate change would appear to have hit a new low. Depending on which opinion poll you read, the percentage of people who now believe both that climate change is happening and that it's primarily happening as a consequence of the emissions of greenhouse gases we put into the atmosphere, has gone down to less than 50% of us, and possibly as low as 30% of us.That makes it a lot harder for the politicians, in that such scepticism (and even hostility) provides little encouragement that leadership in this area will play well electorally. |
25th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Uncle Tom's Cabal Even if atmospheric composition were fixed today, global-mean temperature and sea level rise would continue due to oceanic thermal inertia. These constant-composition (CC) commitments and their uncertainties are quantified. Constant-emissions (CE) commitments are also considered. The CC warming commitment could exceed 1°C. The CE warming commitment is 2° to 6°C by the year 2400. |
24th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Study: The Environmental Cost of Doing Business Could Erase a Third of Corporations' Profits Environmental "externalities," says one expert, "pose a major risk to the global economy and markets are not fully aware of these risks, nor do they know how to deal with them." See also: Climate change to cost 6% of GDP each year: IMF |
24th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| France backs down on carbon tax The French government signals that it is dropping a plan for a tax on domestic carbon dioxide emissions. [surprised?] |
24th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Zero Point Of Systemic Collapse By Chris Hedges. All resistance must recognize that the body politic and global capitalism are dead. We should stop wasting energy trying to reform or appeal to it. This does not mean the end of resistance, but it does mean very different forms of resistance. It means turning our energies toward building sustainable communities to weather the coming crisis, since we will be unable to survive and resist without a cooperative effort |
20th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Peak Oil In Four Years? Mobility And Economic Vulnerabilities By Warren Karlenzig Last week, a report was put out by a Kuwaiti research institution forecasting global peak oil production by 2014. This follows a report last month by a broad-based British industry group that also predicted a global oil crunch, or shortage of supply, by the same period |
20th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Spin, science and climate change - Economist Action on climate is justified, not because the science is certain, but precisely because it is not. If records of temperature across the past 1,000 years are not reliable, it matters little to the overall story. If there are problems with the warming as measured by weather stations on land, there are also more reliable data from ships and satellites. Plenty of uncertainty remains; but that argues for, not against, action. If it were known that global warming would be limited to 2°C, the world might decide to live with that. But the range of possible outcomes is huge, with catastrophe one possibility, and the costs of averting climate change are comparatively small. Just as a householder pays a small premium to protect himself against disaster, the world should do the same. |
20th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| An Interview with David Orr, author of Down to the Wire . Part One David Orr was in the UK recently, and the two of us were part of a panel at an event organised by the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment. After the event, we retired to the bar of a rather grand London hotel, and chatted for an hour about energy, climate change, the Precautionary Principle, Transition and whether or not we are beyond talk of solutions . Part two will follow shortly. read more |
18th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Entropy : One-Way Change On the big red sofa with a highly intelligent polyglottal friend after a smoking vegan roast supper, discussing the notion of pricing Carbon Dioxide emissions, with some mint tea. She said like, the Polluter pays ? Yes , I said, that Polluter pays principle ; except it should be the Polluter pays to clean up , but it doesn t work like that. Either the corporates mess up and the governments take the money and don t clean up; or the corporates mess up, pay the money, then try to recoup the cost from their customers, and don t clean up ... |
18th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Greenhouse Gas Regulations Might Aggravate Climate Change (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Arizona engineers find swapping one chemical for another may actually result in greater energy use, compounding the problems the new chemical was supposed to fix. |
18th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Americans Increasingly Unworried About the Environment People grasp what their drinking water has to do with them. Overwhelmingly, I think they do not fully grasp what global warming has to do with them - and that's a rhetorical failure...At the same time that highly effective movements are arranging million person demonstrations in the streets, most of the people who will actually tell their congressfolk whether to vote for change were watching Law and Order SVU. read more |
18th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Methane May Be Building Under Antarctic Ice - Wired News Microbes living in lakes beneath the ice of Antarctica and Greenland could be producing methane. The greenhouse gas could be building up and released if the ice melts. |
18th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Up is Down, Brown is Green - with apologies to Orwell In the alternate universe of Fox News, Anthony Watts, and many others, up is down. Now, it appears, brown is green. Following the total confusion over the retraction of a paper on sea level, claims of another mistake by the IPCC are making the rounds of the blogosphere. This time, the issue is the impact of rainfall changes on the Amazon rainforest. A study in 2007 showed that the forest gets greener when it rains less. A new study, by Samanta et al. in Geophysical Research Letters shows that the earlier work was flawed. Aided by an apparently rather careless press release, this is being used as evidence that the Amazon is less sensitive to rainfall changes than the IPCC claimed. See also: |
16th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Toxic troubles for climate 'fix' Spreading iron in the oceans as a climate "fix" could poison marine mammals and birds, scientists show. |
16th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Hot Start Hot Start by Jo Abbess 04 February 2010 An assessment of the technology and policy for de-Carbonising the Energy systems of developed societies 1. The Aligned and Related Risks from Climate Change and Peak Fossil Fuels 1a. Key Conclusions The Low Carbon Transition in Energy in developed countries is inevitable (Climate Change Act, 2008; EU Package, 2008; UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol, 1997); yet policy thinking and decision-making seems to still focus on the debateable how to do it rather than the more essential how long do we have ? If the window of opportunity for industrialised society to de-Carbonise proves to foreshorten rapidly, then the next few decades could be a story of economic collapse, unless there is concentrated, concerted endeavour (Sustainable Business, 2010). |
16th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| CO2 at new highs despite economic slowdown OSLO (Reuters) - Levels of the main greenhouse gas in the atmosphere have risen to new highs in 2010 despite an economic slowdown in many nations that braked industrial output, data showed Monday. |
16th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| False profits - Center for Investigative Reporting Knowing they will face climate legislation sometime in the future, a number of U.S. corporations have already begun to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. The utility giant American Electric and Power is buying forest projects in Brazil and the disposal company Waste Management is recovering methane from landfills to use in its trash trucks in California. But a preliminary report commissioned ... |
16th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| It's still real and it's still a problem - BBC News Recent controversies have failed to undermine the fundamental findings of climate science, and the need to address them. See also: Report: The Case for Global Warming Stronger Than Ever - TIME |
16th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Lomborg Deception: The Septical Environmentalist - sic says 16 feet of sea level rise wouldn t be so bad, absurdly claims it would only force the relocation of 15 million people Another op-ed by Bjorn Lomborg, another Gish Gallup of non-stop disinformation. The good news is that the task of debunking the Septical Environmentalist (sic), has been made easier by the publication of whole book dedicated to that tedious task, The Lomborg Deception. And yes, Septical Environmentalist is not a typo. Sure, it may seem like a mistake to use the word environmentalist to describe Lomborg. But it's the very fact that he calls himself an environmentalist while dedicating his life to spreading disinformation and delaying serious action on the seminal environmental issue of our time that makes him septical. | 16th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Charlie Brooker | My plan to save mankind The hands of time move slowly. And they're tightening round your neck . . . but fear notTime is the strangest substance known to man. You can't see, touch, hear, smell, taste or avoid it. Time makes you stronger-minded but weaker-bodied, gradually transforming you from blushing grape to ornery, grouching raisin. Time is the most precious thing you have, yet you're happiest when you're wasting it. Time will outlive you, your offspring, your offspring's robots and your offspring's robots' springs. It will outlive the wind and the rocks, the sun and the moon, Florence and the Machine. Time, in short, is King of Things.Because time is invisible, it's hard to work out which bit to focus on at any given moment. | 16th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| China, Not UN, Controls Supply for CO2 Offsets, Stanford Says - Bloomberg March 15 (Bloomberg) -- China's power to set prices for electricity from windfarms is dictating the supply of tradable emission credits in the UN carbon market, the world's second biggest, according to a report from Stanford University. | 16th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| We climate scientists are not ecofanatics - Times Online If the IPCC has a fault, it is that its reports have been too cautious, not alarmist. In the UK only about 26 per cent of the population believe the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and is man-made. Many feel they are being steamrollered into believing something false or flakey that will make them poorer or stop them flying. Given this dangerous mood of scepticism, it is no surprise that the IPCC - the body that represents the integrity of climate-change scientists across the world - is being attacked. | 16th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Curry and Rice The Royal Statistical Society publishes a truly readable magazine called “Significance”, and until today I hadn’t realised it’s available online.The front cover of the March 2010 Volume 7 Issue 1 edition shows an artist’s mock-up of severe drought and the headline question is “After Copenhagen : What can be done ?” The magazine contains three really helpful articles on Climate Change :- “Copenhagen 1 : Climate change : making certain what the uncertainties are” “Copenhagen 2 : The perfect storm : food security and nutrition under climate change” “Copenhagen 3 : The behavioural wedge : reducing greenhouse gas by individuals and households”. |
14th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ocean acidification: Why the climate change deniers don't want to talk about it Most people know that the release of carbon dioxide into the air from human sources has contributed to rising global temperatures and massive increases in the rate of melting of the ice at the poles and on Greenland. One of the major consequences they may not know about is the acidification of the oceans.The chemistry is quite straightforward. It's the same process that occurs when bottled water is carbonated. Most of the carbon dioxide simply dissolves in the water. But some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid. And, that's what's happening in the world's oceans as humans release more and more carbon dioxide into the air.Climate change deniers love to dispute climate modeling, to talk about short-term weather phenomena, and to pick on minor citation errors in official reports. |
14th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
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12th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sealevelgate Imagine this. In its latest report, the IPCC has predicted up to 3 meters of sea level rise by the end of this century. But climate sceptics websites were quick to reveal a few problems (or tricks , as they called it). First, although the temperature scenarios of IPCC project a maximum warming of 6.4 °C (Table SPM3), the upper limit of sea level rise has been computed assuming a warming of 7.6 °C. Second, the IPCC chose to compute sea level rise up to the year 2105 rather than 2100 " just to add that extra bit of alarmism. |
12th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Aquatic 'dead zones' contributing to climate change The increased frequency and intensity of oxygen-deprived "dead zones" along the world's coasts can negatively impact environmental conditions in far more than just local waters. In the March 12 edition of the journal Science, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science oceanographer Dr. Lou Codispoti explains that the increased amount of nitrous oxide (N2O) produced in low-oxygen (hypoxic) waters can elevate concentrations in the atmosphere, further exacerbating the impacts of global warming and contributing to ozone "holes" that cause an increase in our exposure to harmful UV radiation. |
12th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| New Gallup poll shows sharp partisan divide in understanding of climate change The partisan divide on climate science has been growing for a while, as I discussed in a 2008 review of the Gallup polling. No surprise, really, since the anti-science disinformation campaign uses experts that are more credible to conservatives, and that disinformation is repeated to death on conservative media outlets. Now Gallup has updated its polling and just now released its own analysis, Conservatives Doubts About Global Warming Grow, with this fascinating ideological breakdown that shows how the divide has grown in the past 2 years: Josh Nelson at Enviroknow explains further: Newly released Gallup polling seems to show a sharp drop in the percentage of Americans who know about, are concerned about and understand the threat of global warming. [don't get belief and truth muddled now...] |
12th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Battle over climate science spreads to US schoolrooms In three states, alternatives to the scientific consensus on global warming must be taught " and there seem to be links to efforts to teach creationism |
12th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Study Tracks 'Outsourcing' of Greenhouse Gas Emissions More than one-third of the carbon dioxide emissions associated with consumer goods used in developed nations is actually emitted in other nations where the products are made, according to a new study. In the U.S., about 2.5 tons of carbon produced per person annually " or about 11 percent of U.S. per capita emissions " are emitted elsewhere, researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science say. In Europe, it's about four tons of carbon per person. In fact, in smaller European nations like Switzerland, the emissions associated with products manufactured outside the borders exceed the actual emissions produced at home. |
11th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The forest scheme that fails to protect trees Forest conservation project in Bolivia proves that unless a nation as a whole cuts deforestation, individual carbon offset schemes are worthlessIt is the ultimate greenwash nightmare. A tough international deal to curb emissions of greenhouse gases is passed in Mexico later this year. Companies then meet their targets not by cutting their own pollution but by buying into hundreds of forest "conservation" projects round the world. But those projects then fail to deliver real benefits for forests or staunch the flow of carbon into the atmosphere.Some big-time green groups prosper but the planet burns.Exhibit A in this doomsday scenario is a 14-year-old forest conservation project in Bolivia called the Noel Kempff Climate Action Project, one of the world's largest schemes to fix carbon in protected forests. |
11th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Political ads: new weapon in US climate change war? - Reuters Political ads: Big business is now free to blitz the airwaves to attack politicians who support action against climate change, which could smother messages from environmentalists. "At this time we don't plan on using corporate funds for this purpose..." [said the long nosed wooden source] |
11th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Protecting Taxpayers from a Financial Meltdown - Calculating the Credit Subsidy Fee on a Loan Guarantee for a New Nuclear Reactor A few weeks ago, Obama tripled the budget for the nuclear loan guarantee program, though there hasn t been a single promising application in two years. CAP Policy Analyst Richard W. Caperton explains what that risky move means for American taxpayers in this repost. President Obama has made two major announcements in recent weeks regarding loan guarantees for nuclear power. Loan guarantees commit the government to repaying a loan if the original borrower can t pay back the loan. His proposed fiscal year 2011 budget would triple nuclear loan guarantees to $54.5 billion. And on February 16, the Department of Energy issued an $8 billion guarantee for two proposed Southern Company nuclear reactors in Georgia. See aslo: How Much Will Obama's Nuclear Blind Spot Cost America? Academics demand independent inquiry into new nuclear reactors |
11th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Scalability of Biochar In order to also offset carbon emissions entirely with biochar, we'd need to char and bury an amount of carbon three times larger than current off-farm usage of biological products in the economy. Given that the existing level of take that humanity makes on the biosphere is pretty impactful, what you don't want to do is create some kind of general payment incentive for commercial operations to char and bury carbon. That would be disastrous and lead to bulldozers wiping out tropical forests on a huge scale in order to pile them up, char them and bury them. What would be potentially more reasonable is an incentive, on existing farmland only, to do biochar of agricultural residues. That might be environmentally beneficial on the whole (improve the soil in-situ, without incentivizing spillovers onto marginal soils or tropical forest ecosystems) though the interaction with current no-till agricultural practices should be thought about carefully. |
11th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Is "More Jobs" Sustainable or Necessary in the Post-Peak Oil World? What was required for a growing economy, that was supposed to uplift all of modern humanity, is at root a false notion for the manipulated public: the overwhelming majority must work for others to enrich the few so that all of society benefits through unlimited expansion. This problematic profit-scheme is failing to hold up, what with general economic uncertainty on the rise (apart from "Hope") and the advanced depletion of easily extracted, cheap oil. |
11th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| New Naomi Oreskes Talk Available University of California (San Diego) science historian Naomi Oreskes has a new lecture on line, promoting her upcoming book: Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming <!--break--> |
11th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Open Season on Science Like several commentators, I am picking out a trend in Internet communications that indicates that there is a tribe of "doubt believers" out there, proselytising for their cause : bringing down the Science of Climate Change. These evangelists often write and reply to web posts with statements of alarmingly high confidence levels, assuming authority they cannot possibly claim, sometimes using anonymity to cloak their network connections. Here are just a few examples :- |
11th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sun won't stop global warming if dims as in 1600s OSLO (Reuters) - A dimming of the sun to match conditions in the "Little Ice Age" of the 17th century would only slightly slow global warming, a study indicated on Wednesday. |
11th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| American Petroleum tells lawmakers it supports carbon fee because it’s easier to demonize by Brad Johnson Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The effort of Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to craft comprehensive clean energy legislation that caps global warming pollution has brought some positive words from Big Oil and their political allies. In particular, the senators are considering a proposal by ConocoPhillips, BP America, and Exxon Mobil to exclude petroleum producers and refiners from a carbon market and instead levy a carbon fee. Once you have oil people saying, We can live with this, this was our idea, then hopefully everybody else begins to look at this thing anew, Graham told reporters. |
9th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| We're All Sunk It's almost too easy to vilify corporations. What, with all the evil stuff they do. Take the coal industry for example, who blow up our mountains, poison our air and water, contribute massively to global climate change, and spend untold millions of dollars on disinformation campaigns, lobbying Congress, buying Senators, and lying to block efforts to tackle the climate crisis. I mean, they are practically begging for our hatred, right? Right. read more |
9th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Using behavioral science to make smarter energy policy On Friday, journalist John Fleck made a great point, comparing coverage of two new pieces in Science. One is about the latest potential climate disaster: methane venting from the seafloor in the Arctic. The second is about a promising new climate solution: using behavioral science to influence energy use. Not surprisingly, the disaster got tons of coverage. The solution got none. This is entirely typical. As Fleck says, "The problem space gets more attention than the solution space." read more |
9th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| EU climate chief delivers treaty blow - Financial Times The world will almost certainly fail to draw up a new treaty on climate change this year, the minister in charge of last year's Copenhagen summit has admitted, delivering a heavy blow to the barely flickering hopes for a swift global settlement. Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister who masterminded the summit of world leaders on global warming last year and is now the European commissioner for climate change, told the Financial Times negotiations were not progressing fast enough for a treaty to be signed soon. |
9th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| How You Were Taken In : The Manufacture of Doubt Please do watch Naomi Oreske's magristral (not magisterial , since she's female) presentation on her new publication Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming in the YouTube above. The presentation is somewhat marred by poor audiovisual capture, but it's fascinating, all the same, and good to hear her logical argumentation; and be reminded of what has been happening for the last 50 years in the public debates on Science. |
9th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| US still responsible for most CO2 emissions Europeans import nearly twice as much carbon dioxide per head as US citizens " but the US is still the world's largest emitter See also: UK import emissions are the highest in Europe, figures show | 9th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Debate the controversy! The serial misinformers and misrepresenters demand equal time for their misinformation and misrepresentations. What should climate science defenders and the media do? Here's how the strategy works: Step 1: Some misinformer or anti-science group puts out misinformation on the science or misrepresents the views of some scientist or expert. Step 2: They get debunked, by that person and/or others. Step 3: They demand equal time for their misinformation or misrepresentation, either through formal debates or balanced media coverage. Step 4: If they get the equal time, their strategy has worked, and they can go on to fabricate more misinformation and misrepresent the views of other scientists. | 9th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The trouble with trusting complex science | George Monbiot There is no simple way to battle public hostility to climate research. As the psychologists show, facts barely sway us anywayThere is one question that no one who denies manmade climate change wants to answer: what would it take to persuade you? In most cases the answer seems to be nothing. No level of evidence can shake the growing belief that climate science is a giant conspiracy codded up by boffins and governments to tax and control us. The new study by the Met Office, which paints an even grimmer picture than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will do nothing to change this view.The attack on climate scientists is now widening to an all-out war on science. | 9th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Evidence provided in UK parliamentary Inquiry Into climate scientists Was Prepared by oil and gas industry consultant The Guardian just broke the news that a consultant to Shell and other oil and gas interests was the source of evidence provided by the Institute of Physics in the current UK parliamentary review of the controversy in England over climate scientists emails stolen from servers at the University of East Anglia.The Guardian reports: Evidence from a respected scientific body to a parliamentary inquiry examining the behaviour of climate-change scientists, was drawn from an energy industry consultant who argues that global warming is a religion hellip;The Guardian has established that the institute prepared its evidence, which was highly critical of the CRU scientists, after inviting views from Peter Gill, an IOP official who is head of a company in Surrey called Crestport Services.According to Gill, Crestport offers "consultancy and management support services hellip ... |
8th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Energy Bulletin Deep thought - Mar 5 -Empires on the Edge of Chaos -Majoring in Idiocy -Climate-Resilient Industrial Development Paths -Can we design cities for happiness? -What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism |
8th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wanted: an eco prophet | Peter Preston People are drifting into a lethal slumber on climate change. More of the same won't wake them upIt's an exceptionally inconvenient truth. Only one American in three believes that human beings are responsible for climate change: a polling result 10% down on where opinion rested the year before. Worse, the number of Americans who believe that climate change is a hoax or a scientific conspiracy " not doubting, just damned blank certain " has doubled since 2008. Add in those who assert that the changes, if any, are of "no significant concern", and you've got 30% of the US denying, scoffing and just walking on by.Are the issues clearer, the people more committed, here in Britain? |
8th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Real Climategate Why did America's leading environmental groups jet to Copenhagen and lobby for policies that will lead to the faster death of the rainforests--and runaway global warming? Why are their lobbyists on Capitol Hill dismissing the only real solutions to climate change as "unworkable" and "unrealistic," as though they were just another sooty tentacle of Big Coal? At first glance, these questions will seem bizarre. Groups like Conservation International are among the most trusted "brands" in America, pledged to protect and defend nature. Yet as we confront the biggest ecological crisis in human history, many of the green organizations meant to be leading the fight are busy shoveling up hard cash from the world's worst polluters--and burying science-based environmentalism in return. |
8th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| US Defense dept warns of danger from climate change In January this year the US Department of Defense, that bastion of socialists, published its Quadrennial Defense Review Report. The report not only implicitly accepts climate change but also points to the dangers it poses to national security. It's worth reading how it expects climate change to impact the armed forces: Crafting a Strategic Approach to Climate and Energy (pg84) Climate change and energy are two key issues that will play a significant role in shaping the future security environment. Although they produce distinct types of challenges, climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked. The actions that the Department takes now can prepare us to respond effectively to these challenges in the near term and in the future. |
8th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Is Population Growth a Ponzi Scheme? - The Globalist The basic pitch of those promoting population growth is straightforward in its appeal: "More is better." |
8th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| EU's 'carbon fat cats' get rich off trading scheme: study - Eu Business (PARIS ) - Europe's system for industrial carbon quotas has enriched the continent's biggest polluters, with ten firms together reaping permits for 2008 alone worth 500 million euros, a new report revealed. |
8th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Methane releases from Arctic shelf may be much larger and faster than anticipated - EurekAlert! ( National Science Foundation ) A section of the Arctic Ocean seafloor that holds vast stores of frozen methane is showing signs of instability and widespread venting of the powerful greenhouse gas, according to the findings of an international research team led by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov. See also: Science stunner: Vast East Siberian Arctic Shelf methane stores destabilizing and venting - NSF issues world a wake-up call: "Release of even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger abrupt climate warming. Arctic Methane on the Move? |
5th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Why Is this Apocalypse Different than All Other Apocalypses? A lot of what I write works from the assumption that we all agree that peak oil and climate change are happening and going to be life-changing events. And yet, some people who read this blog don't necessarily agree on this subject, or they don't see the effects has being as profound as I do, or perhaps the idea of peak oil or climate change is fairly new to them, and they don't know what to believe. |
5th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Which climate changes can be blamed on humans? Human "fingerprints" have been detected on all sorts of aspects of the climate, from rainfall to the salt content of the oceans See also: Humans must be to blame for climate change, say scientists |
5th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Life After Growth By Richard Heinberg We are in for some very hard times. The transitional period on our way toward a post-growth, equilibrium economy will prove to be the most challenging time any of us has ever lived through. Nevertheless, I am convinced that we can survive this collective journey, and that if we make sound choices as families and communities, life can actually be better for us in the decades ahead than it was during the heady days of seemingly endless economic expansion |
5th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate change commitments There is an interesting letter in Nature Geoscience this month on what climate changes we have actually already committed ourselves to. The letter, by Mathews and Weaver (sub. reqd.), makes the valid point that there are both climatic and societal inertias to consider. Their figure neatly demonstrates the different issues: The upper line is often what is referred to as the climate change commitment (for instance Wigley, 2005). This is the warming you get if we keep CO2 (and other GHG and pollutant levels) constant at today's values. (Technically, the figure shows the case staying at year 2000 values). |
5th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Recession Kills Dissent The Economic Recession has been an excellent excuse to stop funding Charities, Aid and Development agencies and other Non-Governmental Organisations. Whether or not there is still money in the pot for campaigns and other kinds of communicating with the public on subjects of philanthropic interest, funders (which include Government bodies) have been finding reasons to cut off the lifeblood of groups with large memberships. NGOs that have been targeted with funding cuts recently include Stop Climate Chaos. |
5th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The rise of anti-science cyber bullying - Morano says climate scientists "deserve to be publicly flogged." Researchers must purge e-mail in-boxes daily of threatening correspondence, simply part of the job of being a climate scientist That's the subhed for a new Scientific American piece on cyber bullying. It comes fast on the heels of Bullying, lies and the rise of right-wing climate denial, the first part of the terrific series by Clive Hamilton, reprinted below (followed by an excerpt of the SciAm piece): Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at Australia's Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethic, is the author of the forthcoming book Requiem for a Species. Two years ago the Labor Party won a decisive election victory in part by riding a public mood demanding action on climate change after years of stonewalling. See also: Inhofe Wants to Prosecute "Criminal" Scientists |
5th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The climate change debate is Science vs. Snake Oil This is a Wonkroom repost. According to the mainstream media, there is a controversy over the validity of climate science, in particular the conclusion that the warming of the planet by greenhouse gas emissions poses a risk to the public: Iceberg Ahead: Climate scientists who play fast and loose with the facts are imperiling not just their profession but the planet " Newsweek, 2/19/10 Controversies Create Opening for Critics " Wall Street Journal, 2/17/10 Series of missteps by climate scientists threatens climate-change agenda " Washington Post, 2/14/10 Climate-Change Debate Is Heating Up in Deep Freeze " The New York Times, 2/11/10 Let's take a look at who is on either side of this so-called climate-change debate ... See aso: The Truth-Tellers Collective Intelligent Designers Enlist Climate Skeptics in the War on Reality The Climate Obstructers Gameplan |
5th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| We're Screwing the Environment the Same Way We Screwed the Economy The captains of industry and government admittedly blew the economic meltdown; too bad the environmental meltdown is following the same, lame script. |
5th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The new world order The United States and European Union will face off against China and Russia as climate change starts to alter the geopolitical gameboard. See also: War over the Arctic? Global warming skeptics distract us from security risks. - The Christian Science Monitor |
5th March 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Good news: Met Office wants re-examination of 150 years of climate data - Now let's hope they'll fix the problems that have caused them to lowball recent warming. The Met Office has called for a re-examination of more than 150 years of global temperature records as part of a new comprehensive approach for analysing temperature data " to better assess the risks posed by changes in extremes of climate. Great idea, especially since an independent December 2009 analysis found The global temperature rise calculated by the Met Office's HadCRUT record is at the lower end of likely warming. Everybody but the anti-science disinformers has known for a long time that the Hadley/CRU (Climatic Research Unit) temperature data UNDERestimates " not OVERestimates " the recent global temperature rise. |
28th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| A quiet sun won't save us from global warming Even if there's a "grand minimum" in the sun's output over the next century, it won't be enough to counter rising temperatures caused by humans |
28th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Is the climate change movement splintering? | Bibi van der Zee Climate change activists are regrouping post-Copenhagen – and some are reasserting their radical roots |
28th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Key senators do not see climate bill in 2010 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate is unlikely to pass a comprehensive climate change bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions this year, according to a Reuters survey of 12 key Democrat and Republican Senators who could hold the swing votes. See also: Why Climate Change Is Dead In The Senate - Newsweek |
28th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| U.N. says emissions vows not enough to avoid rise of 2 degrees C NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Emission cuts pledges made by 60 countries will not be enough to keep the average global temperature rise at 2 degrees Celsius or less, modeling released on Tuesday by the United Nations says. |
28th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Al Gore's must read op-ed in the NY Times - annotated: We Can t Wish Away Climate Change It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it. That how Al Gore’s op-ed big Sunday NY Times op-ed begins. |
28th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| How the Mountain of Climate Change Evidence Is Being Used to Undermine the Cause We've gotten to a point where fewer Americans believe humans are warming the planet than before -- here's how it happened. |
28th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Toward the Collapse: Growth-Economy = Climate Disaster - interview with Keith Farnish Is global warming unstoppable now? Could we be saved by total economic collapse? If so, should we help civilization fall? Last night I recorded another glimpse of the climate apocalypse, with the author of Climate Wars Gwynne Dyer. He outlined the short distance from here to the cliff where long-known natural feed-backs leading to runaway global warming begin, and continue on for millennia. That limit is known as two degrees. Beyond that, great forests melt into fire, liberating their carbon. Beyond that, the Arctic permafrost melts, likely doubling atmospheric greenhouse gases. Five to seven degrees Centigrade of average global temperature rise. Utter disaster. Dyer says world governments quickly agreed to the 2 degree limit at Copenhagen, without telling the public why. No need to panic the herd. Dyer says we won't make it in time, before the big climate switch is pulled. You'll hear clips from that speech in an upcoming Ecoshock Show. I can't run the whole speech, because as usual, Gwynne is developing his new work toward another radio or TV program. I appreciate Gwynne sharing his "working notes" with our Radio Ecoshock audience. Kind of a sneak preview. Find out more at gwynnedyer.com. |
28th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sidetracked Sidetracked by Jo Abbess 19 February 2010 A number of prevalent ideological frameworks employed for constructing policy to address Global Warming appear to have faulty foundational analysis and are therefore ineffective in addressing Carbon Dioxide Emissions. Politically implementable options that could lead to effective action to combat Climate Change are being kicked into the long grass at every turn, in policy, in investment and in society. Reasonable proposals are being made over-complex to implement, or delayed by every means possible. The dominant memes of economics hinder good decision-making; for example, not all natural capital can be valued as a commodity, and yet Carbon markets and Carbon tax regimes are the most ubiquitous proposals. |
27th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| WashPost editorial: If current trends persist, it's likely that in coming decades the globe's climate will change with potentially devastating effects for billions of people. - IPCC errors are "trivial mistakes" THE EARTH is warming. A chief cause is the increase in greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere. Humans are at least in part responsible, because the oil, gas and coal that we burn releases these gases. If current trends persist, it's likely that in coming decades the globe's climate will change with potentially devastating effects for billions of people. Contrary to what you may have read lately, there are few reputable scientists who would disagree with anything in that first paragraph. That's the opening of a pretty good editorial on climate from the paper that has all but destroyed the credibility of its opinion pages (see and the 2009 Citizen Kane award for non-excellence in climate journalism goes to ). |
27th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| We're Headed for the Greatest Resource-Sharing Problem of All Time For all its complexity, the core of this problem can be stated simply enough: What kind of a climate transition would be fair enough to actually work? |
27th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The O.J. tactic - Los Angeles Times Climate change skeptics sound like Simpson's lawyers: If the winter glove won't fit, you must acquit. |
27th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Post-Peak Economics In pragmatic terms the coming collapse can be equated with the phases of what will happen to money. The first phase will be "stagflation": high prices combined with high unemployment. During the second phase, as government starts to fade, currency will collapse: money will have no use as a medium of exchange. Of course, economic trends can always be seen in terms of either materials or money. We can say that the near future will be one of diminishing fossil fuels, and hence a depletion of plastic, asphalt, fertilizer, electricity, and so on. |
27th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
 Tom Toles |
22nd February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Methane levels may see 'runaway' rise, scientists warn Atmospheric levels of methane, the greenhouse gas which is much more powerful than carbon dioxide, have risen significantly for the last three years running, scientists will disclose today " leading to fears that a major global-warming "feedback" is beginning to kick in. |
22nd February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Q&A: "We Have a Take-Make-Waste Economy" UNITED NATIONS, Feb 21 (IPS) - To halt the planet's declining biodiversity and loss of critical natural resources, both the economy we live in and communication about science needs to be changed profoundly, says a prominent Dutch ecologist. |
22nd February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ecological Intelligence: Do Humans Have What it Takes to Survive? Society has lost touch with what may be the singular sensibility crucial to our survival as a species. |
22nd February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Bank Of America And Barclays See Looming Oil Crunch By Ambrose Evans-PritchardBank of America and Barclays Capital, two leading oil traders, have told clients to brace for crude above $100 a barrel by next year, before it pushes relentlessly higher over the decade. Oil has the potential to flirt with $100 this year. We forecast an average price of $137 by 2015, said Amrita Sen, an oil expert at BarCap |
22nd February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Governments 'misjudging' scale of CO2 emissions Policy makers in Europe and United States are markedly underestimating the changes needed to mitigate CO2 emission required to prevent dangerous climate change because they work in 'silos', according to pioneering research. |
22nd February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Are We Willing To Risk It ? It transpires that Carbon Dioxide levels during some of the hot house periods of Earth history may have been relatively low. Is it possible that hellish conditions could emerge from having a concentration of 1,000 ppm of Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere ? Some projections have residual airborne levels of Fossil Fuel and deforestation emissions reaching that kind of count by the year 2100. Are we willing to risk it ? [link]climate/2010/1002/full/climate.2010.03.html Published online: 14 January 2010 : Insights from earth : Alicia Newton ... |
20th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Hostage to US hot air | Isabel Hilton The climate debate in the US " and so the world " is mired in political weakness and infightingIn Delhi last week, -Professor Jeffrey Sachs, the guru of -sustainable development from Columbia University, delivered a sobering message about US climate -politics. There was very little chance, he said, that the US would pass climate legislation this year, and almost no chance the Senate would ever adopt cap and trade, the system by which enterprises trade permits to emit within ever tighter limits. He himself, he added, was not sorry. He strongly preferred a carbon tax as a simpler and more effective mechanism.There are many who share his -preference, but the chances of the US legislating such a tax seem equally remote. |
20th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Whatevergate It won t have escaped many of our readers notice that there has been what can only be described as a media frenzy (mostly in the UK) with regards to climate change in recent weeks. The coverage has contained more bad reporting, misrepresentation and confusion on the subject than we have seen in such a short time anywhere. While the UK newspaper scene is uniquely competitive (especially compared to the US with over half a dozen national dailies selling in the same market), and historically there have been equally frenzied bouts of mis-reporting in the past on topics as diverse as pit bulls, vaccines and child abductions, there is something new in this mess that is worth discussing. |
20th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Environmental Advocates Are Cooling on Obama - New York Times Times OnlineEnvironmental Advocates Are Cooling on ObamaNew York Times... the administration did not designate the polar bear as endangered by global warming and that it could not push a climate change bill through Congress. ...Obama Goes Nuclear in a Tough Winter for EnvirosPolitics Daily (blog)US energy chief struggles to shift debateFinancial TimesSupreme Court decision blocks global warming efforts; Commission looks into ...Mass High TechCounterPunch -The Guardian -Reutersall 2,150 |
20th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Obama's Support for 'Clean Coal' Opens a Pathway to Make the Most Polluting Industry Profitable With solar and wind technology both ready for commercial-scale deployment today, is it just political calculation driving the policy support for technology that is 20 years out? |
20th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Scientists dispute climate sceptic's claim that US weather data is useless - Guardian Unlimited Ex-weatherman Anthony Watts says many US weather stations produce unreliable data because they are located next to artificial heat " but a scientific analysis suggests that, if anything, such stations underestimate warming It appeared to have shaken the credibility of one of the most important global warming data sets in the world. A blog-inspired campaign by amateur climate sceptics seemed to ... |
20th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Two-Thirds of Peru's Amazon Threatened by Oil and Gas Development Petroleum companies have leased 41 percent of the Peruvian Amazon for oil and gas drilling and could soon hold drilling concessions on 70 percent of the highly diverse rainforest, according to a new study. Conducted by researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the conservation group Save America's Forests, the study said that a second wave of oil and gas drilling is spreading so rapidly through the Peruvian Amazon that roughly 20 percent of officially protected areas, as well as more than half of reserves set aside for indigenous people, are now leased for drilling. The oil and gas boom is so intensive that it now extends to many of the remotest corners of the Peruvian Amazon, including an area deep in the rainforest " known as Block 67 " that may sit atop 300 million barrels of oil. |
20th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The price of environmental destruction? There is none | Andrew Simms Putting a price on nature becomes meaningless if we treat the ecosystems upon which we depend as mere commodities with a price for trading World's top firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage, report warnsThe economy is no stranger to creating its own fantasy world with little or no relation to the real one. We witnessed the damage that can cause when the banks thought they had stumbled on financial alchemy and could transform bad debt into good " economic base metal into gold.Now it's possible that a much bigger error is coming to light. The rise and rise of global corporations lifted on a wave of apparent productivity gains may have been little more than a mask for the reckless liquidation of natural capital. |
20th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate scientists losing ground - Guardian Unlimited The IPCC and scientific community urgently need to focus on rebuilding trust and could learn a few tactics from Barack Obama There's an incredibly powerful movement opposed to action on climate change. Without doubt it had more influence on the outcome of the climate negotiations in Copenhagen than many of the world's countries combined. Obama knew if he signed up to something that would truly ... |
20th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate skeptics exploiting scandal: US envoy - PhysOrg The US pointman on climate change on Tuesday accused vested interests of exploiting recent scientific scandals, saying there was an overwhelming case for the world to take action. |
20th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| How the 'climategate' scandal is bogus and based on climate sceptics' lies | Fred Pearce Claims based on email soundbites are demonstrably false " there is manifestly no evidence of clandestine data manipulationAlmost all the media and political discussion about the hacked climate emails has been based on brief soundbites publicised by professional sceptics and their blogs. In many cases, these have been taken out of context and twisted to mean something they were never intended to.Elizabeth May, veteran head of the Canadian Green party claims to have read all the emails and declared: "How dare the world's media fall into the trap set by contrarian propagandists without reading the whole set?"If those journalists had read even a few words beyond the soundbites, they would have realised that they were often being fed lies. See also: 'Climategate' scientist speaks out - Nature |
15th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| More acid, less iron Rising carbon dioxide in the oceans may hinder, not help, marine phytoplankton blooms - because increasingly acidic waters could stifle their supply of iron, a crucial nutrient. Dalin Shi and researchers at Princeton University, New Jersey, recorded a decrease in the uptake of iron by four species of plankton as their laboratory-controlled culture medium was acidified, changing from pH 8.6 to 7.7. At the same time, the concentration of bioavailable dissolved iron - in other words, iron not chemically bound by organic matter - dropped proportionately, suggesting that the phytoplankton's enforced diet was due to pH-induced changes in iron chemistry that made the nutrient less available to them, and not because of a physiological reaction to more acidic conditions. In samples of Atlantic surface waters, the team saw the same effect: on average, iron uptake by a marine diatom in these field experiments dropped 1020% as ocean acidity increased by 0.6 pH units. |
15th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen number crunch The Copenhagen Accord leaves a gap between climate impacts that can be dealt with through adaptation and those that will be avoided through mitigation. But how big is the gap? See also: Nations Pledge CO2 Cuts that Will Not Meet 2 C Goal On Warming |
15th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Society ignores the oil crunch at its peril | Jeremy Leggett Warnings of a crash in oil production are no longer limited to a prescient few individuals - major British companies and oil CEOs are now sounding the alertIn the years approaching the credit crunch, whistleblowers were limited to a few insightful economists and financial journalists. Now whistles are blowing again about another grave threat to the global economy and the security of nations. They warn of an oil crunch: an unexpected crash in global production such that supply can no longer meet demand, even if China and India throttle back.This time the warning is not limited to a prescient few individuals. |
15th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| IPCC errors: facts and spin Currently, a few errors "and supposed errors" in the last IPCC report ( AR4 ) are making the media rounds " together with a lot of distortion and professional spin by parties interested in discrediting climate science. Time for us to sort the wheat from the chaff: which of these putative errors are real, and which not? And what does it all mean, for the IPCC in particular, and for climate science more broadly? Let's start with a few basic facts about the IPCC. The IPCC is not, as many people seem to think, a large organization. In fact, it has only 10 full-time staff in its secretariat at the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, plus a few staff in four technical support units that help the chairs of the three IPCC working groups and the national greenhouse gas inventories group. |
15th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| EPA's Effort to Limit CO2 To Be Fought by Chamber of Commerce The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has announced it will mount a legal challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to limit greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. Steven J. Law, the chamber's chief legal counsel, said the business group would not question the science behind global warming but rather would challenge the process by which the EPA decided it had the right to control carbon dioxide emissions as a threat to human health. The Obama administration has said it would prefer that Congress pass a law regulating carbon emissions, but with the passage of such a law looking increasingly unlikely, a battle is shaping up over the EPA's possible efforts to control CO2 emissions. |
15th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen response 'is pathetic' - BBC News India's negotiator at the Copenhagen climate change summit says industrialised nations have responded in a "pathetic" way to the need to cut carbon emissions. |
15th February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pentagon to rank global warming as destabilising force US defence review says military planners should factor climate change into long-term strategyThe Pentagon will for the first time rank global warming as a destabilising force, adding fuel to conflict and putting US troops at risk around the world, in a major strategy review to be presented to Congress tomorrow. The quadrennial defence review, prepared by the Pentagon to update Congress on its security vision, will direct military planners to keep track of the latest climate science, and to factor global warming into their long term strategic planning."While climate change alone does not cause conflict, it may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict, placing a burden on civilian institutions and militaries around the world," said a draft of the review seen by the Guardian.Heatwaves and freak storms could put increasing demand on the US military to respond to humanitarian crises or natural disaster. |
2nd February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The wisdom of Solomon A quick post for commentary on the new Solomon et al paper in Science express. We ll try and get around to discussing this over the weekend, but in the meantime I ve moved some comments over. There is some commentary on this at DotEarth, and some media reports on the story " some good, some not so good. It seems like a topic that is ripe for confusion, and so here are a few quick clarifications that are worth making. First of all, this is a paper about internal variability of the climate system in the last decade, not on additional factors that drive climate. |
2nd February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The bottleneck century In his documentary What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire filmmaker Tim Bennett notes that many of the book authors now writing about peak oil, climate change, species extinction and myriad other urgent environmental and resource topics usually end their otherwise grim analyses with what he calls "the happy chapter," a chapter with solutions and responses which will supposedly help us to avert catastrophe.In a new book, Bottleneck: Humanity's Impending Impasse, William Catton, Jr. dispenses with "the happy chapter" altogether and simply gives us the grim prognosis. Human society is now on an unstoppable trajectory for a significant die-off. |
2nd February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 'Climate emails hacked by spies' A highly sophisticated hacking operation that led to the leaking of hundreds of emails from the Climatic Research Unit in East Anglia was probably carried out by a foreign intelligence agency, according to the Government's former chief scientist. Sir David King, who was Tony Blair's chief scientific adviser for seven years until 2007, said that the hacking and selective leaking of the unit's emails, going back 13 years, bore all the hallmarks of a co-ordinated intelligence operation " especially given their release just before the Copenhagen climate conference in December. See also: Global warming: Undeniable evidence 'Climategate' is bogus and based on lies |
2nd February 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Lobbyists for foreign corporations begin fight to ensure foreign money can influence American elections This is Think Progress repost. Last week, the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision invalidated a sixty-three year-old ban on corporate money in federal elections. The ruling gives corporations essentially the same rights as individuals in their ability to spend freely on political advertising, even if those advertisements explicitly advocate the election or defeat of a federal candidate. One consequence of this decision is that foreign corporations with U.S.-subsidiaries are likely to be able to now spend unlimited amounts on American elections. Congressional Democrats, led by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), Rep. |
29th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| This corruption in Washington is smothering America's future This week, a disaster hit the United States, and the after-tremors will be shaking and breaking global politics for years. It did not grab the same press attention as the fall of liberal Kennedy-licking Massachusetts to a pick-up truck Republican, or President Obama's first State of the Union address, or the possible break-up of Brangelina and their United Nations of adopted infants. But it took the single biggest problem dragging American politics towards brutality and dysfunction " and made it much, much worse. Yet it also showed the only path that Obama can now take to salvage his Presidency. |
29th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| RIP GDP Economic growth and climate action 'is not possible' |
27th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Depletion of Key Resources: Facts at Your Fingertips Editor's note: The author presents a definitive essay. Learn why: "Those who expect to get by with 'victory gardens' are unaware of the arithmetic involved." "There are already too many people to be supported by non-mechanized agriculture." "To meet the world's present energy needs by using solar power, then, we would need... a machine the size of France. The production and maintenance of this array would require vast quantities of hydrocarbons, metals, and other materials -- a self-defeating process. Solar power will therefore do little to solve the world's energy problems." |
27th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ministry of Justice lists eco-activists alongside terrorists Campaigners lumped in with al-Qaida and far right Government criticised for tarring peaceful protesters Government officials have labelled environmental campaigners extremists and listed them alongside dissident Irish republican groups and terrorists inspired by al-Qaida in internal documents seen by the Guardian.The guidance on extremism, produced by the Ministry of Justice, says: "The United Kingdom like many other countries faces a continuing threat from extremists who believe they can advance their aims by committing acts of terrorism."It was sent to probation staff who were writing court reports or supervising a range of activists, including environmental protesters.The advice lists "environmental extremists" alongside far-right activists, dissident Irish republicans, loyalist paramilitaries and al-Qaida-inspired extremists as among groups "currently categorised as extremist [that] may include those who have committed serious crime in pursuit of an ideology or cause".David Howarth, the Liberal Democrats' justice spokesman, ... |
27th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Constituent harassed by Telegraph readers after sending email to Tory PPC How did a private email to a would be Member of Parliament come to be published, with the name and address of the sender, on a blog post at the Daily Telegraph? Methinks, that Edwin Northover has a considerable amount of explaining to do. After all, if he, or perhaps his constituency office, cannot respect the privacy of a constituent when he’s a candidate, how can either be trusted to respect his constituents’ right to privacy and confidentiality should he become an MP. |
27th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon traders quit emissions market amid drop in demand Banks are pulling out of the carbon-offsetting market after Copenhagen failed to reach agreement on emissions targetsBanks and investors are pulling out of the carbon market after the failure to make progress at Copenhagen on reaching new emissions targets after 2012.Carbon financiers have already begun leaving banks in London because of the lack of activity and the drop-off in investment demand. The Guardian has been told that backers have this month pulled out of a large planned clean-energy project in the developing world because of the expected fall in emissions credits after 2012. See also: The death knell for comprehensive cap-and-trade |
27th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Cash for influence Can influence on environmental policy be bought? The chances of a global climate deal this year have taken the second major blow in a week in the US. In the latest development, the US Supreme Court has ruled that corporations can spend as much money as they like to influence elections. See also: When Corporations Rule The World - thanks to the Supreme Court [VIDEO] Supreme Court Sanctioned Murder Of Democracy! Keith Olbermann Special Comment ptI ptII FREE SPEECH FOR PEOPLE AMENDMENT PETITION |
23rd January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| A distraction of Himalayan proportions It was one of the most startling predictions in climate science. By 2035 the great glaciers of the Himalayas were supposed to have largely disappeared, threatening the water supplies of tens of millions of people who rely on the ice to feed the great rivers of Asia, from the Indus and the Ganges in the west to the Brahmaputra and the Yangtze in the east. See also: Glaciergate was a blunder, but it's the sceptics who dissemble | Robin McKie Climate Denial Industry Blowing Hot Air On Himalayan Glaciers |
23rd January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Send a Sceptic to Siberia Yawn. Yet another anti-Science web log page floats into my field of vision. It's so boring, trying to keep up with the Global Warming Deniers. I can barely keep awake. Here's an example of the trite, and frankly, petulant genre :- [link]news/jamesdelingpole/100023339/james-hansen-would-you-buy-a-used-temperature-data-set-from-this-man/ Actually, don t bother reading it. It's a waste of column inches. If only the Climate Change Sceptics would just go away and let us get on with the gargantuan task of revitalising the Energy industry around sustainable technologies. |
22nd January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| German solar subsidy cut to spur price dip SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Germany's decision to cut solar subsidies would result in a significant fall in both the price of and demand for photovoltaic panels in the second quarter, research firm iSuppli said on Thursday. See also: Will Germany kill its energy golden goose? |
22nd January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| One quarter of US grain crops fed to cars - not people, new figures show One-quarter of all the maize and other grain crops grown in the US now ends up as biofuel in cars rather than being used to feed people, according to new analysis which suggests that the biofuel revolution launched by former President George Bush in 2007 is impacting on world food supplies. The 2009 figures from the US Department of Agriculture shows ethanol production rising to record levels driven by farm subsidies and laws which require vehicles to use increasing amounts of biofuels. "The grain grown to produce fuel in the US [in 2009] was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels," said Lester Brown, the director of the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington thinktank ithat conducted the analysis. |
22nd January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Reflections on a hugely changed climate It's hard to overstate how much the events of the last two months have altered the global picture of climate politics. Picture the scene you'd have found on any day towards the end of last year: more prime ministers and presidents talking publicly about climate change than ever before; the vast majority of the world's governments apparently committed to making some kind of agreement that would restrain the growth in greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to avoid "dangerous" climate change; the world's two biggest emitters - China and the US - announcing targets to take into the maelstrom of Copenhagen; rafts of mayors and business leaders and activists straining every sinew to encourage everyone across the finishing line. How different things look now |
22nd January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| As the World Burns How Big Oil and Big Coal mounted one of the most aggressive lobbying campaigns in history to block progress on global warming |
20th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Memo to IPCC: Please reanalyze ALL of your conclusions about melting ice and sea level rise - Good news: The Himalayan glaciers will probably endure past 2035. Bad news: If we don't reverse our emissions trend soon, their disappearance is likely to become irreversible before then. MEMO TO IPCC: If you are going to review the apparently mistaken claim in your 2007 report that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035 " please review all of the latest scientific literature and observations on that subject AND please update your equally outdated sea level rise projections. MEMO TO MEDIA: It isn t news that the 2007 projections by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are not accurate. The real news is that the 99% of their mistakes are UNDERestimates of likely impacts. See also : The IPCC is not infallible - shock! |
20th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Spikes & Slopes by Jo Abbess 3 December 2009 One Hot Year 1998 was a very hot year. Worldwide, the land and sea surface temperatures spiked sharply upwards. Scientists said it was supposed to get hot, but not this hot. Yet by the year 2000, things had cooled back down again. In fact, they were a little cooler than 1995. [1] The detailed analysis made it seem like a murder mystery " who killed the heat ? What happened to Global Warming ? Part of the forensic evidence came from analysis of Mount Pinatubo. On 15th June 1991, it experienced massive volcanic eruption causing an enormous plume in the sky, easily visible from space. |
20th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon Plummets as Traders See Oil Booming in Failed Copenhagen - Bloomberg Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The inability of government leaders to agree on stricter pollution controls at meetings in Copenhagen last month is showing up in commodity markets, where it's getting cheaper to emit greenhouse gasses. |
20th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Hanging EPA regulations around Democrats’ necks It has been taken for granted on the left that if Congress doesn t pass clean energy legislation, the EPA will step in to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The threat of that eventuality was supposed to bring intransigent industries and legislators to the table. Only it hasn t really worked as intended" prospects for legislation are looking increasingly dim, particularly with Brown's win last night in Massachusetts.Does that mean EPA regulations are inevitable? Har har. Nothing in politics is inevitable. If legislation goes down in flames, expect a huge fight.[Want to catch up on the why's and wherefore's of EPA regs? See also: Obama faces emissions U-turn with new Congress challenge - The Guardian Foe of EPA Carbon Rules Is Top Recipient of Industry Contributions |
20th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Face up to natural limits, or face a 1970s-style energy crisis None of the various technofixes on offer alter the fact that humanity has to learn to stop living on the last drops of cheap energy, and to start living within its means |
20th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 temperatures by Jim Hansen This is Hansen et al's end of year summary for 2009 (with a couple of minor edits). If It's That Warm, How Come It's So Damned Cold? by James Hansen, Reto Ruedy, Makiko Sato, and Ken Lo The past year, 2009, tied as the second warmest year in the 130 years of global instrumental temperature records, in the surface temperature analysis of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). The Southern Hemisphere set a record as the warmest year for that half of the world. Global mean temperature, as shown in Figure 1a, was 0.57°C (1.0°F) warmer than climatology (the 1951-1980 base period). |
18th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Exclusive: Dr. Mojib Latif sets the record straight on what his work says about global warming and what it doesn t say about global cooling - Warming might or might not stall for "several years" but we risk "an unprecedented warming in the history of mankind if no measures are taken to cut global carbon dioxide emissions" Here is Dr. Mojib Latif, perhaps the world's most misquoted climate scientist, in a previously unpublished op-ed (boldface in original). Given all the warnings about and plans to forestall global warming, people may be surprised to find, over the next several years that, over parts of the Northern hemisphere, summers are no warmer than before, maybe even a bit cooler"and that winters are as cold, or a bit colder, than they have been in the past couple of decades. This is because the climate may go through a temporary halt in warming. It's nothing unusual, just a natural fluctuation. |
18th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wilder weather exerts a stronger influence on biodiversity than steadily changing conditions An increase in the variability of local conditions could do more to harm biodiversity than slower shifts in climate, a new study has found. |
18th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Arctic permafrost leaking methane at record levels, figures show Experts say methane emissions from the Arctic have risen by almost one-third in just five years, and that sharply rising temperatures are to blameScientists have recorded a massive spike in the amount of a powerful greenhouse gas seeping from Arctic permafrost, in a discovery that highlights the risks of a dangerous climate tipping point.Experts say methane emissions from the Arctic have risen by almost one-third in just five years, and that sharply rising temperatures are to blame.The discovery follows a string of reports from the region in recent years that previously frozen boggy soils are melting and releasing methane in greater quantities. See also: Wetlands' Carbon, Methane Emissions Boost Global Warming - Time Magazine Warming 'speeds' up gas emissions |
15th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The truth is out there: And they re trying to keep it out Maclean's writer Andrew Coyne shows how The theft and distribution of the East Anglia University Climatic Research Unit (CRU) emails last fall provided a stunning victory to the forces of climate change denial. The emails were received and disseminated in the denial industry as evidence that climate scientists had overplayed their hands or acted inappropriately. And that was used, very effectively, as proof that the science of climate change is, after all, in doubt. But that was only the beginning. Per the case study below, in 2010, we will be treated to a barrage of stories that reference the emails without even including an attempt present or argue their content. |
15th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Was Copenhagen the Death of Multilateral Environmental Agreements? - AllAfrica.com Johannesburg " What do secret declassified documents from the Clinton era tell us about the future of climate negotiations? See also: Pershing Missile Strikes United Nations |
15th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Soros Says U.S. Needs Carbon Cap to Unlock Clean-Energy Finance - Bloomberg via Yahoo! News Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. law to curb carbon emissions would spur billions of dollars of spending on green-energy projects in developing countries, billionaire George Soros said. See also: Investors urge governments to act on climate change |
15th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| How High Will Seas Rise? Get Ready for Seven Feet As governments, businesses, and homeowners plan for the future, they should assume that the world's oceans will rise by at least two meters " roughly seven feet " this century. But far too few agencies or individuals are preparing for the inevitable increase in sea level that will take place as polar ice sheets melt. BY ROB YOUNG AND ORRIN PILKEY See also: Radical sea defence rethink urged |
15th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate & environment - Jan 14 -The year climate science caught up with what climate scientists have been saying privately for years -Where on earth is it unusually warm?-Britain's cold snap does not prove climate science wrong -Coral Can Recover from Climate Change Damage, New Research Suggests -The resurgence of El Niño means that 2010 could yet be the hottest year on record -The sinking Sundarbans-Major Antarctic glacier is 'past its tipping point' read more |
15th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Errors and lies thrive in cold weather Claims that a cold snap disproves climate change are dangerous nonsense, says Michael Le Page |
15th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The End of Magical Climate Thinking One year ago, America's president said he was going to start a green-energy revolution. Here's why the Obama administration failed -- and what needs to come next. |
15th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| US cult of greed is now a global environmental threat The average American consumes more than his or her weight in products each day, fuelling a global culture of excess that is emerging as the biggest threat to the planet, according to a report published today. In its annual report, Worldwatch Institute says the cult of consumption and greed could wipe out any gains from government action on climate change or a shift to a clean energy economy.Erik Assadourian, the project director who led a team of 35 behind the report, said: "Until we recognise that our environmental problems, from climate change to deforestation to species loss, are driven by unsustainable habits, we will not be able to solve the ecological crises that threaten to wash over civilisation."The world's population is burning through the planet's resources at a reckless rate, the US thinktank said. |
13th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. farm group: Stop EPA on greenhouse gases SEATTLE (Reuters) - The largest U.S. farm group called on Congress on Tuesday to prevent the government from regulating greenhouse gases if lawmakers kill climate change legislation. |
13th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Oil Dependence Is a Dangerous Habit - Center For American Progress A recent report on the November 2009 U.S. trade deficit found that rising oil imports widened our deficit, increasing the gap between our imports and exports. This is but one example that our economic recovery and long-term growth is inexorably linked to our reliance on foreign oil. The United States is spending approximately $1 billion a day overseas on oil instead of investing the funds at home, where our economy sorely needs it. Burning oil that exacerbates global warming also poses serious threats to our national security and the world’s security. For these reasons we need to kick the oil addiction by investing in clean-energy reform to reduce oil demand, while taking steps to curb global warming. |
13th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Avoiding dangerous warming by 2100 'barely feasible' It may be impossible to get low-carbon energy sources online fast enough to prevent global temperatures rising beyond 2 °C by the century's end See also: Climate scientists convene global geo-engineering summit |
12th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Leading climate scientist challenges Mail on Sunday's use of his research Mojib Latif denies his research supports theory that current cold weather undermines scientific consensus on global warmingA leading scientist has hit out at misleading newspaper reports that linked his research to claims that the current cold weather undermines the scientific case for manmade global warming.Mojib Latif, a climate expert at the Leibniz Institute at Kiel University in Germany, said he "cannot understand" reports that used his research to question the scientific consensus on climate change.He told the Guardian: "It comes as a surprise to me that people would try to use my statements to try to dispute the nature of global warming. |
12th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| James Hansen rails against cap-and-trade plan in open letter Nasa scientist advocates using fee-and-dividend approach to reducing carbon emissions"You are choosing the path focused on corporate greed," climate scientist James Hansen has told carbon traders in a open letter which he and climate activists attempted to deliver to a carbon trading conference in New York today.In below-freezing temperatures, climate change campaigners gathered at midday at the Irish Hunger Memorial in Vesey Park, near the Embassy Suites Hotel where the conference is being held, to hear Hansen read parts of his open letter. Tomorrow there will be another demonstration at the same spot, at which an unconfirmed number of activists have pledged to commit acts of nonviolent civil disobedience.Hansen's letter advocates using the fee-and-dividend approach to reducing carbon emissions, rather than cap-and-trade. |
12th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate confusion Scientists need to ensure their work is understood |
11th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Largest U.S. farm group rallies against climate bill SEATTLE (Reuters) - The largest U.S. farm group will oppose aggressively "misguided" climate legislation pending in Congress and fight animal rights activists, said American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman on Sunday. |
11th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The resurgence of El Niño means that 2010 could yet be the hottest year on record Despite the big freeze Britain's climate is getting distinctly warmer " and we may feel it this summerIt may be a hard notion to accept after a week that has seen the nation paralysed by snow and ice. Nevertheless, meteorologists are adamant that our world is still getting warmer. Indeed, many now believe that 2010 may turn out to be the hottest year on record.Britain may be shivering, the Met Office may have issued emergency weather warnings for the entire country and hundreds of trains and flights may have been cancelled, but our future is destined to be a hot and sticky one. |
10th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The end of consumerism: Our way of life is 'not viable' - Independent Ditch the dog; throw away (sorry, recycle) those takeaway menus; bin bottled water; get rid of that gas-guzzling car and forget flying to far-flung places. These are just some of the sacrifices we in the West will need to make if we are to survive climate change. |
10th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Chokehold Sought on EPA Over Carbon Rules - CBS News N.D. Rep's Bill Would Reverse Supreme Court Ruling, Remove Authority From EPA to Regulate Greenhouse Gases See also: US climate change legislation Q&A: what will happen in 2010? - Guardian Unlimited |
10th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Methane release 'looks stronger' Scientists have uncovered a further apparent increase in the leakage of methane gas that is seeping from the Arctic seabed. |
7th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Crime in the Post-Peak World As humanity plunges ever more deeply into the age of declining resources, what will be the future of law and order? The particular problem of which I am thinking might be called, more specifically, "future violence," since other acts that are now deemed criminal may seem trivial in later days. Unfortunately all discussion of violence becomes an emotional issue, and a rational answer may be elusive. After all, for most human beings the most terrifying actions on the planet Earth are probably those involving physical assault by other humans. It is therefore hard to get a calm or rational response from people with whom one discusses the matter. |
7th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Earth itself has become disposable Consumerism has, as Huxley feared, changed all of us " we'd rather hop to a brave new world than rein in our spendingWho said this? "All the evidence shows that beyond the sort of standard of living which Britain has now achieved, extra growth does not automatically translate into human welfare and happiness." Was it a) the boss of Greenpeace, b) the director of the New Economics Foundation, or c) an anarchist planning the next climate camp? None of the above: d) the former head of the Confederation of British Industry, who currently runs the Financial Services Authority. In an interview broadcast last Friday, Lord Turner brought the consumer society's most subversive observation into the mainstream.In our hearts most of us know it is true, but we live as if it were not. |
7th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Tipping elements in the Earth System: How stable is the contemporary environment? - Science Daily A Special Feature of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presents the latest scientific insights on so-called tipping elements in the planetary environment. These elements have been identified as the most vulnerable large-scale components of the Earth System that may be profoundly altered by human interference. If one or more of those components is tipped -- especially in the course of global warming -- then the age of remarkably stable environmental conditions on Earth throughout the Holocene may end quickly and irreversibly. |
7th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2020: China Rises, the U.S. Declines and the Planet Strikes Back Much will change in 10 years. China will rise, the global South will grow in importance, the U.S. will decline. These phenomena will be eclipsed by devastating planetary changes. |
7th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Scepticism will surge in 2010: IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri predicts lobbying will intensify to impede progress to agreement on binding treaty in Mexico City. Climate change scepticism is likely to surge in 2010 and could exacerbate "hardship" for the planet's poorest people, one of the world's leading authorities on climate change has told the Guardian.Writing on environmentguardian.co.uk today, Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also dismisses suggestions that he is personally profiting from policies to tackle global warming.Climate sceptics gained media attention in the run up to the Copenhagen climate summit after alleging that hacked emails between senior climate scientists showed that an important temperature record was flawed " a charge rejected by governments and scientific bodies. See also: Climate change has no time for delay or denial |
4th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate science in 2009 For climate science, the year 2009 brought significant discoveries and startling controversies. Kurt Kleiner reports. |
4th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Planning for plan B Controlling the climate with technology was once the stuff of science fiction. But with tests already underway, there's an urgent need for global governance of geoengineering. Mason Inman reports. [It's interesting to compare the problems of global governance of geo-engineering with that of reducing emissions] |
4th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Consumer Hell How do we break a system which now permeates every aspect of our lives? |
4th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Greenhouse Gases: Who's Cheating? - BusinessWeek The amounts of carbon in the atmosphere are out of whack with predictions and reported output |
4th January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Problem Is Really A Justice Problem By Tom AthanasiouDespite its disappointments, the climate summit in Copenhagen marks a turning point- the end of denial. Whats next is recognizing that our climate problem is really a justice problem |
2nd January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Africa's apocalyptic mood | Cameron Duodu Religious fervour and the effects of climate change may combine with explosive effect over the coming months and yearsThe story is told of how two Ghanaian old ladies emerged from church one Sunday morning in June 1967. During the service, the minister had asked for prayers for the people of Israel, who were at war."Akosua", one lady turned to the other, "what are we going to do?""Do about what?" the other asked, perplexed."Didn't you hear the priest? Jerusalem is about to be destroyed!""Oh that ""Yes. You and I have been paying our church dues regularly. |
2nd January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| James Hansen : More Right Than Wrong You know, back in 1988, James Hansen had some fairly basic FORTRAN computing code and an embarrassingly uncomplex model of the World Ocean, and yet he still came up with shockingly accurate projections of Global Warming. The data is in. The models were right (more or less). |
2nd January 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Dismantling the Infrastructure: A Scientific Approach I have always been wary about technologies, despite the fact that I graduated as an electrical engineer, and defended two dissertations. The Chernobyl disaster put an end to my infatuation with science, and revived my interest in poetry, philosophy and nature. Since the late '80s, I was gradually converted into the Luddite type of a scientist and stepped onto a shaky path of techno-criticism. I remember my enthusiasm when, in the mid-'90s, I found in the America House Library a book openly criticizing the technological society. I knew then I was not alone. |
29th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Economics and the environment: Down to earth index How much is the planet worth? Not a jot, according to most economists' calculations. Last week, politicians and City analysts got Tiggerishly excited over an official report showing that Britain's economy shrank 0.2% in the three months to the end of September rather than the 0.4% initially reported. Yet that all-important measure of GDP is a 20th-century invention which simply tots up all the goods and services produced in an economy, as valued at market prices. Among all the many things it leaves out is the cost to the environment of this activity. Indeed, it often puts a perverse value on damage to the planet. |
29th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Lost Decade: What The World Can Learn From 10 Years Of Excesses - Free Internet Press The first decade of the 21st century was marked by crises. Militant Islamists attacked New York, the financial system crashed, the climate is threatened by catastrophe and democracy lost some of its standing. |
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| The coming climate panic? When the psychology of in-your-face warming gets combined with a shocking climate event-something like Hurricane Katrina on steroids-you end up with a witches brew that can result in what political scientist Aristide Zolberg has referred to as "moments of madness"-unique historical moments when society challenges conventional wisdom and new norms are forcibly-oftentimes disruptively-created. There are many historical precedents: the economic and political chaos in Weimar Germany that ultimately led to the rise of Hitler, the violence of the French Revolution, the sudden, peaceful collapse of the Soviet empire. |
29th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Global warming likely to be amplified by slow changes to Earth systems Researchers studying a period of high carbon dioxide levels and warm climate several million years ago have concluded that slow changes such as melting ice sheets amplified the initial warming caused by greenhouse gases. |
21st December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Computer simulation strengthens link between climate change and release of subsea methane (PhysOrg.com) -- A first-of-its-kind computer simulation that mirrors real-world observations of methane bubbling up from a seabed in the Arctic Ocean provides further evidence that warming oceans may unleash vast quantities of methane trapped in hydrate deposits buried beneath the seafloor. |
18th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Study forecasts 9m sea-level rise if temperatures meet 2C threshold Hundreds of millions of people around the world would be affected as low low-lying coastal areas became inundated. Global sea levels could rise by up to 9m in the next few hundred years, even if the world manages to stabilise average temperatures to 2C above pre-industrial levels, according to a new study.In this scenario, hundreds of millions of people around the world would be affected as low low-lying coastal areas became inundated. See also: Sea level rise may exceed worst expectations - Nature |
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| Throwing our energy at impossible dreams... "as mankind proceeded to get bigger and bigger we silently crossed a threshold" read more |
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| World will heat more sharply from 2010, warn scientists - SciDev.net Another steep temperature rise is on the horizon, following the warmest decade since records began, scientists have warned. |
17th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Road: A film that every one of us needs to see As the credits roll and we fall stricken and tear-stained out onto the dark streets of Soho, it seems fitting that I am accompanied by the director of the second bleakest film ever made " Franny Armstrong, creator of the The Age of Stupid. The bleakest film ever made we have just endured together, over two relentless, harrowing hours, and are now so emotionally raw that we know not where we are going, nor do we much care. It doesn't seem to matter. "Oh my God," moans Franny, repeatedly, head in hands. |
16th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| It's World War In 2030 If Obama Fails Climate Test ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. -- Obama the game-changer saves Copenhagen? Uses his new Nobel "Just War" doctrine, takes command, unifies world in a "Just War" on climate change, the biggest economic issue facing the world in the 21st century? Maybe, maybe not. But if he doesn't, Copenhagen fails. America is the game-fixer in the do-nothing scenario. Worse: Population growth will eventually outstrip depleting resources. Without a long-term economic strategy and a leader, we may not survive into the next century. Yes, if Obama's "Just War" doctrine becomes a "Just War on Climate Change" he is the game-changer that not only honors Alfred Nobel's legacy, but also means Copenhagen would be a success going forward. However, developing nations fear they'll get a token commitment from a nation that just bailed out its failed banking system with trillions. They fear we'll simply commit to some vague emission limits that help Wall Street bankers build a new trillion-dollar short-term cap-and-trade system with toothless enforcement rules that invite all nations to game the system. And they fear America's do-nothing scenario will leave the rest of the world worse off till the next summit, exposed and at risk, as the impact of climate change pushes us closer to a game-ending Black Swan catastrophe. See also: Recipe for Failure |
15th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Trusting Nature as the Climate Referee - International Herald Tribune An idea for a tax that is linked to the future warming of the earth. |
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| CLIMATE CHANGE-CUBA: "Energy is an Instrument of Power" COPENHAGEN, Dec 13 (IPS) - "Energy is an instrument of power. Whoever has energy, controls the world," Cuban expert Luis Bérriz said in an address to Klimaforum, the civil society meeting being held in parallel to the UN conference on climate change in the Danish capital. |
15th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Document shows Canada removing emission restrictions As if Canada's performance on climate were not alread the second worst among all countries surveyed by GermanWatch for the Global Climate Change Performance Index (we were aced for last place by Saudi Arabia), new documents discovered by the CBC show the Conservative government actually looking to WEAKEN the pathetic greenhouse gas emission limits that barely restrain the Alberta oil and gas sector. The government, which has presented no plan to meet its humiliating target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by three per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, is now leaning toward giving the oil and gas sector even more room to pollute, leaving the responsibility for reducing emissions (should the country ever decide to do so) on individuals and businesses outside the industry that is primarily responsible. |
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Copenhagen
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| Our leaders are staging a scam in Copenhagen Every delegate to the Copenhagen summit is being greeted by the sight of a vast fake planet dominating the city's central square. This swirling globe is covered with corporate logos - the Coke brand is stamped over Africa, while Carlsberg appears to own Asia, and McDonald's announces I m loving it! in great red letters above. Welcome to Hopenhagen! it cries. It is kept in the sky by endless blasts of hot air. This plastic planet is the perfect symbol for this summit. The world is being told that this is an emergency meeting to solve the climate crisis " but here inside the Bela Centre where our leaders are gathering, you can find only a corrupt shuffling of words, designed to allow countries to wriggle out of the bare minimum necessary to prevent the unraveling of the biosphere. |
13th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Copenhagen is about doing as little as possible" - Salon.com An interview with Dennis Meadows, whose 1972 book "The Limits of Growth" was an early warning of global crisis |
13th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Rescuing A Planet Held Hostage By Frank Joseph Smecker I urge people to follow what is happening in Copenhagen right now. The past week has proven that the worlds elected officials are not going to be making any decisions that are in the best interests of the people and communities of the planet, human and nonhuman. The solutions presented thus far have included market-based mechanisms and more discourse. Clearly, our future is in the hands of powerful elite and private institutions unless we rescue it. And I believe we can, if only we awake from the nihilistic and apathetic haze of our times to act together |
13th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Scientists: Climate talks aim too low, even without impact of 'hugely important' methane - The Canadian Press COPENHAGEN, Denmark - The cuts in greenhouse gases offered at the 192-nation climate conference are "clearly not enough" to assure the world it will head off dangerous global warming, a key U.N.-affiliated scientist said Saturday. |
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| ENVIRONMENT: Europeans Pay Companies to Pollute More BRUSSELS, Dec 12 (IPS) - Some of the world's most polluting companies are receiving financial support from the European taxpayer to promote the continued use of the fuels that cause global warming, according to a new report. |
13th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| CEO: Business Lobby Pushing Self-Interest Over Success A watchdog group called the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) says that corporate lobbyists, who have been working overtime to influence the UNFCCC COP15 in the run-up period, are still here in force, still pushing their position and standing dangerously in the way of success. CEO spokester Jiorgos Vassalos said that Europe appears lucky to have no mainstream corporate groups that actually denier climate science. "The dominant discourse is that something has to be done, but nothing that might harm the European Union's corporate competitiveness." That, for example, means no technology transfer to the developing world unless it comes in the form of direct foreign investment - on which corporations will have an opportunity to make ongoing profit. |
13th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| End Monopoly Capitalism To Arrest Climate Change By Prof. Jose Maria Sison To arrest climate change, we need to put an end to this systematic plunder of the environment for the superprofits of corporations in industrialized countries. To arrest climate change, we need to organize and defend our future against this parasitic and moribund system. To arrest climate change, we need to end monopoly capitals dominance over our lives and build a socialist future |
13th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climategate : Myles Allen is Confused Dr Myles Allen, head of the Climate Dynamics group at the University of Oxford's Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics Department is confused. It is odd that we still don t take climate change seriously , he writes in The Guardian online, discussing the fact that a good proportion of the British public don t believe in Global Warming :- [link]commentisfree/2009/dec/11/science-climate-change-phil-jones He might need to wake up to the fact that the British Press are being misled, and in turn, misleading the country. He ascribes Climate Change scepticism, denier-tribe , in print and online, to the Media's fondness for the narrative of the fallen idol . |
13th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| CLIMATE CHANGE: Cattle, the Ignored Predator RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 11 (IPS) - Because of its effect on the environment, cattle must be given the same priority in global agendas as nuclear weapons, wars and, in particular, climate change, says Brazilian activist João Meirelles Filho, author of two books on Amazon deforestation. |
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| Back to the bunker | John McQuaid The 'Climategate' emails have given new life to America's conservative sceptics " and they will be the biggest losersUntil recently, American conservatism's once-monolithic opposition to the very idea of global warming - based mostly, it sometimes seemed, on a common disdain for Al Gore - was starting to crack.Outright denial " of the kind preached by Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe " was once the conservative movement's default position, and still is for many Republicans. The denialist camp even includes intellectuals such as George Will, who has penned a preposterous series of columns arguing, in essence, that climate change is a myth cooked up by scientists in service to a political agenda that will generate more grant money to produce more research into this mythical problem. |
13th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Amazon projects undercut Brazil's new green path PORTO VELHO, Brazil (Reuters) - Straddling one the Amazon's main tributaries and flanked by dense jungle, a construction pit the size of a small town bustles with bulldozers and nearly 10,000 workers blasting huge slabs of rock off the river bank. |
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| Why the Idea of a Carbon Tax is Making a Comeback - Newsweek The idea of a carbon tax, proposed by Al Gore 17 years ago, is winning new converts. |
13th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen Won't Be Enough -- Only a 'Human Movement' Can Save Civilization from the Climate Crisis A strange cloud envelops human civilization as its leaders fail to take the measures to protect it in Copenhagen that they themselves endorsed just five months ago. |
10th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 'Ten years remain' to cut carbon Carbon emissions must fall within a decade to keep the global temperature rise under 2C, the UK Met Office says. |
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| The Peak Oil Crisis: Copenhagen - Prelude to extinction? Although world oil production is likely to start declining in the next few years, followed by world coal production in another 20 or so years, neither of these are likely to reduce emissions enough for many decades to have much of an impact on increasing carbon emissions. The decline in world oil production and much higher prices are likely to have a major impact on economic growth however. read more |
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| Emissions 'higher than reported' Emissions of some greenhouse gases are substantially higher than companies and countries report, say scientists. |
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| Climate change puts us all in the same boat. One hole will sink us all | Kofi Annan Global warming does not respect borders. A mindset shift is required if world leaders are to save us from ourselvesThe UN climate change conference in Copenhagen offers the prospect of a robust political deal, endorsed by the world's leaders and witnessed by the world's people, that sets out clear targets and a timeline for translating it into law. To be a truly historic achievement, such a deal must do two things.First, it must lay the basis for a global regime and subsequent agreements that limit global temperature rise in accordance with the scientific evidence. Second, it must provide clarity on the mobilisation and volume of financial resources to support developing countries to adapt to climate change.The stakes are enormous. |
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| The carbon cuts promised by developing countries at Copenhagen The table below summarizes the greenhouse gas reduction pledges of 11 non-Annex1 (developing) countries, organised by type of pledge. From the World Resources Institute, part of the Guardian Environment Network |
10th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Competition Will BeThe End Of Us By Lionel Anet For the sake of our children, the first change we need to make is to see competition as destructive; this will release our real nature of cooperative activity and compassion to thrive |
8th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Q&A: 'Economic Growth Is Making us Poorer' VITERBO, Italy, Dec 7 (IPS) - Dinner one evening when he was a kid put William Rees on track to becoming a sustainability pioneer. It was after a day at work on the family farm when he was nine or 10. He saw he had had a hand in growing everything on his plate. That brought a fascination with a connection to earth that would never leave him. |
8th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| How Hyper-Capitalism May Hobble the Copenhagen Summit Unless we re-think the export-oriented capitalism that's causing all of our climate problems, the Copenhagen conference will be nothing more than a Band-Aid. |
8th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate denial industry is out to dupe the public Think environmentalists are stooges? You're the unwitting recruit of a hugely powerful oil lobby " I've got the proof Read the case notes for this article hereWhen you survey the trail of wreckage left by the climate emails crisis, three things become clear. The first is the tendency of those who claim to be the champions of climate science to minimise their importance. Those who have most to lose if the science is wrong have perversely sought to justify the secretive and chummy ethos that some of the emails reveal. If science is not transparent and accountable, it's not science.I believe that all supporting data, codes and programmes should be made available as soon as an article is published in a peer-reviewed journal. See also: Case Studies |
8th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Why We Find it so Hard to Act Against Climate Change It should be easy to deal with climate change. There is a strong scientific consensus supported by very sound data; consensus across much of the religious and political spectrum and among businesses including the largest corporations in the world. The vast majority of people claim to be concerned. The targets are challenging, but they are achievable with existing technologies, and there would be plentiful profits and employment available for those who took up the challenge. read more See also: How voters' whims could scupper Copenhagen |
8th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| OIL: A Market Psychology of Fear? VANCOUVER, Canada, Dec 8 (IPS/TerraViva) - With or without a binding deal at the climate talks in Copenhagen this month, it seems the world may have to cut its oil consumption, as emerging geological and economic trends limit the availability and affordability of petroleum. |
8th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Warming or not, we must end global oil economy - Asia News Network This month, leaders from all across the globe are in the Danish capital of Copenhagen for a conference on climate change that may end in a new treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto accord. |
8th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Mainstream media misdirected in stolen email story Unless you live under a rock, you have undoubtedly heard by now about the emails stolen from a computer server belonging to the Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University in Britain. This hack job was committed by an unknown individual or group who illegally infiltrated the university's system, stole thousands of emails from a select group of climate scientists spanning over a decade, and then published a subset for the world to see, ostensibly to prove that global warming is a hoax. While the scientific evidence demonstrating that climate change poses a very real threat to our health, economy, and planet has never been clearer, an army of climate deniers has used its extensive echo chamber to manufacture a scandal out of this rather bland collection of email banter. See also: Copenhagen conspiracies: Russian computer used An Open Letter To Congress From US Scientists On Climate Change And Recently Stolen Emails |
7th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Editorial | The truth about climate: Copenhagen isn't enough Politicians are rarely accused of focusing too much on the long term. Tomorrow's headlines are always in view. In that context there is already something to celebrate from this week's global summit in Copenhagen.Not long ago a gathering to discuss carbon emissions would be attended by junior environment ministers with limited clout inside their own governments. No longer. This week climate change commands the attention of world leaders.That is where the good news starts to run out. With so much diplomatic pressure on the negotiations, a commitment to fairly substantial cuts in carbon emissions is inevitable. But a deal is unlikely to match the recommendations of the UN inter-governmental panel on climate change (IPCC), and it will not be a binding treaty. |
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| Nick Cohen | This anti-green backlash is a gift to brutish regimes If you think climate change is a lie, your logic will lead you into the arms of Putin and ChávezAnyone who knows the history of backlash populism, from Nixon and Agnew onwards, will find the new fury at the environmental taxes comfortingly familiar. From the Palin rallies in the American Midwest via the baking suburbs of Brisbane to the screaming blogs of the English Tory party, the chants about climate change are the same. The liberal elite, the so-called experts, the unelected, unaccountable grandees, who poison our children's minds through their control of the schools, foist their values on us through their courtier newspapers and television stations, take our taxes and use them to fund their weird minority causes, are at it again. |
7th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Study: Earth more sensitive to carbon dioxide than previously thought In the long term, the Earth's temperature may be 30-50% more sensitive to atmospheric carbon dioxide than has previously been estimated, reports a new study published in Nature Geoscience this week. |
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| Points of view What are the arguments used by climate sceptics? |
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| Reserves are bunk Henry Ford is famous for having once said, "History is more or less bunk." He was, in fact, attacking tradition in an age of rapid technological and social change. Almost a century later we have a less ambitious observation which may not achieve the broad visceral appeal of Ford's statement, but one which may turn out have a good deal of importance, to wit: Oil and natural gas reserve numbers are more or less bunk.Let me introduce you to B. J. Doyle, vice president of operations for a small Houston-based oil and natural gas exploration company. Doyle's views on the oil and gas business have been on display for more than a year now at The Oil Drum, a site famous for its technical prowess and breadth of coverage when it comes to energy-related issues. |
7th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Bill McKibben: Why Politics-As-Usual May Mean the End of Civilization - The Huffington Post Climate change is not like any other issue we've ever dealt with. The adversary here is not Republicans, or socialists, or deficits, or taxes, or misogyny, or racism. The adversary here is physics. See also: Greenhouse gas cuts just 'token gestures' - Independent Copenhagen emissions targets not enough to avert catastrophic warming - Times Online |
7th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Coal throbs at the heart of India growth engine KORBA, India (Reuters) - A thin coat of coal dust covers everything from trees to houses in Korba, a coal mining town in central India which lies at the heart of the country's struggle to balance economic growth with climate change concerns. |
7th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| IPCC Working Group 1 Responds on Stolen Emails For the Record: Working Group One of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has put out an official response to the East Anglia University email thefts: In conclusion, IPCC WGI firmly stands behind its unique procedures and behind the scientificcommunity and their collective work which has been, and continues to be, the basis of unbiased,open and transparent assessments of the current knowledge on the climate system and its changes. The complete text is below and the document is attached. <!--break-->Bern, 4. December 2009Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) firmly standsbehind the conclusions of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, the community of researchersand its individuals providing the scientific basis, and the procedures of IPCC Assessments.Comments on blogs and in the media about the contents of a large number of private emails stolenfrom the Climatic Research Unit ... |
6th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The story of cap and trade: a short video on what is wrong with emissions trading The Story of Cap Trade (below) is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at the climate talks in Copenhagen. Cap and trade is also variously described as carbon trading'' and emissions trading . In Australia, the federal Labor government is trying to push a variation of this through the Senate called the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme . |
6th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Key dates in the story of a warming planet - The Associated Press Telegraph.co.ukKey dates in the story of a warming planetThe Associated Press... global warming "is already happening now." 1988 " UN creates the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a clearinghouse for climate science. ...Copenhagen climate summit: history of climate changeTelegraph.co.ukall 101 |
6th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Study: Slowdown in warming last year not permanent - The Associated Press Study: Slowdown in warming last year not permanentThe Associated PressWASHINGTON " Cooler temperatures in North America last year do not mean global warming is easing, government and academic scientists said Friday. ...and more |
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| To really save the planet, stop going green - Washington Post To really save the planet, stop going greenWashington PostAs President Obama heads to Copenhagen next week for global warming talks, there's one simple step Americans back home can take to help out: ...and more |
6th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Leading article: An unwelcome distraction - Independent In calling for an investigation into claims that researchers at the University of East Anglia manipulated their findings in a way that strengthened the case for man-made climate change, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, is doing absolutely the right thing. The accusations have to be addressed seriously. |
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| How I wish the global warming deniers were right... Every day, I pine for the global warming deniers to be proved right. I loved the old world – of flying to beaches wherever we want, growing to the skies, and burning whatever source of energy came our way. I hate the world to come that I've seen in my reporting from continent after continent - of falling Arctic ice shelves, of countries being swallowed by the sea, of vicious wars for the water and land that remains. When I read the works of global warming deniers like Nigel Lawson or Ian Plimer, I feel a sense of calm washing over me. The nightmare is gone; nothing has to change; the world can stay as it was. But then I go back to the facts. However much I want them to be different, they sit there, hard and immovable. |
4th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The war against warming Military and intelligence experts become increasingly focused on the climate security threat. Keith Kloor reports. |
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| The oily echo machine behind "climategate" glenn beck climategate.jpg The most vocal organizations around the University of East Anglia hacked email story (aka. "climategate") have been involved in a decade-plus campaign to delay action on climate change. The goal of this campaign, which began around the time of the first Kyoto Protocol negotiations, was to assemble a group of like-minded "free-market" think tanks and pseudo-experts that would bring into question the scientific realities of climate change, create doubt with the public and politicians and effectively delay the introduction of clean energy policy in the United States. It's no coincidence that the groups pushing this story the hardest have a long history of taking money from oil and coal companies to attack the conclusions made by climate scientists. See also: Emails Trigger Criticism of Media Performance Kevin Trenberth: Standing up for the IPCC Process Elizabeth May: An Informed Look at the East Anglia Emails Nature Weighs in on Email Controversy Senior civil servant to investigate leaked emails between climate scientists Climate change: free speech for the sceptics? | Padraig Reidy |
4th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Unsettled Science Unusually, I'm in complete agreement with a recent headline on the Wall Street Journal op-ed page: The Climate Science Isn t Settled The article below is the same mix of innuendo and misrepresentation that it's author normally writes, but the headline is correct. The WSJ seems to think that the headline is some terribly important pronouncement that in some way undercuts the scientific consensus on climate change but they are simply using an old rhetorical trick . The phrase the science is settled is associated almost 100% with contrarian comments on climate and is usually a paraphrase of what some scientists are supposed to have said. |
4th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Mikhail Gorbachev and Alexander Likhotal | Climate change Russian roulette We need to avoid a global hangover the day after the summit in Copenhagen. A breakthrough is possible, but only with sacrificesMounting scepticism and deadlocked negotiations have culminated in an announcement that the Copenhagen climate conference will not result in a comprehensive global climate deal. Disappointing? Certainly. But the summit was always meant to be a transitional step. The most important thing to consider is where we will go from here.The phrase "the day after" is most commonly associated with the word "hangover". The absence of a binding agreement could mean a global hangover, and not just for a day. |
4th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Unlucky strike Lightning storms at mid-latitudes and in the subtropics produce more nitrogen oxides (NOx) than previously thought, finds a new study. What's more, most of the NOx pollution a precursor to the greenhouse gas ozone ends up in the upper troposphere, where it has a strong influence on climate. |
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| Antarctica was climate refuge during great extinction Animals fled to Antarctica to escape global warming, suggests a fossil study " with implications for how animals may adapt to future global warming |
4th December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| TIMELINE-Carbon pledges, schemes pile up ahead of Copenhagen - AlertNet Source: Reuters Dec 3 (Reuters) - Singapore, a Southeast Asian city-state with high per-capita emissions, will head to global climate talks next week with a pledge to cut carbon pollution by 16 percent versus ... See also: Global emissions to double on current pledges-Ecofys |
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| Senate rejects Rudd climate plan Australia's Senate has voted down Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's flagship policy on climate change for a second time. See also: Why do climate deniers hold sway in Australia? | Fred Pearce |
2nd December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Guardian Environment Network: RBS: How public money went into environmentally damaging investments Treasury accused of writing a 'blank cheque' with taxpayers' money for bank to make environmentally damaging investments. From the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkThe full extent of unsustainable investments made by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) were revealed this week in a report published by a coalition of organisations.Since being bailed out by the taxpayer in October 2008, RBS has financed a host of environmentally-damaging projects, including open cast mining in Bangladesh, tar sands exploration in Canada and a heavily criticised mining company in India.The coalition of groups, including Platform and the World Development Movement said the investments paid for by the taxpayer put the UK to 'shame'.'We're paying for some of the most damaging mining and fossil fuel projects around the world,' said Julian Oram, head of policy at the World Development Movement.Sustainable investmentsThe report, 'Royal Bank of Sustainability', ... |
2nd December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate change denial is the new article of faith for the far right | Bob Ward Despite a complete lack of evidence, the leaked emails hysteria has encouraged more deniers to emerge from the shadowsIt is now 12 days since the hacked emails from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia first appeared online, and the propaganda machine for the climate change denial lobby is in overdrive.The University of East Anglia has rightly announced an independent investigation into the hacking episode. It is essential that the investigation examines, thoroughly and transparently, the substance of the email messages and establishes whether there has been any wrongdoing. From what I have seen, there is no evidence of research misconduct, but the only way to clear the air now is through an investigation.Some people have already, and predictably, taken on the role of judge, jury and executioner, and have called for Phil Jones, the director of the unit, to resign. |
2nd December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Antarctica may heat up dramatically as ozone hole repairs, warn scientists As blanket of ozone over southern pole seals up, temperatures on continent could soar by 3C, increasing sea level rise by 1.4mThe hole in the Earth's ozone layer has shielded Antarctica from the worst effects of global warming until now, according to the most comprehensive review to date of the state of the Antarctic climate. But scientists warned that as the hole closes up in the next few decades, temperatures on the continent could rise by around 3C on average, with melting ice contributing to a global sea-level increases of up to 1.4m.The western Antarctic peninsula has seen rapid ice loss as the world has warmed, but other parts of the continent have paradoxically been cooling, with a 10% increase in ice in the seas around the region in recent decades. |
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| George Monbiot v Nick Stern Two of the top thinkers on climate change explain why the most important political gathering of our time will succeed or failNicholas Stern The two defining challenges of our century are managing climate change and overcoming poverty. And if we fail on one we will fail on the other. So the world faces a stark choice at the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen.Do we collaborate and act to reach a strong political agreement that both decisively cuts the devastating risks posed by climate change, and rapidly opens up the opportunities offered by low-carbon economic growth? Do we in that way set ourselves to overcome poverty and promote prosperity? See also: Can we fix it? Perhaps, but it depends who you ask |
2nd December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate's Lost Decade Now Leads to a 'Last' Decade - US News & World Report Global CO2 emissions currently match the worst case among seven scenarios laid down in 2001 by the IPCC |
2nd December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen climate change talks must fail, says top scientist - Guardian Unlimited The scientist who convinced the world to take notice of the looming danger of global warming says it would be better for the planet and for future generations if next week's Copenhagen climate change summit ended in collapse. |
2nd December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Time to confront the invisible enemy that threatens us all - Independent You could be forgiven for thinking it's not happening " and there, in fact, is the heart of the problem. Climate change, according to one view the greatest threat that human civilisation has ever faced, may seem a particularly nebulous danger to many people who look around them and see no evidence whatsoever of it taking place. |
2nd December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Big Drop in Those Who Believe That Global Warming Is Coming - Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance NEW YORK----As President Obama prepares to head to Copenhagen next week, a new Harris Poll finds that those who believe that the release of carbon dioxide and other gases will lead to global warming has dropped from 71% two years ago to only 51% now. |
2nd December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Latest evidence - BBC News How climate science has moved on since key summit decision |
2nd December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Why Copenhagen must be the end of the beginning - Financial Times The Copenhagen summit on climate change is going to fall short. Does this matter? Yes and no: yes, because the case for action is so strong; no, because the likely agreement would be inadequate. Tackling climate change will be hard. It is crucial that we achieve the goal effectively and efficiently. |
2nd December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate e-mail hackers aimed to maximise harm to Copenhagen summit - Times Online E-mails alleged to undermine climate change science were held back for weeks after being stolen so that their release would cause maximum damage to the Copenhagen climate conference, according to a source close to the investigation of the theft. |
2nd December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate change special: Twelve days to save the world Mohammed Nasheed knows what global warming means, because he sees it every day. He survived years of imprisonment and torture to lead his country " the Maldives " to democracy. But now, as its President, he is being forced to watch as his homeland is wiped from the map. With each year that passes, the rising sea claims more land, and at the current rate it will claim everything. |
2nd December 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Email Scandal: Scientists Engaged in a Conspiracy of Science [Global Warming] - Gawker Climate change is real and man-made. Period, end of story. But recently, some emails have leaked that conclusively prove that climate scientists... are really pissed off that a well-funded industry exists that subverts and denies their work. |
30th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Glenn Beck: the renegade running the opposition to Obama - Guardian Unlimited Glenn Beck is a TV host, bestselling author and the most influential voice on the rightwing Fox channel. Now, even some Republicans worry that the extreme and maverick views of Beck and his supporters will make their party unelectable. Is the TV tail wagging the political dog? |
30th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Peak oil: fields of plenty, or are we scraping the barrel? - Guardian Unlimited Crude is still being discovered; existing fields are not being exploited to the full. So it's hard to predict the exact point at which the world's dwindling reserves will precipitate a crisis. But it's coming . |
30th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Urgent Threat to World Peace is Canada The harm this country could do in the next two weeks will outweigh all the good it has done in a century. |
30th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Peat fires drive temperatures up Peatlands, especially those in tropical regions, sequester gigantic amounts of organic carbon. Human activities are now having a considerable impact on these wetlands. For example, drainage projects, in combination with the effects of periodic droughts, can lead to large-scale fires, which release enormous amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, and thus contribute to global warming. |
30th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| I'd rather not know: the psychology of climate denial - SpaceDaily PARIS, Dec 1 (AFP) Dec 01, 2009 If the evidence is overwhelming that man-made climate change is already upon us and set to wreak planetary havoc, why do so many people refuse to believe it? |
30th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| As the World Waits on the U.S., a Sense of Déjà Vu in Denmark? Twelve years ago in Kyoto, the world was poised to act on a climate treaty but looked for a clear signal from the United States. Now, with the Copenhagen talks set to begin, the outcome once again hinges on what the U.S. is prepared to do. BY BILL MCKIBBEN |
30th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate 'time bombs' stoke scientists' fears - SpaceDaily PARIS, Nov 29 (AFP) Nov 29, 2009 Whatever the outcome of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, Nature may have some extremely nasty surprises up its sleeve, say scientists. |
30th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Less efficient natural 'cleaning' could tip global carbon balance - The Japan Times Land and sea sinks removed an average of 57 percent (or 5.3 billion tons per year) of all CO2 from human activities between 1958 and 2008, leaving 43 percent in the atmosphere where it will stay for at least several centuries. The research of professor Le Quere and her colleagues also indicates that the portion of CO2 remaining in the atmosphere may be rising. Dr. Shobhakar Dhakal, an executive director of the Global Carbon Project at Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies, says that this has occurred over the past 50 years and suggests that natural sinks are becoming "less efficient 'cleaners' of human carbon pollution." U.S. oceanographer Richard Feely, who is also part of the Global Carbon Project, says: "We're concerned that if the natural sinks can't keep pace with the increased CO2 emissions, then the physical and biological impacts of global warming will accelerate over the next century." There is disagreement among scientists about whether the capacity of Earth's biosphere to keep the global carbon budget in balance has already been exceeded. |
30th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| A Petrocollapse Timeline Since the early two thousand oughts we pessimistas have been trying to discern the shape of the backside of Mr. Hubbert's curve. John Michael Greer has made a strong case for catabolic collapse, which could be described as a stair-step down from the present peak, punctuated by precipitous drops (the 147-dollar oil spike; the Lehman default; the ARMs race) and level treads ("Green Shoots," the "Morning in America" phase we are currently hallucinating). |
28th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon offsetting 'not working' The first travel firm to offer consumer carbon offset schemes says they are a "distraction" from the urgency of climate change. |
28th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| China says to cut carbon intensity 40 to 45 percent by 2020 BEIJING (Reuters) - China will reduce its carbon intensity -- the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each unit of GDP -- 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. |
28th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Peak Everything By Gunther OstermannOur planet is but a speck in the cosmos, but its unique, and perhaps the only planet in our galaxy that harbours life, as we know it. I refrain from saying intelligent life, because the wanton destruction of our beautiful world, through stupidity, greed and senseless wars, and letting over 26 000 children die of starvation every day, is a crime that must reverberate throughout the universe |
28th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Real Scandal Over Climate Change Isn't About Hacked Emails But the Media's Coverage There's been a lot of talk recently about the "hacked climate emails." But a much bigger scandal is just waiting to break. See also Where's the data? Climategate : Too Tired To Resist ? |
28th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| China's Pledge on Carbon Emissions: Is It Enough? - Time Magazine Beijing's decision to bring targets on carbon emissions reductions to Copenhagen is hopeful, but it is important to understand what exactly Beijing is promising -- and what it's not US and China to reduce emissions, but not enough - The Star |
28th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| For Balance: Let's Have Marc Morano's emails morano.jpg The Deniersphere being alive with delight over the emails stolen from the UK Hadley Centre, my colleague Kevin Grandia has wondered aloud (see next post) about what a similar sampling of emails might look like if they were sourced from one of the most aggressive and least (climate) credible think tanks - the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Why stop there? As a stunning amount of email traffic on this issue currently seems to be coming from uberDenier Marc Morano, why doesn't the former aide to Okalahoma Senator and Republican Denier-in-Chief James Inhofe volunteer to share his correspondence? |
26th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate 'diagnosis' is stark message for politicians The Copenhagen Diagnosis argues that the environment is in a worse state than predicted as recently as 2007 and calls for drastic action |
26th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate change to hit water-scarce Arab world hard CAIRO (Reuters) - Climate change is likely to hit the water-starved Arab world harder than many other parts of the globe and threatens to slash agricultural output in the area, U.N. and Arab League officials said. |
26th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Society faces 'grim' post-fossil fuel energy crisis, report warns - Environmental Data Interactive Exchange Society faces a future energy crisis because renewable energy will not be enough to replace dwindling fossil fuel supplies, a new US study warns. |
24th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Mankind using Earth's resources at alarming rate - AFP via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News Humanity would need five Earths to produce the resources needed if everyone lived as profligately as Americans, according to a report issued Tuesday. |
24th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Greenhouse Gases Increase to Record in Atmosphere - Update1 - Bloomberg Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, the main man-made greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, increased to record concentrations in the atmosphere last year, the United Nations said. |
24th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Disagreeable truth about the coming Copenhagen charade - The Age We are about to see an advanced case of ''agreementism'' between world leaders at the Copenhagen climate change meeting. It is a painful and embarrassing disorder with familiar results. |
24th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Study: Climate change to have irreversible consequences by 2050 - Monsters and Critics.com WWF InternationalStudy: Berlin - A lack of determined action on climate change means that by 2050 global warming of more than the targeted 2 degrees celsius will have taken place, a study released in Berlin Monday said. In its 'Tipping Points' report, environmental advocacy group WWF and global insurance firm Allianz said the consequences of emissions already made would, by 2050, likely include a global sea-level rise of 0.5 metres, disrupted monsoon rain patterns, Amazon die-back, and severe drought in the south-western United States. The report's authors said that large, sudden changes would likely affect the world's climate, rather than a gradual, manageable process. The report envisaged that the value of property and assets in port cities worldwide endangered by a 0.5m rise in sea level would amount to 28 trillion dollars by mid-century. |
24th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Global warming dangers 'alarming' Leading UK scientists issue an unprecedented statement about the dangers of failing to cut greenhouse gases. |
24th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Coming Chaos It now seems to me that the systemic collapse of modern civilization will have two distinct phases. The first will be merely economic hardship, and the second will be chaos. In the first phase, the major issues will be inflation, unemployment, and the stock market. In the second phase, there will be the disappearance of government, law, and money. I am reminded of Robert D. Kaplan's Ends of the Earth. We might imagine the USA, for example, as one of the collapsed countries he describes, where official borders are meaningless, and where police, armies, and bandit hordes are indistinguishable from one another. |
24th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Are the Earth's Oceans Hitting Their Carbon Cap? - Time Magazine A new study finds that the oceans' ability to absorb man-made carbon emissions may be dwindling, at the same time the world's emissions rates show no sign of slowing |
19th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 'Kyoto forests' sow seeds for emissions surge When New Zealand's sink forests are harvested in the 2020s, as is likely, all that carbon will return to the atmosphereThe government of New Zealand responded with some irritation to my column last week, which castigated a national strategy for meeting its Kyoto climate targets by allowing greenhouse gas emissions to rise by 22% from 1990 to 2007.All was well, it said. The 600,000 hectares of forests that were planted in the 1990s would soak up all the excess CO2 " around 90m tonnes of it between 2008 and 2012. In fact, the country was likely to be ahead of its Kyoto target of stabilising emissions at 1990 levels.But back home this policy is controversial, to say the least, with many experts accusing the government of a sleight of hand. |
19th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Searching For A Miracle: Net Energy Limits And The Fate Of Industrial Society By Post Carbon Institute International Forum on Globalization The fundamental disturbing conclusion of the report is that there is little likelihood that either conventional fossil fuels or alternative energy sources can reliably be counted on to provide the amount and quality of energy that will be needed to sustain economic growth or even current levels of economic activity during the remainder of the current century |
18th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Leading article: A climate change warning we ignore at our peril Two years ago, the United Nation's International Panel on Climate Change forecast an increase in global temperatures by the end of the century of between 1.8C and 4C, depending on the success of nations in reducing their carbon emissions. But now an international team of scientists, led by Professor Corinne Le Quéré of the University of East Anglia, argues that the world is in fact on course for a 6C rise in temperature by 2100. These might sound like small numbers. But their implications could not be bigger " or more dangerous. See also: Fossil fuel CO2 emissions up by 29 percent since 2000 |
18th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen cop-out: The 'longest suicide note in history'? - Politics.co.uk via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News Procrastinating politicians are in danger of turning next month's climate change talks in Copenhagen into little more than a talking shop, a body of leading scientists and engineers has warned. |
18th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| What They Really Believe - New York Times Clean energy opponents believe global warming doesn t exist because that is the only way their arguments make sense. |
18th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Denial Industry Costs Us $500 Billion a Year toilet money.JPG The International Energy Agency (IEA) has announced in its latest World Energy Outlook that every year of delayed action to address climate change will add $500 Billion to the price tag of saving the planet. The climate denial industry should foot the bill, since they are responsible for causing the delay.In the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit, a growing number of government leaders from around the world - and even high level United Nations representatives - have suggested that an ambitious, legally binding agreement is all but impossible to achieve in Denmark this December. |
17th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Obama backs two-step plan to reach climate deal SINGAPORE (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has backed a plan by the host of next month's climate change talks in Copenhagen to seek a political deal and leave legally binding decisions for later, a U.S. official said on Sunday. See also: Copenhagen climate summit hopes fade as Obama backs postponement How to make a successful failure out of Copenhagen - Financial Times |
15th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Apec leaders drop climate target Asia-Pacific leaders say it will not be possible to reach a climate change deal ahead of the UN conference in Copenhagen. |
15th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Nuclear disposal put in doubt by recovered Swedish galleon The plan to use copper for sealing nuclear waste underground has being thrown into disarray by corrosion in artefacts from the VasaPlans for nuclear waste disposal could be thrown into confusion tomorrow at a summit because of new evidence of corrosion in materials traditionally used for burial procedures.The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) says it will keep careful watch on a meeting organised by the Swedish National Council for Nuclear Waste, which will look at potential problems with copper, designated for an important role in sealing radioactive waste underground.Concerns have risen from a most unexpected quarter. Examination of copper artefacts from the Vasa, a fifteenth-century galleon raised from Stockholm harbour, has shown a level of decay that challenges the scientific wisdom that copper corrodes only when exposed to oxygen.David Lowry, a consultant on the nuclear industry, said the latest evidence had profound implications. |
15th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ray Mears: We'll struggle to survive climate change Ray Mears is Mr Bushcraft. He wants people to be confident about surviving in the wild, but reckons most of us won't make it through a global climate crisis |
15th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Is There a Technology Resistance? The driving force behind the anthropogenic destruction of Planet Earth is locked inside our skulls. Neuroscientists are just beginning to identify the neural networks of the Technological Mind, but one thing is certain: the irresistible impulse to use tools is the product of natural selection over the last 1.5 million years, and so it is probably more deeply ingrained than even our impulse to use language. |
14th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Trading away our future in China | Kevin Gallagher The economy is suffering and the planet is warming, but Barack Obama's first visit to China is all about a trade warBarack Obama makes his first trip to China in the middle of a global financial crisis and just weeks before world leaders meet to try to strike a global climate change deal. Leadership from the US and China is imperative to solving these crises. But rather than tackle them, the two countries are mired in a good old-fashioned trade war and plan to use Obama's historic visit to negotiate an investment deal that could set the stage for more trade disputes in the decades to come.In September the US slapped heavy tariffs on Chinese tires. |
14th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| UK climate targets 'unachievable' UK government plans to make carbon emission cuts of 80% by 2050 are impossible to achieve, according to an analysis. |
14th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Rage The only way to stop global warming is for rich nations to pay for the damage they've done - or face the consequences. See also: The Seattle activists' coming of age in Cophenhagen will be very disobedient | Naomi Klein |
14th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| From hopeful climate to climate of despair by Geoffrey Lean It was less than a year ago, but everything seemed so different then. George W. Bush was still in the White House, but officials gathered at the annual international climate talks, held last December in Poznan, felt new hope in the chilly Polish air: President-elect Obama had, against many expectations, made it clear that combatting global warming was to be a priority for his incoming administration.George W. Bush may no longer be president, but America is once again seen as the bad guy in the effort to negotiate a new climate change pact. Obove, a gagged Statue of Liberty at a 2007 climate protest in Britain.jystewart via FlickrThe hope grew, if anything, in March when Obama's new climate envoy, Todd Stern, traveled to Bonn and addressed the first of this year's long series of climate negotiations. |
14th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Widespread scepticism on climate change undermines Copenhagen summit - Times Online The finding suggests that the public is unconvinced by the Government's message that climate change is the moral issue of our times and that we must embrace urgently a low-carbon lifestyle. |
14th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Choice Ahead: Entrenched Fossil Fuel Dependence Or Climate Change Management By Emily Spence Humanity needs to proactively come together to deal with climate change mitigation rather than remain separated along nationalistic lines to contentiously vie for control over the worlds remaining fossil fuels. The rationale behind such a course of action is clear. Time is running out in terms of our surpassing climate change tipping points that would drastically alter life across the entire Earth for many centuries to come |
12th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower Exclusive: The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying. The senior official claims the US has played an influential role in encouraging the watchdog to underplay the rate of decline from existing oil fields while overplaying the chances of finding new reserves. The allegations raise serious questions about the accuracy of the organisation's latest World Energy Outlook on oil demand and supply to be published tomorrow – which is used by the British and many other governments to help guide their wider energy and climate change policies. See also: Are we running out of oil? The world in energy statistics IEA says OPEC could lose in climate deal - SpaceDaily |
10th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Energy demand to rise rapidly if no CO2 deal: IEA LONDON (Reuters) - World energy consumption will rise rapidly over the next 20 years, pushing up costs and increasing greenhouse gases, unless a deal is reached to curb carbon dioxide emissions, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Tuesday. See also: Cost of extra year's climate inaction $500 billion: IEA |
10th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| We're doomed without a green religion | Andrew Brown Arguments about climate change show up the incoherence of any purely individual moralityThe justification for burning heretics was perfectly simple: dissent threatened the survival of society. Nothing was worse than anarchy. This is a viewpoint most people in the West today find pretty much incomprehensible. It is a self-evident truth to them that morality must be a matter of individual choice. And if you believe that, the arguments around the Tim Nicholson case are very difficult to resolve. If there is a moral imperative to preserve the human race, or as much of it as possible, collective consequences must follow. |
8th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Inaction on climate change comes with a huge price tag - CNews It's interesting to see the reaction to a report just released by our foundation and the Pembina Institute. The Globe and Mail called our analysis of the costs of fighting climate change unsaleable and dangerous . |
8th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Past climate of the northern Antarctic Peninsular informs global warming debate The seriousness of current global warming is underlined by a reconstruction of climate at Maxwell Bay in the South Shetland Islands of the Antarctic Peninsula over approximately the last 14,000 years, which appears to show that the current warming and widespread loss of glacial ice are unprecedented. |
8th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Civil unrest has a role in stopping climate change, says Gore Ahead of Copenhagen summit, former US vice-president says 'non-violent lawbreaking' is legitimate in persuading governments to cut emissionsAl Gore has sought to inject fresh momentum into the Copenhagen build-up, saying he is certain Barack Obama will attend and predicting a rise in civil disobedience against fossil-fuel polluters unless drastic action is taken over global warming.Amid increasing incidents of climate protesters disrupting the operations of fossil-fuel industries and airports in Britain and elsewhere, Gore suggests the scale of the emergency means non-violent lawbreaking is justified. "Civil disobedience has an honourable history, and when the urgency and moral clarity cross a certain threshold, then I think that civil disobedience is quite understandable, and it has a role to play," he says. |
8th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| We cannot fight climate with consumerism Small actions allow people to overlook the bigger ones and still claim they are being environmentally responsibleHow many times have you heard the argument that small green actions lead to bigger ones? I've heard it hundreds of times: habits that might scarcely register in their own right are still useful because they encourage people to think of themselves as green, and therefore to move on to tougher actions. A green energy expert once tried to convince me that even though rooftop micro wind turbines are useless or worse than useless in most situations, they're still worth promoting because they encourage people to think about their emissions. |
8th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Leaders 'shortsighted' over climate - Guardian Unlimited The head of the international group leading the fight against climate change has accused countries of pushing science aside in favour of self-serving "political myopia" ahead of the vital Copenhagen summit. Senior officials and negotiators are increasingly gloomy about the prospects for a global warming deal next month, with the British government admitting there is now no chance of a legally binding treaty. Speaking as officials gather in Barcelona tomorrow for a final round of negotiations, Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said: "I gave all the world's leaders a very grim view of what the science tells us and that is what should be motivating us all, but I'm afraid I don't see too much evidence of that at the current stage. "Science has been moved aside and the space has been filled up with political myopia with every country now trying to protect its own narrow short-term interests. They are afraid to have negotiations go any further because they would have to compromise on those interests." |
6th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| State of Emergency When is Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister going to appear on TV and tell it to us straight ? Climate Change is real, and it's happening now, and the sceptics, deniers, delayers and cynics are all wrong. And somebody with some kind of respect needs to be saying that, regularly, with backup, in all the media channels. It's time that scepticism, denialism, delayism and cynicism were ruled out of order. [link]environment/2009/nov/04/network-climate-change-scepticism It has almost reached the point at which Energy and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband could state that the colour red has a wavelength of about 650 nanometres and a large group would immediately rise up to contradict him. |
6th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Where countries stand on Copenhagen There are just over four weeks to go before the Copenhagen conference intended to agree a new international framework for controlling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The final round of preparatory talks in Barcelona has revealed deep divisions between some of the key participants. Use this table to study their positions. |
6th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen Is All Wrong Many people around the world are praying and crossing their fingers for some kind of Climate Change treaty to be signed at Copenhagen. Practically all the nations of the world will have their United Nations delegations in Denmark's capital this December, and many governments are hoping for a breakthrough of one sort or another on the form of words, the financial commitments and the political drive to get things done. Trouble is, the nations can promise and sign and agree all they like, but nothing will happen, because the wrong players are in the room. Let's look at the United Kingdom as an example. |
6th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Health impact of weather change 'could eclipse all pandemics' - Irish Times THE SEVERE health impacts of climate change would “eclipse all known pandemics in the 21st century”, it was claimed yesterday, with even a one degree Celsius rise in average temperatures causing a six-fold increase in mortality among respiratory patients. As shown by some 10,000 premature deaths in France alone during a heatwave in 2003, “all of the known or predicted impacts of climate change are going to lead to severe health impacts”, according to Josh Karliner, of the Health Care Without Harm network. “It is impossible to have healthy people on a sick planet”, he said at a joint launch with the Health and Environment Alliance (Heal) of their Prescription for a Healthy Planet, which calls for a “strong, binding treaty in Copenhagen that promotes a healthy climate”. |
6th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Don't let the reckless City trade carbon | Andy Atkins Just when our leaders are slapping each other on the back for rescuing us from one financial crisis, with carbon trading they are already sowing the seeds of the next – with potentially devastating consequences for our economy, the planet and millions of its poorest people. See also: Friends of the Earth attacks carbon trading |
6th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Carbon Capture Begging Bowl Colin Challen MP [Member of the United Kingdom Parliament], the author of Too Little, Too Late : The Politics of Climate Change has told the nascent Carbon Capture industry to stop bleating for funding, effectively a bailout for the Coal industry :- [link]do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=1&listcatid=32&listitemid=3178§ion=Carbon CCS industry should support itself, claims MP : Wednesday 04 November 2009 : Labour MP Colin Challen believes the CCS industry should fund itself : A Labour MP has called on the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) industry to stop giving a sob story about needing government investment and instead fund new projects itself. See also: Greenwash: Gordon Brown's green spin on carbon capture | Fred Pearce |
6th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| We have months, not years, to save world International agreements take too long, we need a swift mobilisation not seen since the second world warFor those concerned about global warming, all eyes are on December's UN climate change conference in Copenhagen. The stakes could not be higher. Almost every new report shows that the climate is changing even faster than the most dire projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in their 2007 report.Yet from my vantage point, internationally negotiated climate agreements are fast becoming obsolete for two reasons. First, since no government wants to concede too much compared with other governments, the negotiated goals for cutting carbon emissions will almost certainly be minimalist, not remotely approaching the bold cuts that are needed.And second, since it takes years to negotiate and ratify these agreements, we may simply run out of time. |
4th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| What are we really arguing about when we argue about climate change? Members of the public are drifting into the climate change sceptic camp in recent months and years. How do we stem the flow? From Carbon Commentary, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkThe phrase 'the science is settled' is regularly used by politicians arguing for meaningful action on climate change. To the majority of the world's scientists, global warming is a clear and present danger and those who deny it, or argue that its effects will limited or benign, are dangerous lunatics. Nevertheless, an increasing numbers of voters, particularly in the US and the UK, have drifted into the sceptic camp in recent months and years. |
4th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Fix climate change or else, say military top brass An international panel of military officers warns that climate change threatens global security and stability |
4th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| A politically binding climate change agreement is great... if you're a politician The biggest news coming out of the Barcelona climate talks being held this week is the re-framing of a successful climate change treaty as being one that is "politically binding" as opposed to "legally binding." With all the long hours I've been putting into to covering these climate talks, I'm sure my wife is wishing our marriage was a politically binding agreement, as opposed to a legal one. This double-speak-aganza started earlier this week with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen telling Reuters that, "it is a challenge for every single industrialised country in the world to deal with the climate change issue and that's why we are working very strongly to reach a politically binding agreement in Copenhagen..." President Rasmussen said he was optimistic that a politically binding deal could be reached in Copenhagen. |
4th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen: What's happening? - Independent See also: Instant Expert: The Copenhagen climate change summit - New Scientist Binding treaty no longer a realistic goal for climate summit, UN chief concedes - Times Online Nicholas Stern sees good chance for deal in Copenhagen Climate clock looks set for zero hour |
4th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Groups Impersonated by Big Coal Testify Before Congress bonner-logo.jpg DeSmogBlog spoke this week to one of several groups impersonated by Big Coal to block the Waxman Markey Bill, and they are not happy. Lisa Maatz, director of public policy and government relations for the American Association of University Women (AAUW) had just finished testifying before a Congressional hearing in the fraudulent letter scam: It was very clear to me that this was specifically targeting certain members using the names of reputable groups because those groups could be influential with those members, and it wasn t just a fluke, it wasn t just an accident. No doubt. |
4th November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Death Denial Why the sudden surge in climate change denial? Could it be about something else altogether? |
3rd November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The climate change game Hopes are fading that a strong treaty will emerge from next month's negotiations in Copenhagen. Researchers who study cooperation, though, aren't surprised. Mason Inman reports. See also: INTERVIEW-IEA official downbeat on Copenhagen climate talks - AlertNet Money is the key to the success of Copenhagen CLIMATE CHANGE: Jockeying for Position in Copenhagen U.N. climate talks resume as time runs out for deal Copenhagen wrangling leads to downgraded carbon price - vnunet.com |
3rd November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Leaders accused of myopia over climate deal The head of the international group leading the fight against climate change has accused countries of pushing science aside in favour of self-serving "political myopia" ahead of the vital Copenhagen summit. Senior officials and negotiators are increasingly gloomy about the prospects for a global warming deal next month, with the British government admitting there is now no chance of a legally binding treaty. Speaking as officials gather in Barcelona tomorrow for a final round of negotiations, Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said: "I gave all the world's leaders a very grim view of what the science tells us and that is what should be motivating us all, but I'm afraid I don't see too much evidence of that at the current stage. "Science has been moved aside and the space has been filled up with political myopia with every country now trying to protect its own narrow short-term interests. They are afraid to have negotiations go any further because they would have to compromise on those interests." |
3rd November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Anthropoclastic Climate Change When I published the previous article ([link]2009/10/oceans-are-coming.html )about the ever-more-dire forecasts of ocean level rise, little did I know that I was blundering into the midst of a "climate change debate." But then many readers reacted to this article by making comments to the effect that "climate change is a hoax" or that I am "just like Al Gore." Since that article reviews and attempts to interpret of some of the most authoritative, conservative and consensus-based scientific reports available, it should not have given rise to any controversy at all. |
3rd November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Everyone Should Read This Kevin Grandia of DeSmogBlog in Canada, kindly sent me a copy of the new publication Climate Cover-Up for review last week, which plopped through my letterbox, postal strike notwithstanding, on Tuesday. It took me until yesterday evening to read the whole of James Hoggan's book in snatches on the train and Tube, and it contained information about Climate Change denial that made my hair curl. Everyone should read this book. It is very Canada-centric with a mostly North American focus, yet it is highly relevant Europe-side. I recognised trends and traits in many of the strands of public commentary and policy tracks as similar, almost inherited, in the United Kingdom. |
3rd November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate crunch and Copenhagen: the fierce urgency of now - Larvatus Prodeo Back in 2003 James Hansen was saying that we had about 10 years to get ourselves organised to tackle global warming and climate change. You ignore him at your peril. |
3rd November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| An open letter to Steve Levitt Dear Mr. Levitt, The problem of global warming is so big that solving it will require creative thinking from many disciplines. Economists have much to contribute to this effort, particularly with regard to the question of how various means of putting a price on carbon emissions may alter human behavior. Some of the lines of thinking in your first book, Freakonomics, could well have had a bearing on this issue, if brought to bear on the carbon emissions problem. I have very much enjoyed and benefited from the growing collaborations between Geosciences and the Economics department here at the University of Chicago, and had hoped someday to have the pleasure of making your acquaintance. |
1st November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Police in £9m scheme to log 'domestic extremists' - Guardian Unlimited Forces gather details of single-issue protesters Activists claim monitoring has echoes of the cold war As demonstrations go, it was more of a lighthearted affair than a threat to the nation. About 600 climate change campaigners had gathered outside the Drax power station in North Yorkshire. They had chosen to demonstrate there because the huge plant is the UK's biggest emitter of carbon. The ... |
1st November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Panic at 2 a.m. - the search for multiyear Arctic ice When you re looking for shrinking packs of multiyear ice in the Arctic Ocean, bizarre things tend to happen. Top Canadian scientist David Barber knows this first hand, as he explained in a presentation in Parliament on Wednesday. Barber said that to all extents and purposes the multiyear ice in the Arctic had already vanished, which could open up the region to shipping and mineral exploitation. Barber, who holds Canada's Research Chair in Arctic System Science at the University of Manitoba, boarded the icebreaker Amundsen last month and steamed north from the Arctic port of Tuktoyaktuk to look for the Beaufort Sea pack ice, the thickest, hardest, meanest, multi year sea we have left in the northern hemisphere . |
1st November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Military budget could pay for renewables Admit it: you re just a little disturbed when industrialists, fossil-fuel lobbyists and the Liberal and National parties thunder that big, quick cuts to carbon emissions would bankrupt Australian business. Well, aren t you? |
1st November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The real cost of nuclear fuel If just one of the subsidies for nuclear power were to be withdrawn, the price of electricity from new nuclear power stations would rise to about 41 US cents per kWh, a level that would make it deeply unattractive to investors. |
1st November 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Multiyear Arctic ice is effectively gone: expert OTTAWA (Reuters) - The multiyear ice covering the Arctic Ocean has effectively vanished, a startling development that will make it easier to open up polar shipping routes, an Arctic expert said on Thursday. |
29th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Aerosols make methane more potent - Nature Air pollution linked more closely to climate concerns See also (Just in case the link goes premium): Methane's role in global warming underestimated - USA Today |
29th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Mark Fiore: What if we handled Hitler like we're dealing with climate change? [VIDEO] |
29th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Leading article: Planting the seeds of environmental disaster The typical image used to represent the process of global warming is a power station, belching out black smoke. But an equally valid image would be an oil palm sitting serenely under a tropical sky. Rainforests are being cleared across south-east Asia, West Africa and South America to make way for palm oil plantations, which produce the world's cheapest vegetable oil. Yet deforestation is one of the greatest drivers of climate change. The destruction of the planet's rainforests is responsible for 20 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, as hardwood trees that have locked up carbon for decades are felled and burned. |
28th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate change will devastate Africa, top UK scientist warns - Guardian Unlimited One of the world's most influential scientists has warned that climate change could devastate Africa, predicting an increase in catastrophic food shortages. |
28th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen Won t Be an End to Climate Talks, EU Says - Update1 - Bloomberg Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The Copenhagen climate summit in December won t be an end to international negotiations to slow global warming, the European Commission's director general for the environment said today. See also: UN admits it is planning for post-Copenhagen talks - vnunet.com |
28th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wind breakers Which farm animals are the biggest methane makers? |
28th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Forecasts for Future Oil Supplies Are Unrealistic Editor's note: the author published a version of this article elsewhere online, but revised it for Culture Change. It was originally titled "The Peak Oil Downside Will Be Steeper Than The Upside." - Jan Lundberg From many credible and highly placed sources we are today hearing about the dire energy situation that industrialized civilization faces. Industrialized countries have remained dependent on petroleum, and the destructive industrial practices that it fuels, for way too long. |
28th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The End Of Electricity By Peter GoodchildThere seems to be a consensus that the depletion of fossil fuels will follow a fairly impressive slope. What may need to be looked at more closely, however, is not the when but the what. Looking at the temporary shortages of the 1970s may give us the impression that the most serious consequence will be lineups at the pump. Fossil-fuel decline, however, will also mean the end of electricity, a far more serious matter |
27th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Deal-Breaker for Climate-Change Treaty May Be Obama's Congress - Bloomberg Deal-Breaker for Climate-Change Treaty May Be Obama's CongressBloombergYet the heart of a climate deal is to get nations to slash heat-trapping gases such as carbon dioxide that scientists blame for global warming. ...and more |
27th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Psychology is missing from climate debate Without a deeper insight into people's behaviour and motivations, a low-carbon world will remain out of reachFrom 10:10 to the government's Act On CO2 campaign, it is now widely accepted that tackling climate change will require tackling behaviour change too. But until now, a key piece has been missing from the puzzle " psychology. The study of human behaviour has been conspicuous by its absence from the climate change debate.The assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have provided the scientific evidence of human impact on the climate, and a glimpse of what the future may hold if we don't act fast. |
27th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon market will do well but may run out of time - The Malaysian Insider SINGAPORE, Oct 26 " The global carbon industry is expected to perform well this year despite the global financial crisis " but it is fast running out of time, a carbon expert said last week. What it needs is a clear signal from world leaders that there will be a firm price on carbon past the Kyoto agreement which expires in 2012, said fund manager Josh Carmody of the Asia-Pacific Carbon Fund ... |
27th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| New Nuclear Is Not A Climate Policy The rumour mill about the propsects for new Nuclear Power is quite active, a kind of underground semaphore. About a year ago, the idea that the United Kingdom would be burdened with eleven new Nuclear Power stations entered the mill and popped out all over the shop, being greeted with ridicule, dismissiveness, anger and despair. When the Energy Supply companies started going into free capital meltdown over new investments, owing to issues concerning insurance and the general Economy, there was concern that they wouldn t come along with the new Nuclear plan. The Government kept pumping out the information that we should have at least four new Nuclear Power stations. See also: Is the Climate Bill Becoming an Excuse to Promote Fossil Fuels and Nuclear Power? Nuclear energy becomes pivotal in climate debate - AP via Yahoo! News |
25th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| McKibben Versus Hedges' Clash of Worldviews: How Do We Solve the Environmental Crisis? Bill McKibben believes we must reduce our carbon emissions immediately, or else face disaster. Chris Hedges says that until we defeat corporate power, we can't address anything. |
25th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Don't call then Climate Deniers, Label them 'Pushers' of a Drug called 'Doubt' My field of speciality is a big muddy field: humankinds collective denial (by their actions) that there's any real climate problem. In this muddy field its important to remember there are two very distinct types of 'denier' animal, that you will encounter. With totally different response strategies needed. Actually "doubt pusher" may be a better name than 'denier'. Get this: Doubt is a popular feel-good drug. So what are these two types? Doubt pushers and doubt addicts. |
23rd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon Trading Is So Wrong So, the theory of Cap-and-Trade goes like this. You set an upper Cap on Carbon Dioxide Emissions. You dole out Carbon Dioxide Emissions Permits or Allowances. Or you sell them. Or you auction them. Each year the amount of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Permits gets less and less. Then a Market in Carbon will operate. Those organisations and businesses who find it easy to cut Carbon Dioxide Emissions do that. Then they trade their unused Carbon Permits or Allowances with those who find it harder to cut their emissions. This Carbon Market, according to Economic Theory, should be the most efficient, that's cost-efficient, in implementing the Carbon Cap. See also: Carbon Taxation Is So Wrong |
23rd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Agenda setting for assured aggregated destruction A good example of how the concept of agenda setting can drive process can be gleaned by following the health care issue in American politics. While the fundamental need is universal care for all citizens, the discussion has been limited to revising health insurance and ensuring that all citizens purchase it regardless of their circumstances... read more |
23rd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| American belief in global warming plummets Scepticism in the US that there is solid evidence for climate change is growing |
23rd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Public 'misled' over emissions statistics Ministers have misled the public about Britain's reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions, the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) said today. |
22nd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Arctic Scientists Launch Tour to Warn of East Coast Flooding Ahead - PRWeb via Yahoo! News As the International Day of Climate Action approaches this Saturday, Oct. 24, scientific researchers just returned from the poles have launched a tour of the U.S. |
22nd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Spirit that freed South Africa must now rescue the planet - Brisbane Times The intense debate about dealing with climate change has mostly taken place between powerful players in the rich world. |
22nd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Government launches map to highlight global warming threat A nightmare in the not-very-distant future: the map below shows the enormous temperature rises which British scientists believe the planet may be experiencing in as a little as 50 years from now if global warming remains unchecked. |
22nd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Advanced biofuels will stoke global warming: study LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new generation of biofuels, meant to be a low-carbon alternative, will on average emit more carbon dioxide than burning gasoline over the next few decades, a study published in Science found on Thursday. |
22nd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 350 PPM CO2: The Upper Limit Of Human Habitats By Andrew GliksonThe rise of atmospheric CO2 above 350 PPM at the current rate of about 2 PPM/year is transcending the conditions that allowed the development of human agriculture and civlization from about 8000 years ago |
22nd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen Is Supposed to Fail. DIY! Much passionate concern is flying around regarding the United Nations meeting on climate this December in Copenhagen. We hear it from honest activists and from politicians who sound trustworthy on this most crucial matter. An example is Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of Great Britain, who deserves a prize for eloquence in warning us of climate change. However, there is something many people have not yet learned about politicians and technofixers seeking too much continuity. |
21st October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| CANADA: Govt Threatens Tar Sands Activists with Anti-Terror Laws VANCOUVER, Oct 20 (IPS) - The provincial government in Alberta, Canada is threatening to unleash its counterterrorism plan if activists continue using civil disobedience to protest the tar sands, Canada's fastest source of greenhouse gas emissions. |
21st October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen Talks Will Yield Framework But No Treaty, UN Official Says The U.N.'s top climate official predicts that the Copenhagen talks in December may yield a political framework for future greenhouse gas reductions, but will not produce an international treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol. In an interview with the Financial Times, Yvo de Boer, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, said there does not appear to be enough time to work out the details of a binding treaty that could be signed in Copenhagen. Rather, he said the conference needs to deliver an overarching decision that sets individual targets for industrialized countries, and determines what level of emissions reductions major developing countries are willing to make by 2020. |
21st October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Why Levitt and Dubner like geo-engineering and why they are wrong Many commentators have already pointed out dozens of misquotes, misrepresentations and mistakes in the Global Cooling chapter of the new book SuperFreakonomics by Ste[ph|v]ens Levitt and Dubner (see Joe Romm (parts I, II, III, IV, Stoat, Deltoid, UCS and Paul Krugman for details. Michael Tobis has a good piece on the difference between adaptation and geo-engineering). Unfortunately, Amazon has now turned off the search inside function for this book, but you can read the relevant chapter for yourself here (via Brad DeLong). However, instead of simply listing errors already found by others, I ll focus on why this chapter was possibly written in the first place. |
20th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The ecocidal moment The climate and financial crises reveal an amnesia about the human calling. Heed Moses: choose life |
20th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wealth is a System of Concentration Wealth is not what we are taught. Wealth is not stuff; it is a fiercely protected system of concentration. Wealth is a verb, not a noun. It is the act of the hoarding, and is a key pillar of our culture. The Agricultural Revolution: The "Dominion Revolution" This system was invented by one tribe in the fertile crescent 10,000 years ago during an event called the Agricultural Revolution. |
20th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| World needs low carbon revolution by 2014 -report - AlertNet Source: Reuters By Michael Perry SYDNEY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The world has five years to start a "low carbon industrial revolution" before runaway climate change becomes almost inevitable, a new report ... |
20th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Big Question: Is an agreement on climate change in Copenhagen still on the cards? See also: U.N.'s de Boer sees no new treaty at Copenhagen: report Hopes Fade for Comprehensive Climate Treaty - International Herald Tribune |
20th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Maldives sends climate SOS with undersea cabinet MALE (Reuters) - The Maldivian president and ministers held the world's first underwater cabinet meeting on Saturday, in a symbolic cry for help over rising sea levels that threaten the tropical archipelago's existence. |
18th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Illusions on the edge of a precipice - The Age The climate crisis is not a negotiable issue and politicians must start paying attention to science. |
18th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Book: Fossil-fuel industry 'denied' climate change - Canada.com Public relations executive James Hoggan says there's no doubt that his new book is provoking some angry reactions from people with its revelations about what is shaping public opinion on global warming. |
18th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| It ll All End In Tears The UK Government's latest infommercial on Climate Change is appallingly bad. It has been aired on television for millions of unsuspecting soap opera addicts. It's yet another attempt to frame ordinary consumer-citizens for the Global Warming crisis " claiming that 40% of all emissions are down to us " the television viewer. There is a huge question here : why is it that the consumer-citizens still only have Carbon Energy provided for them ? The reason why the consumer-citizens create so much in terms of Greenhouse Gas emissions is because the Government and the Companies are still stuck in yesteryear, using dinosaur Energy supply technologies and selling us ancient sunlight transport fuel. |
18th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Obama envoy warns of 'no deal' summit Talks to save the world from the catastrophic effects of global warming may fail, President Obama's climate change envoy said last night. |
18th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Apocalypse Or Extinction? Is there any doubt we will try to kill every species on the planet, including our own, by the middle of this century? At this point, it is absolutely necessary, but probably not sufficient, to bring down the industrial economy. Its no longer merely the lives of your grandchildren were talking about. Depending on your age, its the lives of your children or you. If youre 60 or younger, its you |
17th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Arctic has potential to alter Earth's climate: Arctic land and seas account for up to 25% of world's carbon sink In a new study, ecologists estimate that Arctic lands and oceans are responsible for up to 25 percent of the global net sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Under current predictions of global warming, this Arctic sink could be diminished or reversed, potentially accelerating predicted rates of climate change. See also: Arctic to be ice-free in summer in 20 years |
17th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Naomi Klein: At least the world argued with Bush For all the global love-in, the new president has led rich nations to neglect principled action and row back from climate dealsOf all the explanations for Barack Obama's Nobel peace prize, the one that rang truest came from Nicolas Sarkozy. "It sets the seal on America's return to the heart of all the world's peoples." In other words, this was Europe's way of saying to America, "We love you again", like those weird renewal-of-vows ceremonies couples have after a rough patch.Now Europe and the US are officially reunited, it seems appropriate to consider whether this is necessarily a good thing. |
17th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Why Branson and SuperFreakonomics are wrong, in pictures by David Roberts This week, as reported by Andy Revkin, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson said something heroically, world-historically stupid: If we could come up with a geoengineering answer to this problem, then Copenhagen wouldn t be necessary. We could carry on flying our planes and driving our cars. Sir Richard was talking about removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. He's not alone. The authors of the upcoming book SuperFreakonomics also think that geoengineering is a cheap, easy way to avoid the work of fashioning a more sustainable society. (See Joe Romm for much, much more on the errors in that book.)I ve been writing too many wordy posts lately, so instead, here are some pictures. |
17th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Update of IPCC Report Says Pace of Warming Is Rapidly Increasing A review of 400 major climate studies published since the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that the world is warming more rapidly than the panel's mainstream projections and concludes that the rapid buildup of greenhouse gases has most likely committed the world to a warming of 1.4 to 4.3 degrees C " 2.5 to 7.7 degrees F " by 2100. The updated report, compiled by the United Nations Environmental Program, said events that the IPCC forecast would occur long-term are already occurring or on the verge of occurring. |
17th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Change May Mean Slower Winds - Scientific American This summer scientists published the first study that comprehensively explored the effect of climate change on wind speeds in the U.S. The report was not encouraging. Three decades worth of data seemed to point to a future where global warming lowers wind speeds enough to handicap the nascent wind industry. But the real story, like so much in climate science, is far more complex. The study of ... |
17th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Terror Act used on climate activist Terror legislation was used to stop a British climate change activist from travelling to Denmark, it has emerged. |
17th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Change: Time Is Running Out - Newsweek By R. K. Pachauri. American obstacles in Copenhagen. This December representatives from around the world will meet in Copenhagen under U.N. auspices to hammer out a new agreement for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and taking other measures to tackle climate change. The deal is expected to include a commitment by developed countries to pay for measures in developing states to adapt to the impact of climate change and to cut emissions, as well as providing them with easy access to clean technologies. If there is a deal, that is. In recent months, the prospects that states will actually agree to anything in Copenhagen are starting to look worse and worse. Although the Obama administration initially raised hopes by reengaging in the negotiation process, the U.S. Congress has since emerged as a potential spoiler. See also: Copenhagen nears but deal seems distant Carbon emissions must peak by 2015: UN climate scientist - AFP via Yahoo! News |
17th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| SCENARIOS: What "Plan B" for Copenhagen might look like (Reuters) - Negotiators are already talking about "plan B" for the Copenhagen climate talks in December, with uncertainty growing that nations will be able to agree in time on a tougher and broader U.N. climate pact. See also: Supporters say summit won't reach climate deal |
17th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| US steel-makers temper climate deal hopes Lobbying has led to Congress considering tariffs on developing nations, which could be a deal-breaker at December's climate change talks in Copenhagen |
17th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Voluntary CO2 market not netting emissions cuts LONDON (Reuters) - The market for companies choosing to offset their carbon footprints is not achieving meaningful emissions cuts yet, market players said at a carbon industry conference in London on Tuesday. |
14th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| House Committee Hearing To Investigate Coal Lobby's Fraudulent Letters to Congress The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming is holding an investigative hearing on Thursday to further probe fraudulent letters sent to Congress by the coal industry's public relations machine in an effort to derail clean energy and climate legislation. The committee, chaired by Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), has uncovered more than a dozen fraudulent letters sent to several members of Congress by Astroturf specialists Bonner & Associates, who were operating under contract for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE). Markey's committee hearing will feature some of the central figures in the controversy, including victims of the fraud. |
14th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Deep thought - Oct 13 -A Timely Reminder of the Real Limits to Growth-Liberal Education, Stewardship, and the Cosmopolitan Temptation -Decline of a tribe: and then there were five -Last Call at Descartes Bar and Grill -The Vindication of a Public Scholar |
14th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| A scary new climate study will have you saying “Oh, shit!” by Mark Hertsgaard Oh, shit. They say that everyone who finally gets it about climate change has an Oh, shit moment"an instant when the full scientific implications become clear and they suddenly realize what a horrifically dangerous situation humanity has created for itself.Listening to the speeches, ground-breaking in their way, that President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao delivered Sept. 22 at the U.N. Summit on Climate Change, I was reminded of my most recent Oh, shit moment. It came in July, courtesy of the chief climate adviser to the German government. See also: Q+A: Why should we care about a new climate agreement? |
14th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Stewart Brand’s nuclear enthusiasm falls short on facts and logic by Amory Lovins. My writings show why nuclear expansion therefore can’t deliver on its claims: it would reduce and retard climate protection, because it saves between two and 20 times less carbon per dollar, 20 to 40 times slower, than investing in efficiency and micropower.. |
14th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate doctors say 'feel the pain'... So here's the rub: if the UK has been relatively successful but is still being told it has not done enough - and told that by its own advisors, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), rather than by green campaigners - what does that say about everyone else? See also: UK 'needs step change' on climate |
13th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen May Be Half Baked, UN's Yvo De Boer Says - Bloomberg Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- This year's global climate summit in Copenhagen may be half baked unless rich nations agree to do more to cut emissions, said Yvo De Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. See also: Comprehensive climate deal still out of reach - EurActiv |
13th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate negotiators don't meet leaders' pledges: U.N. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Negotiators at global climate change talks are not delivering on promises by their leaders to clinch a deal at a key meeting in Copenhagen in December, a top U.N. environmental official said on Monday. |
13th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate change rate over next century could be higher than previously anticipated - New Kerala Washington, October 10 : In a new experiment, scientists have found that the rate of climate change over the next century could be higher than previously anticipated. |
13th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| UN climate talks split on treaty The latest round of UN climate talks in Bangkok ends with divisions between nations over the shape of a new global treaty. See also: EU's Barroso: "Very worried" about climate talks Climate Talks 'Moving Backwards' in to Grave Danger - AlertNet China says rich countries undercut climate talks - AlertNet |
11th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Russian climate goal weak as "methane bomb" ticks MARRESALE, Russia (Reuters) - The snows are late in coming on the Arctic Yamal peninsula where moist, dark permafrost entombed for 10,000 years crumbles into the sea at the top of the world. |
11th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 'Scary' climate message from past Refined measurements of past climate suggest some current political targets on CO2 are "playing with fire". |
11th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The purpose of it all The human search for meaning is a timeless theme and central to our existence. That search has led to complex religious doctrines about the afterlife and how one will be rewarded or punished during it depending on one's record in this life. It has also led to entirely humanistic interpretations of life's meaning, probably most aptly exemplified by Existentialism which very broadly states that humans by acting in the world are in the process of making their own meaning.But it is John McPhee, that fabulous writer about the geology of the United States, who has given me the insight as to what the "true" purpose of humankind is. |
11th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. May Not Make CO2-Emissions Pledge, Pershing Says - Bloomberg Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. may not agree to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in a new treaty this year because there is no domestic law setting a framework, the country's top negotiator said at United Nations climate talks in Bangkok. |
11th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Our global pyramid scheme by Lester Brown Our mismanaged world economy today has many of the characteristics of a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme takes payments from a broad base of investors and uses these to pay off returns. It creates the illusion that it is providing a highly attractive rate of return on investment as a result of savvy investment decisions when in fact these irresistibly high earnings are in part the result of consuming the asset base itself. A Ponzi scheme investment fund can last only as long as the flow of new investments is sufficient to sustain the high rates of return paid out to previous investors. |
9th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Warning over global oil 'decline' There is a "significant risk" that global production of conventional oil could "peak" and decline by 2020, a report suggests. |
9th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization by Lester Brown Lester Brown released a new book this week called Plan B 4.0, Mobilization to Save Civilization. The book is for sale, but it can also be downloaded free as a PDF. I participated in a conference call with Lester Brown, in which he talked about the book, and several of us asked questions. In this post, I will give you at least a brief introduction to the book. read more See also: Q&A: "We Can't Afford to Let the Planet Get Much Hotter" |
8th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| World Bank can’t wean itself off fossil fuel lending by Greig Aitken This week's World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings brought bedlam to the streets of Istanbul, with Turkish socialist groups and trade unions protesting the mere presence of the two institutions and Turkish police in riot gear responding with tear gas.The ongoing global economic crisis dominated the proceedings in Istanbul. But with the Copenhagen climate talks just two months away climate activists made an effort to get one issue that has been bubbling for years onto the agenda"much to the dismay of World Bank staffers.At a press conference, Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Federation in Turkey noted that the World Bank continues to invest far more in fossil fuels than in renewable energy [PDF], pointing out that from 2007 to 2009 the Bank doled out, on average, three times more public money for climate destroying fossil fuel investments than ... |
8th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon Cannot Be Costed After our Masters class on the last 600 million years of Earth Climate history, a number of the students all collected together in the student bar. One of our number pulled out a block of A4 paper on which he had written a number of probing questions. At the very top of the list : asking how one could justify the social cost of Carbon. I pulled my remember Montreal cat out of the bag. You know, the Montreal Protocol, designed to protect the Ozone layer. It was easy enough to find replacements for CFC chemicals, and easy and cheap enough to set incentives to replace CFCs, allowing the incentives to operate through a market. |
8th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Scorched earth: Wildfires will change the way we live Fires around the world remind us how impotent we are in the face of natural disaster " and go hand-in-glove with climate change, says David Bowman |
8th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| US raises stakes by refusing to include Kyoto targets in new climate agreement - Guardian Unlimited The US raised the diplomatic stakes today in talks towards a global climate change deal by spelling out in a public showdown with China its deep opposition to the existing Kyoto protocol . The US team also urged other rich countries to join it in setting up a new legal agreement which would, unlike Kyoto, force all countries to reduce emissions. |
8th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Bipartisan Report Claims Solving the Climate Crisis Depends on Tropical Forests The bipartisan Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests released an extensive report today calling on the Senate to consider tropical forest preservation as a central necessity in the climate bill in front of Congress. The group suggests that solving the climate crisis will be nearly impossible without urgent efforts to stem tropical deforestation. Ignoring this critical issue could undermine the effectiveness of any new U.S. climate policies, weaken the economy and threaten our national security in the coming decades.The report concludes that U.S. climate policies "must help address the pervasive effects of deforestation, which accounts for 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions " more than the entire global transportation sector. |
8th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Rich countries 'must slash living standards' to fight climate change Living standards in Britain and other rich countries must fall sharply over the next decade if the world is to avoid catastrophic global warming, according to a leading climate research centre. Consumption of energy-intensive goods and services should be cut and remain capped until low-carbon alternatives are available, said the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The study says that Britain's carbon dioxide emissions need to fall twice as fast as planned by the Government. It concludes that global greenhouse gas emissions are rising much faster than previously thought. It says that Britain should commit to making all energy, including for electricity, heating and cars, zero-carbon by 2025, at least 25 years earlier than planned |
7th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Challenging Incongruity of Cheap Oil Expecting or wanting oil prices to be "low or moderate" is at best incongruous, and at worst naive in the current economic, financial and political context. read more |
7th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| David Suzuki: December climate summit in Copenhagen is a crossroads - The Georgia Straight This December, our leaders will have a tremendous opportunity in Copenhagen to take the world into a new era of innovation and prosperity. However, this opportunity is born out of crisis |
7th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Q&A: Desertification and Climate Change Go Hand in Hand BUENOS AIRES, Oct 6 (Tierramérica) - "The entire social fabric of an area is compromised when soils are depleted," says Italian expert Massimo Candelori, whose fight against desertification is increasingly linked to global efforts to combat climate change. |
7th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| DEVELOPMENT: Resource Crunch Signals Larger Ecological Crisis WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (IPS) - How would development programmes look if viewed from the position of scarcity, especially the scarcity of food, water, and energy? |
6th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Why joint initiatives on climate will likely fail - The Japan Times GUATEMALA CITY " A U.N. summit on climate change at the recent U.N. General Assembly meeting was supposed to give momentum for a post-Kyoto Protocol accord to be penned in December in Copenhagen. Indeed, an announcement was made that most leaders agreed that there is an "urgent and significant need" to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But even though most participants accept a controversial claim ... |
6th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| UN: Earth will keep heating up - The New Zealand Herald Earth's temperature is likely to jump nearly 3.24C between now and the end of the century even if every country cuts greenhouse gas emissions as proposed, according to a United Nations update. |
6th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Major developing nations must peak CO2 by 2020: IEA BANGKOK/LONDON (Reuters) - Carbon emissions from a group of richer developing nations including Russia, China, Brazil and the Middle East must stop growing by 2020 to control global warming, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. |
6th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| A warming pause? The blogosphere (and not only that) has been full of the “global warming is taking a break” meme lately. Although we have discussed this topic repeatedly, it is perhaps worthwhile reiterating two key points about the alleged pause here. |
6th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| A brief history of climate change - BBC News As the UN climate summit in Copenhagen approaches, BBC News environment correspondent Richard Black traces key milestones, scientific discoveries, technical innovations and political action. |
6th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Rich nations trying to kill Kyoto pact, says China - AlertNet China and a top G77 official accused rich nations on Monday of trying to kill off the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N.'s main weapon in the fight against global warming, as nations try to craft a broader climate pact. Delegates from about 180 nations are meeting in the Thai capital trying to bridge differences over a draft negotiating text that will allow all countries to deepen efforts to slow the pace of climate change. The United Nations hopes a major climate meeting in Copenhagen in December will lead to a broader framework to expand or replace Kyoto, whose first phase ends in 2012. The talks are deadlocked on rich nations toughening their commitments to cut emissions by 2020 and climate funds to help poorer nations adapt to the impacts of climate change, invest in clean energy and how to manage those funds. "It has become self-evident and actually clear that the intention of the developed countries is to kill off the Kyoto Protocol," Lumumba D'Aping, who chairs the G77 plus China negotiating group, told reporters. |
6th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| World needs "CO2 budget" to limit warming: WWF BANGKOK (Reuters) - The world is in danger of spending its "carbon budget" by about 2025 and risks temperatures rising beyond 2 degrees Celsius unless nations adopt a flexible carbon accounting system, conservation group WWF says in a report. |
4th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Bill Not Likely Law by December, Browner Says - Bloomberg U.S. lawmakers aren't likely to enact climate-change legislation by the time countries meet in December to debate a new treaty aimed at controlling global warming, the White House's top energy adviser said. "Obviously, we'd like to be through the process, but that's not going to happen," Carol Browner said today at an event in Washington hosted by the Atlantic magazine. "I think we would all agree the likelihood that you'd have a bill signed by the president on comprehensive energy by the time we go in December is not likely." |
4th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Oilsands greenhouse gas emissions underestimated - CHCA News OTTAWA - Greenhouse gas emissions form Alberta's oilsands operations are worse than reported because oil companies and governments do not include emissions from forests destroyed in the process of developing mines, says a study released Friday. See also: Canada should put oil sands on hold: climate change expert - National Post |
4th October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Britons creating 'more emissions' - BBC News Greenhouse gas emissions created by Britons are probably twice as bad as figures suggest, says the government's new chief energy scientist. Professor David MacKay told the BBC that reductions in carbon dioxide emissions since 1990 are "an illusion". "Our energy footprint has decreased over the last few decades and that's largely because we've exported our industry," he said. |
2nd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Population - Energy Bulletin -Population Growth Steady in Recent Years -Stop blaming the poor. It's the wally yachters who are burning the planet -The coming Population Wars: a 12-bomb equation |
2nd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Hey Ya! - mal - RealClimate Interesting news this weekend. Apparently everything we ve done in our entire careers is a MASSIVE lie (sic) because all of radiative physics, climate history, the instrumental record, modeling and satellite observations turn out to be based on 12 trees in an obscure part of Siberia. Who knew? Indeed, according to both the National Review and the Daily Telegraph (and who would not trust these sources?), even Al Gore's use of the stair lift in An Inconvenient Truth was done to highlight cherry-picked tree rings, instead of what everyone thought was the rise in CO2 concentrations in the last 200 years. |
2nd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Global warming: the failure of capitalism - Sydney Morning Herald Because it does not address the anti-human profit system itself Copenhagen will be a "piece of fakery from beginning to end; it is a deception from beginning to end; it is a lie from beginning to end". It was Rosa Luxemburg who many years ago wrote that the choice for humanity was socialism or barbarism. Global warming is bringing barbarism closer and closer. Only a democratic and planned society based on production for human need can address the environmental threat challenging our survival as a species. As capitalism slides further and further into the abyss of global warming, the greater the need for socialism becomes. |
2nd October 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| ENVIRONMENT: Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilisation? WASHINGTON, Sep 29 (IPS) - In early 2008, Saudi Arabia announced that, after being self-sufficient in wheat for over 20 years, the non-replenishable aquifer it had been pumping for irrigation was largely depleted. See also: Climate change will hit developing world harvests hardest - Nature |
30th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Common environments, Diggers, and Climate Campers Thoughts on the relationship between food issues, rural movements, and Climate Camps. To be more specific: this post mainly compares the distinct focuses and limitations of the Diggers' movement toward agricultural autonomy, and the Climate Campers' rallies and interventions against coal plants, airport expansion projects, and other commercially-driven operations. read more |
30th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 'Catastrophic warming in our lifetimes' Study says 4C rise in temperature could happen by 2060 Increase could threaten water supply of half world populationUnchecked global warming could bring a severe temperature rise of 4C within many people's lifetimes, according to a new report for the British government that significantly raises the stakes over climate change.The study, prepared for the Department of Energy and Climate Change by scientists at the Met Office, challenges the assumption that severe warming will be a threat only for future generations, and warns that a catastrophic 4C rise in temperature could happen by 2060 without strong action on emissions.Officials from 190 countries gather today in Bangkok to continue negotiations on a new deal to tackle global warming, which they aim to secure at United Nations talks in December in Copenhagen. See also: The Four Degrees No rainforest, no monsoon: get ready for a warmer world |
30th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Climate illiterate" U.S. seen risking warming inaction OXFORD, England (Reuters) - U.S. wavering on climate commitment could undermine action to save the planet, the director of Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said on the sidelines of a conference on Monday. |
30th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Cassandras of Climate - New York Times New York TimesCassandras of ClimateNew York Times... event can be attributed to global warming. The point, however, is that climate change will make events like that Australian dust storm much more common. ...and more |
30th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Life altering planetary experience - CNews Insurance companies, politicians, and businesspeople often use the expressions natural disaster or act of God to deflect responsibility for events beyond our control. Today, human activity and technology have become so powerful that we are contributing to what were once natural disasters. |
30th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Two meter sea level rise unstoppable: experts OXFORD, England (Reuters) - A rise of at least two meters in the world's sea levels is now almost unstoppable, experts told a climate conference at Oxford University on Tuesday. [The key words are "after temperatures stabilized". - and how is that going to happen?] See also: Sea level rise could lead to 'ghost states' |
30th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| On Cathedrals, Dreams and Climate What do cathedrals and climate policy have in common? |
30th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Post-human Earth: How the planet will recover from us If our civilisation collapses, what will happen to the planet itself? The best way to work that out might be like is to look back at the Earth's past See also: Let's Talk Paleoclimatology |
30th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prepping the world for climate failure: Barack Obama plays down the need to finalise a deal on climate change - Guardian Unlimited Barack Obama has talked down the importance of sealing a global deal on climate change before the end of the year, world leaders said yesterday. Obama's comments, made in private talks at the G20 summit, downplay the need to reach a strong deal at UN talks in Copenhagen in December and contradict the United Nations and others, who have billed the meeting as a crucial moment for the world to avoid catastrophic global warming. The president did win a partial victory on his signature climate issue at this G20 summit – removing fossil fuel subsidies – but there was no headway on the much bigger issue of climate finance, which Obama had taken up as his issue at the last G20. UN climate summit: Sea change needed at Copenhagen - Telegraph.co.uk So the system is failing. Cumbersome at the best of times, UN procedures seem unable to bear the weight of an issue as important, urgent, and complicated as climate change. Negotiators insist on giving no ground until the very last minute, usually in the early hours after the talks were supposed to have ended, just before their eviction from the building to make way for the next booking (on one occasion, I remember, an underwear exhibition). But a new climate deal would be too complex to be cobbled together like that. Hence last week's climate summit, designed to break the deadlock by getting national leaders involved. It was designed intelligently, minimising formal speeches (no 94-minute rants from Colonel Gaddafi) and treating the leaders like human beings, hard though this might be in some cases. So they spent most of the time in small groups, mixing rich and poor countries, the polluters with their victims. The leaders of the highest emitting nations had dinner with those from low-lying island states due to disappear as sea levels rise. Whether this succeeded in engaging the leaders' commitment will become clear in the next few weeks, but nothing less has a chance of energising the negotiations. And once involved they will need to stay so. Nicolas Sarkozy suggests another summit in November, Gordon Brown wants leaders to go to Copenhagen (and says he is ready to go himself). Both will probably be needed if any sort of worthwhile agreement is to be reached. The issue is far too big to be left to the negotiators – or even to the environment ministers who usually have to strike the deal in the end. Only national leaders have the authority to take the decisions, which will determine the shape of economies as well as the environment and could usher in a new era of growth. If they don't, we could be looking at not so much a comma, as a full stop. Chile warns UN of potential failure of climate change talks in Copenhagen - Témoignages.re Affluent countries must agree to quantifiable cuts in greenhouse gas emissions that are far deeper than previously pledged, or the upcoming global talks on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark, will be a failure, Chile's leader warned the General Assembly yesterday. Climate talks resume in Bangkok with deal in doubt (AP) -- Two years ago, governments from around the world came together on the island of Bali and agreed to urgently rein in the heat-trapping gases blamed for deadly heat waves, melting glaciers and rising seas. Rudd promotes climate failure at UN More and more people accept that we need emergency action to achieve a safe climate. The Copenhagen Summit in December will be a dramatic opportunity for governments to show whether or not they are prepared to be part of the solution. See also: Rudd Urges Free Trade, Carbon Caps for World Growth - Bloomberg |
27th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Read this Book, Watch these Charts Climate Cover-Up Actually the World is warming! GISS Surface Temperature Analysis |
27th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| G20 Summit Outcome: Pembina Reacts - with a wince Clare Demerse, Associate Director of the Pembina Institute's climate change program, made the following statement in response to the climate change portions of today's G20 declaration: "Unfortunately, today's G20 declaration did virtually nothing to advance the UN climate talks on the make-or-break issue of financial support to help poorer countries tackle climate change.With less than 90 days before negotiations on a new global agreement are scheduled to wrap up in Copenhagen, acknowledging the importance of climate finance isn't enough. Developed countries like Canada must now offer real plans to provide their fair share -- something that their leaders failed to do this week in Pittsburgh.<!--break-->While the EU and the US have at least started to 'do their homework' on climate financing, Canada has not yet given any indication of how much new public funding ... See also: Global summit sets new direction, but misses chance for climate fix - McClatchy Newspapers via Yahoo! News |
27th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Nearly 70 percent of Argentine forests lost in a century Argentina has lost nearly 70 percent of its forests in a century, the Environmental Secretariat said at a UN conference on desertification. |
27th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Unusual Arctic Warmth, Tropical Wetness Likely Cause for Methane Increase - NOAA Unusually high temperatures in the Arctic and heavy rains in the tropics likely drove a global increase in atmospheric methane in 2007 and 2008 after a decade of near-zero growth, according to a new study. Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, albeit a distant second. |
25th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| China to rely on coal 'for long time': Beijing official - AFP via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News China will continue to rely on coal for most of its energy needs "for a long time", a senior official said on Friday, just days after President Hu Jintao pledged action on its greenhouse gas emissions. |
25th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| ENERGY: Trees: Out of the Forest and Into the Oven UXBRIDGE, Canada, Sep 24 (Tierramérica) - Millions of trees, especially from the developing countries of the South, are being shipped to Europe and burned in giant furnaces to meet "green energy" requirements that are supposed to combat climate change. See also: Is Africa's charcoal trade worsening climate change? |
25th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| CLIMATE CHANGE: Time Running Out on Vows to Act, Scientists Warn COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sep 24 (IPS) - Promises are easy to make. But promises by world leaders will not halt the heat-trapping carbon emissions that are dialing-up global temperatures and altering the climate, say critics and climate researchers meeting in this U.S. Midwestern city. |
25th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen summit: leading polluters US and China undercut hopes of substantial pollution cuts Has the UN climate summit in New York just set the stage for disappointment in Copenhagen? |
25th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Recession barely dents 'eco-debt' The global recession has barely dented the trend to over consumption according to an independent think-tank. |
25th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| We Are Thrillingly Close - And Sickeningly Far - From a Climate Deal We are at the same time thrillingly close and sickeningly far from solving our planetary fever |
23rd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Copenhagen Climate Talks: Why They May Fail - Newsweek The path to Copenhagen looks rockier than ever. See also: Omens are worsening for Copenhagen climate talks |
23rd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Provocative New Study Warns of Crossing Planetary Boundaries The Earth has nine biophysical thresholds beyond which it cannot be pushed without disastrous consequences, the authors of a new paper in the journal Nature report. Ominously, these scientists say, we have already moved past three of these tipping points. See also: Nature - Planetary Boundaries |
23rd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Era Of Xtreme Energy By Michael T. KlareWe are going to enter an age of Xtreme energy and the last-ditch efforts to keep our world on its normal course are likely to devastate the environment, accelerate climate change, inflict widespread pain, and create global conflict. Its not a pretty picture |
23rd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Are We Living in 'The Age of Stupid'? A scorching film on climate looks back from 2055 and isn't happy. |
23rd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Professor Kevin Anderson: Point of no return The importance of the international climate summit to be held in Copenhagen later this year cannot be over- emphasised; 2009 is literally a make-or-break year in terms of climate-change negotiations. After almost two decades of increasingly heated debate on how to tackle climate change, and notwithstanding the current recession, emissions of global greenhouse gases from energy use, agriculture, deforestation and industrial processes are rising at a faster rate now than they have done throughout our history. As we enter the second decade of this new millennium, the international community is faced with a very clear and stark choice ... |
23rd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| UN climate summit: Key quotes - BBC News Key statements made by leaders attending the UN climate change conference in New York. See also: Chinese Greenhouse-Gas Pledge Lacks Numerical Goals - Update2 - Bloomberg Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- China pledged for the first time to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions in proportion to economic growth in a new effort to fight global warming that lacked numerical goals. Climate summit yields no progress on CO2 targets - EurActiv Despite hopes that China would unveil targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions and break the deadlock in global climate talks, President Hu Jintao told a United Nations summit that Beijing will put a "notable" brake on the country's soaring carbon emissions. Current Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions Pledges Leave Climate Targets In The Red, Analysis Finds - Science Daily Total greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions currently proposed by industrialized countries fall short of the pathway to reaching a 2 degree target as referred to by the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol negotiating group, despite the fact that the cost of meeting these pledges is much lower than anticipated, according to a study released today. Action pledges at UN climate summit met by skepticism - SpaceDaily UNITED NATIONS, Sept 22 (AFP) Sep 22, 2009 Environmental activists Tuesday cautiously welcomed pledges made at a climate change summit here, but remained skeptical that key powers can bridge differences before crunch Copenhagen talks. |
23rd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The environment and the economy - Stephanomics Is the economic downturn going to save the planet? Most of the fall in global CO2 emissions expected this year - the largest in at least 40 years - is due to the global recession. But the more sophisticated greens I spoke to at the start of this year were excited about the crisis for a different reason. If emissions fall as a result of plunging output, then they will go right back up again, if and when the global economy recovers. No, the reason these greens thought the crisis could be the best thing that ever happened to the environment was fiscal. The argument was that cleaning up the banks and reviving the economy was going to do such damage to governments' public finances, politicians would have no choice but to start taxing carbon. I always thought this made a lot of sense. See also: Recession and policies cut carbon |
22nd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Week: Raise Your Hopes; Lower Your Expectations Hugh Jackman.jpg "Don't make the best the enemy of the good." - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair Climate Week has launched in New York City with contradictory calls to be optimistic about UN climate negotiations culminating in Copenhagen in December, but to keep our expectations low about the strength of any ultimate deal. The actual "festivities" are all married to what UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called "the largest climate change summit in history." One hundred world leaders are scheduled to gather at the United Nations tomorrow, not likely to further any negotiating positions, but to add their weight to the appearance of a global consensus that climate action - overdue - is on the way. |
22nd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| China's climate policy shift - BBC News The BBC's Shirong Chen looks at how China's climate policy is changing, as President Hu Jintao prepares to address the UN. See also: Now China lays down challenge to Obama on climate |
22nd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| US Reluctance on Climate Change Persists - New York Times “It is suggested that the U.S. Senate may not, after all, deal with the climate change issue until next year, when the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen is over and the delegates have gone home,” Mr. Bruton said. “If this were to happen, it would open the United States to the charge that it does not take its international commitments seriously and that these commitments will always take second place to domestic politics.” Mr. Bruton added: “Is the U.S. Senate really expecting all the other countries to make a serious effort on climate change at the Copenhagen Conference in the absence of a clear commitment from the United States?” |
21st September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| EU's Barroso warns climate talks in dangerous state WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.N. climate change talks are "dangerously close to deadlock," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will warn on Monday, kicking off a week that could prove critical for efforts to halt global warming. |
21st September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Fair carbon means no carbon for rich countries If safe levels of global emissions were allocated by population, many developed nations would face almost immediate carbon bankruptcy |
21st September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate myths: Any cooling disproves global warming In fact, even if the world does cool over the next few years as some predict, it in no way undermines the certainty about long-term warming due to greenhouse gas emissions |
21st September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| China scientist stays cool over 2C rise - Guardian Unlimited It is too early to determine the level of meteorological risk posed by global warming, says the director-general of the Beijing Climate Centre A 2C rise in global temperatures will not necessarily result in the calamity predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), China's most senior climatologist has told the Guardian. See also: Carbon intensity in focus as China's Hu heads to U.N. [...is this a hint that we shouldn't expect too much from the Chinese?] |
21st September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| SOUTH ASIA: Disunity Hovers over a Region Battling Climate Change KATHMANDU, Sep 20 (IPS) - As the Copenhagen Conference on climate change draws nearer, South Asia, which appears poised for severe threats from the impacts of climate change, faces a stiff challenge on two fronts. |
20th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| United States: The great success of a carbon trading failure It happened in Europe earlier this year for the second time. And now it has happened again. |
20th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| CBS’s Declan McCullagh promotes another false CEI attack on clean energy reform by Brad Johnson Cross-posted from Wonk Room. According to Declan McCullagh, a libertarian blogger who works for CBS Interactive, secret Obama administration documents reveal that the cost of clean energy cap-and-trade legislation would be $1,761 per household despite official estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Energy Information Administration of about a postage stamp a day. Based on Treasury Department documents acquired by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), McCullagh claims that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent ... See also: U.S. climate bill could cut GDP 3.5 percent by 2050 |
19th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Giles Slade: Methane Seeps Into the UN - The Huffington Post Pure methane gas is now bubbling up from underwater vents across our polar regions and escaping into the atmosphere where it adds to global-warming. |
19th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Coal - Sept 17 - Energy Bulletin -World Bank spends billions on coal-fired power stations -EPA moves to block W.Va.'s largest mining permit -"The Coal Nightmare" read more |
18th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Developing countries and global warming A bad climate for development - Economist TreehuggerDeveloping countries and global warming A bad climate for developmentEconomistCounting the cost of global warming is hard because no one really knows how much to attribute to climate change and how much to other factors. ...Poorer Countries Hardest Hit by Climate ChangeVoice of AmericaOp-Ed Contributor The Ice Is MeltingNew York TimesClimate change threat for developing nationsBusiness StandardBNET -Air Options -Treehuggerall 49 |
18th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Contraception vital in climate change fight: expert LONDON (Reuters) - Contraception advice is crucial to poor countries' battle with climate change, and policy makers are failing their people if they continue to shy away from the issue, a leading family planning expert said on Friday. See also: POPULATION: Where's Family Planning on Climate Change Radar? Population - Energy Bulletin Sept 17 |
18th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sceptics seize on climate cooling model Research suggesting that global temperatures may fall is being used by deniers and sceptics to dismiss the entire canon of climate scienceCould it be true that global temperatures will fall before they rise? That's the thrust of a presentation at last week's World Climate conference. Mojib Latif of Kiel University in Germany suggested that cooling caused by natural factors could suppress global temperatures for several years, after which they will start to rise again.His presentation, first reported by the eagle-eyed Fred Pearce in the New Scientist, has been seized upon by sceptics and deniers all over the blogosphere. It was picked up this morning by the BBC's Today programme, which invited my old friend Philip Stott (who spends his time championing such dubious productions as The Great Global Warming Swindle and Michael Crichton's State of Fear) to raise questions about the global warming thesis.Professor Latif suggested ... |
17th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Global warming may bring tsunami and quakes: scientists LONDON (Reuters) - Quakes, volcanic eruptions, giant landslides and tsunamis may become more frequent as global warming changes the earth's crust, scientists said on Wednesday. |
17th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Q&A: "Climate Change Reinforcing Political Problems" UNITED NATIONS, Sep 16 (IPS) - The negative fallout from climate change, including drought, floods, melting glaciers, mass migration, and sea level rise, is being increasingly viewed as a potential security threat to nation states worldwide. |
17th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese adviser: 2C target unrealistic China's emissions unlikely to fall low enough because 2C target 'does not provide room for developing countries'Don't expect China to keep global warming below 2C, a senior government adviser warned in Beijing today at the launch of an influential report on the nation's prospects for low-carbon growth.Even in a best-case scenario with massive investment in solar energy and carbon capture technology, Dai Yande, deputy chief of the Energy Research Institute, said China's emissions were unlikely to fall low enough to remain below the temperature goal recommended by the G8 and European Union. His prediction will alarm those governments and scientists who warn that a rise more than 2C risks disastrous consequences in terms of food security, migration, sea-level rises and extreme weather events."You should not target China to fulfill the two degree target. |
17th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Economic case flawed, figures show Critics say the new figures show the government's support for the new runway is a 'sham' and have demanded that plans to expand the airport are scrappedThe economic benefits of expanding Heathrow airport will almost entirely be wiped out by the increased costs to the environment, a new analysis shows.The government's own figures suggest that ministers have underestimated by several billion pounds the financial impact of the extra greenhouse gases produced by a third runway at the airport. |
17th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| US and Europe clash over Copenhagen deal Exclusive: Key differences between the US and Europe could undermine a new worldwide treaty on global warming to replace Kyoto, sources sayEurope has clashed with the US Obama administration over climate change in a potentially damaging split that comes ahead of crucial political negotiations on a new global deal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.The Guardian understands that key differences have emerged between the US and Europe over the structure of a new worldwide treaty on global warming. Sources on the European side say the US approach could undermine the new treaty and weaken the world's ability to cut carbon emissions.The treaty will be negotiated in December at a UN meeting in Copenhagen and is widely billed as the last chance to save the planet from a temperature rise of 2C or higher, which the EU considers dangerous."If we end up with a weaker framework with less stringent ... |
16th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| If Obama doesn't win, our planet is doomed One year on, the world still looks to the US and holds its breath. The fate of a global climate treaty rests in American handsAnyone who cares about the survival of our planet should start praying that Barack Obama gets his way on reforming US healthcare. That probably sounds hyperbolic, if not mildly deranged: even those who are adamant that 45 million uninsured Americans deserve basic medical cover would not claim that the future of the earth depends on it. But think again.Next week, world leaders will attend the first UN summit dedicated entirely to climate change. Their aim will be to plunge a shot of adrenaline into stuttering efforts to draw up a new global agreement on carbon emissions. |
16th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| China think-tank bleak on global climate goal BEIJING (Reuters) - An international goal to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius appears unreachable even if China embarks on a vast effort to tame its growing greenhouse gas emissions, a Beijing think-tank has said. |
16th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| DEVELOPMENT: NGOs Question World Bank's Clean Energy Roadmap WASHINGTON, Sep 15 (IPS) - The World Bank's 2010 World Development Report (WDR), released Tuesday, calls on the developed world to lead global efforts to cut carbon emissions, but some civil society groups remain highly sceptical of the bank's role in brokering climate finance. |
16th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. CO2 Emissions Plan Depends on Unlikely Offsets - Bloomberg Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The cap-and-trade bill for greenhouse gases that passed the U.S. House June 26 depends on an unlikely supply of cheap carbon credits from developing countries, the National Commission on Energy Policy said today. |
16th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| China May Need Extra $249 Billion Low Carbon Spending in 2050 - Bloomberg Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, may have to spend an additional 1.7 trillion yuan ($249 billion) in 2050 to shift the country to a low-carbon model of economic growth. See also: FACTBOX-China think-tank energy, CO2 scenarios - AlertNet |
16th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Doctors warn on climate failure Failure to agree a new UN climate deal in December will usher in a "global health catastrophe", according to medical leaders. |
16th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| EU researcher: World needs geo-renovating rather than geo-engineering - EurActiv People should not meddle with Earth's complex climate system by experimenting with futuristic geo-engineering options, but softer approaches have the potential to relieve the planet's climate woes, Frank Raes, head of the climate change unit at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, told EurActiv in an interview. |
15th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Answers Come There None As the Plimer affair shows, climate change deniers are all leaf and no plums |
15th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Time To Decide What Matters Editor's note: the author has just come out with his excellent book Time's Up!, joining the Chelsea Green stable of works on sustainability. How important do you think humans are? For millennia we have been taught that human beings have a vital almost divine role in the Great Chain of Being, and to look around the cities where most of us now live you could indeed be forgiven for thinking that we are ecologically dominant, if not vital to the functioning of life on Earth: I think it's about time this was put into some kind of perspective. |
15th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Better world: Find out if we can cool the planet We need to do our homework rather than simply assume geoengineering can stave off disaster |
12th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| UK climate scepticism spreads The British public has become more sceptical about climate change over the last five years, according to a survey. |
12th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Emission impossible? - The New Statesman Would Ed Miliband swap the life of a leading cabinet minister for that of a street activist? There was a revealing moment in New Delhi at the start of this month when he said in an aside that he sometimes had the "fantasy" of doing so. |
12th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| "Dramatic" rise in renewables needed for 2 Celsius goal OSLO (Reuters) - The share of renewable energy will have to rise "dramatically" if the world is to have a chance of limiting global warming to a maximum 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) temperature rise, a leading expert said Wednesday. |
10th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Gwynne Dyer: Emissions must be cut or developing world will pay - The Georgia Straight If the Copenhagen climate summit in December does not make a serious start at getting climate change under control, neo-fascist rhetoric may become mainstream rhetoric in Europe in 20 years time. |
10th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Inside India's Intransigence on Climate Change Talks - Time Magazine If you ask India's climate change negotiators, the December summit in Copenhagen will be not about how to save the planet, but how to accommodate the rights and aspirations of millions of Indians |
10th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Civil Disobedience Against False Climate Bill Press release: MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE TO DEFEAT "FALSE" CLIMATE BILL. (Sept. 8, 2009) Climate SOS, a grassroots network of environmentalists, scientists, and social justice activists, is launching a nationwide car-free tour |
10th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Is the government up for the challenge? - Guardian Unlimited Comment On 15 July, the same day the government set out its ambitious plans for climate-changing emissions reductions, TV broadcasts featured the imminent closure of one of the UK's few wind-turbine manufacturing facilities. Owned by Denmark-based Vestas, the closure of the Isle of Wight turbine blade plant was a tragic blow to the firm's 625 employees. It was also symbolic of the setbacks that ... |
10th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Right Wing Attack Machine Behind the Van Jones Affair You probably won't be surprised when I tell you that Glenn Beck wasn't the mastermind behind the campaign to remove Van Jones from his position as a special advisor to the White House Council on Environmental Quality... that would be giving Beck way too much credit. Turns out that the attack was orchestrated by a fringe group of free-marketeers called the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) who describe themselves as "grassroots leaders who engage citizens in the name of limited government and free markets on the local, state and federal levels." You can read a complete backgrounder on AFP here. |
10th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Behaving badly Green concerns mean totems such as GDP have to go |
8th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Last chance to change our behaviour - BBC News Despite a growing awareness of the damage humans are doing to the planet, we still refuse to radically changes our behaviour. |
8th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 'Real danger' climate change deal attempt could fail Efforts to secure a new global deal to tackle climate change hang in the balance, with a "real danger" they could fail, Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned today. |
8th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate change: no Eden, no apocalypse Rather than placing ourselves in a "fight" against climate change, or lament a lost Eden, we should take the chance to rethink how we live, says Mike Hulme |
8th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate change: melting ice will trigger wave of natural disasters - Guardian Unlimited Scientists at a London conference next week will warn of earthquakes, avalanches and volcanic eruptions as the atmosphere heats up and geology is altered. Even Britain could face being struck by tsunamis |
6th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The planet-saver that's still just a pipe dream - Sydney Morning Herald THERE may be a few forced smiles when Martin Ferguson dishes out $2.4 billion in funding for a handful of "flagship" carbon capture and storage projects (CCS), intended to clean up carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power stations. See also: Clean Coal in China Said to Face Staggering Costs - Bloomberg |
6th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Has runaway Arctic warming already begun? Rapid ice-loss may spread climate havoc across the globe in the coming decades, says a new WWF report, but some claim it understates the danger |
5th September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wearing thermals won't save the planet Why is the 10:10 campaign, with its pledges to turn off lights and grow more veg, taken more seriously than geo-engineering?It never ceases to amaze me that people who say we can "save the planet" by wearing a jumper or growing our own veg are treated with the utmost seriousness, while those who argue that tackling climate change might require some larger-scale projects such as geo-engineering the Earth are treated as sci-fi freaks who should stick to reading Philip K Dick novels and stop polluting public debate with their insane ideas.When it comes to climate change, the only acceptable debate, it seems, is how we can encourage ordinary people to do less, consume less and fly less. See also: 10:10 vision for the future of planet Earth - Guardian Unlimited |
2nd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Earth experiment could buy precious time - BBC News Cloud whitening must be tested, if we are to find out what options we have in the fight against global warming. |
2nd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Everybody Dance Now ! Dancing with Bicycles. Whenever you hear government ministers or public figures telling the people that technology will save us, remember this : the word technology is synonymous with the word business . Technology is Big Engineering, and this is what is done by large companies and corporations. Large organisations that make profit by selling manufactured products and Energy always have a surplus set aside for their communications budgets, and that includes persuading government people that their business is invaluable and needs promoting. Of course the Big Organisations want to save themselves from Climageddon more than they want to save the planet. |
2nd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sea levels could rise more than a meter by 2100: WWF GENEVA (Reuters) - The world's seas could rise by more than a meter (3 feet) by 2100 as the melting Arctic has an impact on weather across the planet, the environmental group WWW said in a report on Wednesday. See also: On thinning Arctic ice, U.N.'s Ban urges climate deal |
2nd September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| We're pumping out CO2 to the point of no return. It's time to alter course Scientists now say peak temperatures will not fall back. Join me in taking the 10:10 pledge – it's the best shot we've got left. See also: The beauty of 10:10 is that it's both achievable and meaningful |
1st September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| If you’re not worried about melting permafrost, you should be If we lost just 1 percent of the carbon in permafrost today, we d be close to a year s contributions from industrial sources. I don t think policymakers have woken up to this. It s not in their risk assessments. Permafrost expert Chris Burn of Carleton Universiy See also: Identifying Arctic Methane s Climate Risk Factors - redOrbit Our best guess about global warming may be wrong - The Christian Science Monitor |
1st September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Astroturf attack on democracy is intentional - and should be illegal adfero-logo.jpg Adfero and Bonner's actions are planned and deliberate You can't convict someone of a crime unless you can prove that the accused was acting with intent - that they did what they did on purpose. By that standard, Astroturfing specialists at the Washington, D.C., PR firms Adfero Group and Bonner & Associates have demonstrated that they are guilty, even if what they are doing is - at this point - not technically a crime. It should be. Because the Astroturfers are subverting democracy. By their own description, the firms are holding the U.S. democratic system up for sale. |
1st September 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Richard Black Hijacks Debate Environmentalism has trudged a long, winding, often silent road, with many cul-de-sacs of defeat, desperation and despair. In the last few years there has been a raising of the collective consciousness about how many problems are interrelated with an obscure corner of gas chemistry, which offers grave prospects for the whole of Life on Earth. Ecologists and treehuggers of all varieties have started to gather round the camp fire of Climate Change, finding that people will pay attention to the destruction of Nature if they pay attention to their own fate first. A new unity has been forged, centred around the most important problem ... |
29th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate hijack - BBC News Has climate change taken over the green agenda? |
27th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Methane seepage heightens pressure for climate treaty - EurActiv Evidence that methane, a dangerous greenhouse gas, is escaping from the warming Arctic seabed makes securing a new international agreement to slash global-warming gas emissions even more urgent, scientists warn. |
27th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate protection 'to cost more' Protecting societies against impacts of climate change will be much more expensive than the UN believes, a study concludes. |
27th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Perfect storm Will water, energy and food run low worldwide in 2030? |
25th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Plimer's homework assignment - RealClimate Some of you may be aware of George Monbiot s so-far-unsuccessful attempt to pin down Ian Plimer on his ridiculous compendium of non-science. In response to Monbiot s request for explanation and sources for some of Plimer s more bizarre claims, Plimer has responded with a homework assignment that is clearly beyond even his (claimed) prowess. This is quite transparently a device to avoid dealing with Monbiot s questions and is designed to lead to an argument along the lines of Monbiot can t answer these questions and so knows nothing about the science (and by the way, please don t notice that I can t cite any sources for my nonsense or even acknowledge that I can t answer these questions either) . |
25th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Tipping elements remain a 'hot' issue (PhysOrg.com) -- Research published by climate scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) has been named one of the most highly-cited in its field in the last two years. |
25th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. needs climate law before Copenhagen: officials WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States needs to have a climate change law in place before international talks on a climate pact begin in December, two top Obama administration officials said on Monday. |
25th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| A Dow Jones For Climate: The Case for a Warming Index If a cap-and-trade bill passes Congress this year, it may include weak emissions targets and will likely need to be strengthened in the years to come. One way to guide future policy: create a Global Climate Change Index that could be used to track global warming s impacts. BY DANIEL R. ABBASI |
25th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Are Climate Deniers Crazy? Because the end of the world has never happened before, it s understandable many people have a hard time wrapping their heads around the potential apocalyptic consequences of climate change. Floods, famines, mass-migrations it might be a little too Old Testament for many folks to want to think about. But what about climate deniers? Those people who don't react with honest skepticism or debate, but vitriol and spleen-venting anger? Psychologist Linda Buzzell was wondering the same thing. In an interesting post last week on Huffington, she tried to plum the depths of why some people can t seem to have a civilized conversation about climate science. |
25th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The fallacy of climate activism by Adam D. Sacks In the 20 years since we climate activists began our work in earnest, the state of the climate has become dramatically worse, and the change is accelerating this despite all of our best efforts. Clearly something is deeply wrong with this picture. What is it that we do not yet know? What do we have to think and do differently to arrive at urgently different outcomes?[1] The answers lie not with science, but with culture. Climate activists are obsessed with greenhouse-gas emissions and concentrations. Since global climate disruption is an effect of greenhouse gases, and a disastrous one, this is understandable. |
24th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Minister met BAA chief before Climate Camp to discuss tactics Activists say memos point to culture of collusion Whitehall worked with 'key parties' on 2007 eventA government minister met the chief executive of the UK's largest airport owner in private to discuss how to "limit" the impact of climate change protests directed against the firm, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.Jim Fitzpatrick, then a transport minister, met the head of BAA a week before Climate Camp protesters held peaceful demonstrations at Heathrow airport.At the time Fitzpatrick was receiving regular "situation reports" about the protesters. In one, he was told: "It is thought that key members of the camp are getting more frustrated as things are not going as they would have liked. |
24th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Early farming methods caused climate change, say researchers - Guardian Unlimited Farmers thousands of years ago cleared land by burning forests and moved to a new area once the yields declined, say scientists Farmers who used "slash and burn" methods of clearing forests to grow crops thousands of years ago could have increased carbon dioxide levels enough to change the climate, researchers claimed today. The US scientists believe that small populations released carbon ... |
24th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Gas seeps from Arctic sea-bed The powerful greenhouse gas methane is escaping from the sea bed off Norway as the ice it is trapped in melts, scientists say. |
21st August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| US congress inquiry reveals fake letters from 'voters' opposed to climate bill Bonner Associates, lobbyists hired to campaign against climate change bill, admit letters sent by sacked employeeDon't blame it on granny. A US congressional inquiry has found more than a dozen forged letters to members of Congress purportedly from voters opposed to a climate change bill including a number from old people's homes.The house select committee on energy independence and global warming now says it has confirmed 13 fake letters to members of Congress apparently from old people's centres and Latino and African-American groups opposing climate change legislation.The committee is still investigating 45 other letters sent by the lobbying firm Bonner Associates, which was hired to campaign against the climate change bill. |
21st August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Is there any point in fighting to stave off industrial apocalypse? The collapse of civilisation will bring us a saner world, says Paul Kingsnorth. No, counters George Monbiot we can't let billions perishDear GeorgeOn the desk in front of me is a set of graphs. The horizontal axis of each represents the years 1750 to 2000. The graphs show, variously, population levels, CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, exploitation of fisheries, destruction of tropical forests, paper consumption, number of motor vehicles, water use, the rate of species extinction and the totality of the human economy's gross domestic product.What grips me about these graphs (and graphs don't usually grip me) is that though they all show very different things, they have an almost identical shape. |
21st August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Bjørn Lomborg : Climate Joker In his own, special, blond, way, I feel Bjørn Lomborg is as dangerous as Martin Durkin. They both act like incarnations of The Climate Joker in my view, showing different capricious sides to the destructive force of mankind s inhumanity to man (and beast and tree). Martin Durkin directs documentaries and films apparently claiming the authority to speak about Nature and Climate, without any basis in reality. It seems he tries to usurp the public mind, and it is alleged he has a barely-hidden agenda of destroying confidence in Science (and the United Nations). He is in my opinion an arch-propagandist without wide-ranging knowledge, and without an accurate comprehension of what he attempts to speak to. See aslo: Cheap Climate-Change Fix Needed, Lomborg Center Says - Bloomberg |
15th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Lobbyists Overwhelming Washington A total of 1,150 different companies and advocacy organizations have participated so far this year in lobbying Congres on climate change, an increase of more than 30 per cent this year alone. According to records compiled by the Center for Public Integrity, energy interests and heavy industry led the charge, with agri-business coming in with a huge new push to protect or promote the (highly debatable) benefits of biofuels. The Centre for Public Integrity couldn't attach a dollar figure to the over all lobbying effort, but the Associated Press had already reported that oil and gas lobbyists had spent $44.5 million in lobbying in the first quarter alone - a rate of spending that will shatter last year's record-breaking annual total of $129 million. |
15th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate Disobedience Is on the Rise and It's Not Just for Radical Activists Anymore An emerging movement is determined to use direct action to combat the depredations of climate change and they've got some big names on board. |
15th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Oil lobby to fund phoney campaign against US climate change strategy Email from American Petroleum Institute outlines plan to create appearance of public opposition to Obama's climate and energy reformThe US oil and gas lobby are planning to stage public events to give the appearance of a groundswell of public opinion against legislation that is key to Barack Obama's climate change strategy, according to campaigners.A key lobbying group will bankroll and organise 20 ''energy citizen'' rallies in 20 states. In an email obtained by Greenpeace, Jack Gerard, the president of the American Petroleum Institute (API), outlined what he called a "sensitive" plan to stage events during the August congressional recess to put a "human face" on opposition to climate and energy reform.After the clamour over healthcare, the memo raises the possibility of a new round of protests against a key Obama issue."Our goal is to energise people and show them that they are not alone," ... |
15th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Australia emissions plan rejected - BBC News Australia's Senate votes down a plan to introduce a carbon trading scheme to cut greenhouse gas emissions. See also: Australia government faces "day of reckoning" on carbon plans The defeat of Australia’s climate plan doesn’t bode ill for cap-and-trade |
13th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Axis of Climate Change Who will be the next Enemy of The States ? This week, the Pentagon have bested their Climate Change report of 2004 (The Hague flooded by 2007, yeah, right) with yet another hard-hitting doom-laden warning. And it looks like the new enemy will be any people from any country afflicted by Climate Change. The world's poor, in other words. See also: Climate Change: Get Smarter: Turbocharging Democracy Online |
13th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| A civilizational tipping point by Lester Brown. In recent years there has been a growing concern over thresholds, or tipping points, in nature. For example, scientists worry about when the shrinking population of an endangered species will fall to a point from which it cannot recover. Marine biologists are concerned about the point where overfishing will trigger the collapse of a fishery. We know there were social tipping points in earlier civilizations, points at which they were overwhelmed by the forces threatening them. For instance, at some point the irrigation-related salt buildup in their soil overwhelmed the capacity of the Sumerians to deal with it. |
13th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Gas-guzzling cars top US 'cash for clunkers' trade-ins SUVs and pick-up trucks make up 83% of the 316,189 cars that have been traded under the schemeAre Americans really over their love of big, gas-guzzling automobiles? Not entirely, but there is a chill coming on, as 83% of the top trade-ins under the Obama administration's "cash for clunkers" scheme have been SUVs or pick-up trucks.The two-week-old scheme to boost auto sales has been popular, with 316,189 cars worth $1,326m (£802m) turned in as of 7am today. Statistics provided by the Department of Transport suggest that Americans are now fleeing from SUVs, which reached their peak in popularity in the middle of this decade.Six of the top 10 trade-ins were SUVs, with two mini-vans and two pick-up trucks rounding off the list. |
13th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Is it time to start worrying about Copenhagen? The gap between rich nations and emerging economies over carbon emissions targets is beginning to look unbridgable. From BusinessGreen.com, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkI am starting to get very worried.This week, another round of the UN's climate change talks gets underway in Bonn, Germany and once again all the key factions look as far from reaching a meaningful agreement on carbon emissions targets as they ever were.It is far too early to give up hope on a deal being reached, particularly given that any exercise in international diplomacy is always characterised by the kind of posturing and brinkmanship we can expect to see again over the next five days. |
13th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| UN chief warns of dire future without climate deal - Reuters SEOUL, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Failure to act quickly on climate change could eventually lead to violence and mass unrest as global weather patterns drastically change, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday. "If we fail to act, climate change will intensify droughts, floods and other natural disasters," Ban said at a forum near Seoul that came weeks ahead of his own conference on climate change in September. "Water shortages will affect hundreds of millions of people. Malnutrition will engulf large parts of the developing world. Tensions will worsen. Social unrest -- even violence -- could follow," Ban said according to a prepared text of his remarks to a global environment forum in Incheon, west of Seoul. |
12th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate models confirm more moisture in atmosphere attributed to humans (PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to using climate models to assess the causes of the increased amount of moisture in the atmosphere, it doesn't much matter if one model is better than the other. See also: Climate Acceleration and Critical Mass |
12th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ozone depletion reduces CO2 uptake of Southern Ocean - New Kerala Washington, August 9 : In a new research, scientists have determined that depletion in the ozone layer is reducing the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake of the Southern Ocean. |
12th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The limits of today’s electric car technology We will likely ship a billion new cars worldwide in the next 15 or so years. The key question is not whether hybrid or EV cars/batteries will be successful financially (they probably will), but rather what it will take to get 80% of these billion cars to be low-carbon cars. |
12th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| US military engages climate change US military experts have warned that 'climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed terrorist movements or destabilise entire regions'. Lock and load, says Shanta Barley |
12th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Cloud Ships. Yes, But Geoengineering. Sounds great. Treat the Earth like one big motoring machine, get under the hood (bonnet) and tinker with it. But what if actually this is the equivalent of putting the Planet on a life support system ventilator, and the plug could be pulled at any time ? How sustainable are some of the Geoengineering proposals ? Are they guaranteed to work ? Won t they have knock-on side-effects ? Are they reversible if they prove unhelpful ? And how much will they cost ? Attempts to seed clouds have been going on for decades, for the express purpose of creating rain, but this is perhaps the first time this mechanism has been seriously suggested as a way to slow down Global Warming. |
12th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| World Forum: Cut CO2 80% by 2020, not 2050 - redOrbit Greenhouse gases must be cut 80 percent by 2020, not by 2050 |
7th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Arctic Ocean may be polluted soup by 2070 Without drastic cuts in emissions, the Transpolar Drift, one of the Arctic's most powerful currents and a key disperser of pollutants, is likely to disappear because of global warming |
7th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Psychological barriers hobble climate action WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Psychological barriers like uncertainty, mistrust and denial keep most Americans from acting to fight climate change, a task force of the American Psychological Association said on Wednesday. |
7th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Oil Supplies Are Running Out Fast The first detailed assessment of more than 800 oil fields in the world, covering three quarters of global reserves, has found that most of the biggest fields have already peaked and that the rate of decline in oil production is now running at nearly twice the pace as calculated just two years ago. On top of this, there is a problem of chronic under-investment by oil-producing countries, a feature that is set to result in an oil crunch within the next five years which will jeopardise any hope of a recovery from the present global economic recession |
7th August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Govts 'know climate strategy won't work' - Sydney Morning Herald An international pledge to peg global warming to two degrees is a pipe dream, and most governments know it, says an Australian researcher. |
1st August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| GERMANY: Nuclear Power Fails, And Nobody Notices BERLIN, Jul 31 (IPS) - Seven German nuclear plants have failed to generate any electricity this month due to technical breakdowns. They have about half the production capacity of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors, but Germany did not suffer any power shortages. |
1st August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| We Have Forgotten How Real Political Change Happens When you are just one person sitting on a warming planet, how should you react? |
30th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Arctic tundra hotter, boosts global warming: expert - Reuters OTTAWA (Reuters) - Regions of Arctic tundra around the world are heating up very rapidly, releasing more greenhouse gases than predicted and boosting the process of global warming, a leading expert said on Wednesday. |
30th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| World will warm faster than predicted in next five years, study warns - Guardian New estimate based on the forthcoming upturn in solar activity and El Niño southern oscillation cycles is expected to silence global warming scepticsThe world faces a new period of record-breaking temperatures as the sun's activity increases, leading the planet to heat up significantly faster than scientists had predicted over the next five years, according to a new study.The hottest year on record was 1998, and the relatively cool years since have led to some global-warming sceptics claiming that temperatures have levelled off or started to decline. However, the new research firmly rejects that argument.The work is the first to assess the combined impact on global temperature of four factors ... |
30th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Boiling The Frog: Nuclear Optimism Hides True Costs Till It's Too Late There is a well-known story about how to boil a frog. If you try to throw a frog into a pot already boiling, he'll jump out. However, put a frog into a pot and slowly raise the temperature - and you get frog legs for dinner. read more |
30th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Clouds in climate 'vicious cycle' - BBC Low-level clouds dissipate as the ocean warms, causing a positive feedback in global warming, research suggests. |
27th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The big switch A low-carbon future will only happen with real leadership See also: The Low Carbon Transition #1 : It s Gonna Cost Ya |
21st July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Serious About Green Jobs? It's Time to Throw 'Free Trade' out the Window If we want a greener world and green jobs for our citizens, we have to ditch the 'free-trade' ideal -- markets on their own won't do it. See also: China wind turbine makers blow over foreign rivals - vnunet.com |
21st July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| India Refuses to Bend to Obama Pressure on Carbon Emission Caps - Bloomberg July 20 (Bloomberg) -- India won t bend to demands from the Obama administration or threats from the U.S. Congress to adopt legally binding caps on its carbon emissions, the country s environment minister told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday. |
19th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The big question In 1883 renown Yale professor William Graham Sumner examined the question of what the social classes owe to each other. Sumner was a classical liberal--what we might call a conservative today if only we could find a real one--and his answer to this question can be summarized in one word: Nothing.In 2009 in the grip of advancing climate change and rapidly depleting resources we are confronted with a more radical question: What do the generations owe to each other? The easy answer is to copy Sumner's. And, some people have. (Scroll down to Sam Vaknin and expand his essay.) But given that most people have offspring, we can expect that their sympathies might extend to their children and grandchildren, but not much beyond. |
19th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon emissions trading system 'seriously flawed' - Guardian The system of trading carbon emissions at the heart of the ambitious low-carbon plan announced by the government last week is seriously flawed and close to becoming irrelevant, according to researchers behind a new analysis. So-called "hot air" carbon credits – those which do not result in any actual emissions cuts – could be so numerous that companies covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme would not have to make any cuts to their own emissions until 2015, says the report from climate campaign group, Sandbag. The hot air permits result from the over-allocation of emissions allowances and from those going unused as the recession cuts economic activity. The ETS covers 50% of the UK and EU's carbon emissions, mainly in the energy, cement, steel, glass and manufacturing sectors. Companies in these sectors are allocated allowances for the carbon they emit, with the total number shrinking over time, theoretically forcing companies to buy additional permits to pollute if they do not cut their emissions. |
19th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| G8 CO2 Pledge Falls Short Of Climate Change Needs - IPCC Chief - Nasdaq PARIS (AFP)--The head of the U.N.'s panel of climate-change experts said Friday he was encouraged by climate pledges at last week's G8 summit but warned commitments still fell short of what was required by science. See also: Trapping Carbon Dioxide Or Switching To Nuclear Power Not Enough To Solve Global Warming Problem |
17th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. should pay for carbon content of imported goods: Locke SHANGHAI (Reuters) - To address the serious threat of global warming, Americans should be required to "pay" for the carbon content of goods they consume from countries around the world, a top U.S. official said on Friday. |
17th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Mystery methane belched out by megacities A study of the greenhouse gases from the Los Angeles metropolitan region finds a large amount of methane, which had been previously unaccounted for |
17th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon dioxide forcing alone insufficient to explain Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum warming - Nature The PalaeoceneEocene Thermal Maximum (about 55 Myr ago) represents a possible analogue for the future and thus may provide insight into climate system sensitivity and feedbacks1, 2. The key feature of this event is the release of a large mass of 13C-depleted carbon into the carbon reservoirs at the Earth's surface, although the source remains an open issue3, 4. Concurrently, global surface temperatures rose by 59 C within a few thousand years5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Here we use published palaeorecords of deep-sea carbonate dissolution10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and stable carbon isotope composition10, 15, 16, 17 along with a carbon cycle model to constrain the initial carbon pulse to a magnitude of 3,000 Pg C or less, with an isotopic composition lighter than -50permil. As a result, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increased during the main event by less than about 70% compared with pre-event levels. At accepted values for the climate sensitivity to a doubling of the atmospheric CO2 concentration1, this rise in CO2 can explain only between 1 and 3.5 °C of the warming inferred from proxy records. We conclude that in addition to direct CO2 forcing, other processes and/or feedbacks that are hitherto unknown must have caused a substantial portion of the warming during the PalaeoceneEocene Thermal Maximum. Once these processes have been identified, their potential effect on future climate change needs to be taken into account. See also: Mystery mechanism drove global warming 55 million years ago - AFP via Yahoo! News |
14th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Spectator Is Hot for Global Warming Denial - Huffington Post If there is any credit due to the monstrous legacy of Britain's Margaret Thatcher it is that she -- with her background in science -- always accepted the reality of man-made global warming. The British Conservative Party never took the route of denial that Republicans in the U.S or the Liberal Party in Australia followed. The same cannot be said, alas, for Britain's predominantly right-wing press which has given a great deal of space to Global Warming time-wasting as it once did to denying the link between HIV and AIDS. This week, the Spectator (a bit like a British counterpart to the National Review) has a front page splash: "Relax: Global Warming is All a Myth" with James Delingpole interviewing Australian denier, Ian Pilmer, publicising his new book. Global warming denial is not a set of scientific ideas -- it's a collection of bogus factoids which have a zombie-like ability to keep returning to life, seeking new brains to feed on no matter how many times they are shot down. |
14th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pulling Yourself Off the Ground By Your Whiskers - Monbiot Here is the simple mathematical reason why large scale carbon offsets can t work |
14th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Gwynne Dyer: At the G8 Summit, two cheers for two degrees - Georgia Straight This is how the human race does business. What the G8 Summit in Italy decided to do about climate change last week was much less than is necessary, but the very best that a realist could have hoped for. Some tens of millions of people will probably die as a result, or some hundreds of millions if we are really unlucky. But there is still time to avoid the worst. And anyway, it can't be helped: this is the way we do business. If we are lucky, some early disasters that don't kill too many people will frighten the world's countries into accepting tougher cuts in emissions while there is still time to avoid the worst, but this is the best that we are going to get for now. So two cheers for the two-degree limit. See also: 80 Percent of What ? |
14th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Spot The Fatal Flaw #1 : Oil From Algae But, you’ve guessed it from the title of this post, there is a fatal flaw, and it flows from that little mention of “a large source of carbon dioxide”. You see, the birth and growth and death rates of algae in normal atmospheric concentrations of Carbon Dioxide are unlikely to yield more than a trickle of car juice. So more dense flows of CO2 are required. If this method of making liquid fuels takes off and dominates the vehicle fuel market in the future, it would force us to continue to burn Coal and refine Petroleum to create the kind of quantities of Carbon Dioxide-rich gas that the process needs. Put it another way : algal oil will be used as a justification for Coal-fired power plants. “Ah”, the CEOs will say, “algal oil sucks up all that CO2 to make fuel. What a wonderful way to sequester it !” And the driving public will be bowled over. But what will happen when the fuel is burned ? Why, naturally, all that Carbon Dioxide will be released into the air once more. What an omission about emissions ! Yes, algal oil would give us more Energy per tonne of Carbon Dioxide emitted. It will give us a greater Carbon “intensity”, doing more with less, but it won’t halt emissions and it won’t reduce them. |
14th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The planet's future: Climate change 'will cause civilisation to collapse' - Independent An effort on the scale of the Apollo mission that sent men to the Moon is needed if humanity is to have a fighting chance of surviving the ravages of climate change. The stakes are high, as, without sustainable growth, "billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse". |
12th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| G8 Failure Means Climate Genocide For Developing World - Counter Currents By Dr Gideon Polya The grossly inadequate response of the G8 nations is effectively a statement of climate racism and a declaration of prospective climate genocide |
12th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| George Monbiot's Troll Problem - and Ours - DeSmogBlog monbiot.jpg George Monbiot has a great article this week citing DeSmog Blog, regarding the vexing issue of trolls . Not the kind that live under bridges, but those faceless cyberspace monikers that pop up frequently in comment sections of blogs likes this one, to repetitively froth away against the climate science. Are these real people? Or are they operatives in the employ of Big Oil s PR campaign to confuse the public on climate science? Paul S? Phlogiston? I m talking to you. It seems that Monbiot has same problem that we do. On the Guardian website, a small minority of anonymous skeptics often dominate the discussion by regurgitating talking points from well-known climate deniers. |
11th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The New Energy Bill May Create a 'Super Lobby' of Powerful Opposition - Alternet If we don't act now to strengthen the bill, it could create a "super lobby" that will diminish the possibility of achieving future reforms. |
11th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| G8 action without China and India would be pointless - Guardian Developing countries will not surrender trump card for a handshake they want hard cash and firm commitmentsWith barely five months until make-or-break climate talks in Copenhagen, where the world will attempt to agree a new treaty on climate change, how significant are the G8 announcements?Headline writers have drooled over the "historic" agreement to limit the global temperature rise to 2C, to cut world emissions 50% by 2050, and for the G8 to reduce its own pollution 80% by that date.The numbers may sound reassuringly low, large and colossal, respectively, but there is significant political sleight of hand at play here. See also: Full text: Energy and climate declaration - BBC News CLIMATE CHANGE: G8 Declares a Lack of Promise G8 leaders: still around to keep 2050 climate promises? |
10th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Big Question: Will it really be possible to meet the G8's climate change targets? - Independent Why are we asking this now? Because the leaders of the rich countries, at their meeting in Italy, have just made a great headline-grabbing pledge to cut their emissions of carbon dioxide, in the fight against climate change, by 80 per cent by 2050. See also: The last 20% - David Hone |
10th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Overheated by clean energy - Salon.com As the debate over the Waxman-Markey climate bill rages on, Harvard's top environmental economist sheds some light See also: Obama's drive for climate change bill hits delay |
10th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Survey Shows Gap Between Scientists and the Public - New York Times When it comes to climate change, the teaching of evolution and the state of the nation's research enterprise, there is a large gap between what scientists think and the views of ordinary Americans, a new survey has found. |
10th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| G-8 Failure Reflects US Failure on Climate Change - Huffington Post The fact is that the climate course set by Waxman-Markey is a disaster course. Their bill is an astoundingly inefficient way to get a tiny reduction of emissions. It's less than worthless, because it will delay by at least a decade starting on a path that is fundamentally sound from the standpoints of both economics and climate preservation. Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, who died this week, suffered for 40 years -- as did our country -- from his failure to turn back from a failed policy. As grave as the blunders of the Vietnam War were, the consequences of a failed climate policy will be more severe by orders of magnitude. With the Senate debate over climate now beginning, there is still time to turn back from cap-and-trade and toward fee-and-dividend. We need to start now. Without political leadership creating a truly viable policy like a carbon fee, not only won't we get meaningful climate legislation through the Senate, we won't be able to create the concerted approach we need globally to prevent catastrophic climate change. |
9th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ban criticises G8 climate efforts - BBC UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon criticises G8 nations for not going far enough to combat climate change. |
9th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate targets around the world - BBC News The BBC looks at the targets countries and supra-national bodies have already set on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. |
9th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Major nations drop goal of halving C02 - Independent Major nations have failed to agree to set a goal halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to a draft document ahead of talks tomorrow - a setback to efforts to secure a new UN climate pact. |
8th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Reith lectures: Of markets and morality - Guardian Unlimited If exposing public goods to market forces changes the way that people feel about them, the implications could be profound. Carbon-trading markets, for instance, are designed to encourage the outsourcing of pollution control to places where it is cheapest to do. That should help save the planet. But if the by-product of the western wheeling and dealing in such markets is to encourage the belief that the climate's health is another commodity - rather than something for which we all bear moral responsibility - then these markets could defeat themselves. Cost-benefit analysis - which governments use to mimic the judgment of markets in contexts where no markets exist - can also have nasty results. When bureaucracies price things which should not be priced - endangered species, future generations or even individual lives - they start trading them off against other objectives, instead of appreciating their absolute obligations. |
8th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Green expert sees red over UK climate pledges - Reuters Professor Sir David King, the British government's former top scientific adviser, is no stranger to controversy. He ruffled feathers on both sides of the Atlantic in 2004 when he described climate change as a more serious threat to the world than terrorism. Earlier this year, he said the Iraq war may come to be seen as the world first s resource war , based on oil rather than weapons of mass destruction. Now the South African-born academic risks putting more politicians' noses out of joint. In a speech in Oxford this week, King accused Gordon Brown of talking tough on climate change, but failing to follow his words up with action, mainly due to a lack of public money. |
8th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| I Am Not A Campaigner - Jo Abbess As a bright-eyed Gospel-touting young person from a God-fearing Bible-bashing breast-beating Protestant Evangelical Christian family, one-time members of a troubled sect, I was drawn to the victim narrative of the Aid and Development agencies. Those poor people in those dirt-poor countries with their cripplingly poor lifestyles. I needed to be a Campaigner, I reasoned. I needed to tell the World, make some converts to the Poverty and Development cause, draw some attention, create some devotion, raise some cash, raise some banners, wave some placards, get some pledges signed. Not realising that this kind of missionary zeal marked me out as a complete lunatic, I applied to a Famous Development Agency for a job. |
8th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| G8 emissions pledge is 'scientifically illiterate' - New Scientist This week, world leaders are expected to pledge to halve global emissions by 2050, but Fred Pearce argues that the science is moving faster |
7th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Emerging El Nino set to drive up carbon emissions - Reuters via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News Across the globe an emerging El Nino weather pattern threatens to cause droughts and floods and trigger a spike in planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from burning forests. |
7th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| New climate strategy: track the world's wealthiest - Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - To fairly divide the climate change fight between rich and poor, a new study suggests basing targets for emission cuts on the number of wealthy people, who are also the biggest greenhouse gas emitters, in a country. |
7th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Subsidising the Climate Crash - Monbiot Why have government agencies been paying to increase the number of flights? Demand for new routes and airports comes not from passengers but unelected, unaccountable development agenciesHere's an odd thing. Air travel to and from the United Kingdom has plummeted. Several small airlines have gone bust; British Airways has deployed its landing gear. In some respects, according to the industry, this descent could be permanent. Yet the government is still planning to double the capacity of our airports by 2030.Between the first quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, the number of people using airports in the UK fell by 6.4 million, or 13%. Convinced that its estimates for the growth of demand were wrong, the airport operator BAA has delayed its plans for a second runway at Stansted. |
7th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Climate Imperative - Counter Currents By Rajendra Kumar Pachauri Today, international action on climate change is urgent and essential. Indeed, there can no longer be any debate about the need to act, because the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), of which I am chairman, has established climate change as an unequivocal reality beyond scientific doubt |
7th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Gore says climate deal needs more public pressure - Reuters OXFORD (Reuters) - Public awareness about the "catastrophe" of climate change is not high enough to pressure politicians into taking action, former Vice President Al Gore said on Tuesday. See also: Al Gore: climate change battle like that against Nazis - Times Online |
7th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Raising the Climatic Stakes - Risk & Insurance This summer's climate change bill increases the chances that insureds will face environmentally based enforcement and civil actions sooner rather than later. See also: Are pension funds ignoring climate risk? |
6th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Gavin Schmidt: a climatologist trying to give out the right signals amid the noise - Guardian Leading Nasa climate scientist says increasing the level of noise is a useful political tactic in interview in The Edge magazineAnyone who follows the climate change debate closely will no doubt have come across Gavin Schmidt and the website he co-founded called RealClimate.org during their online meanderings. Schmidt is a British climatologist and climate modeller based at the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and he says that he helped to establish RealClimate.org to try to "provide context and background on climate science issues that are often missing in popular media coverage". As you can imagine, he's a busy man.Schmidt features in this week's edition of The Edge as the latest interviewee in the online magazine's Third Culture series. |
6th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| US plans for a carbon tax on imports from countries without their own emission caps - India Daily America wants a carbon tax on imports from countries without their own emission caps. India disagree. China has trhreatened a global trade war. The greenhouse gases are major components of global warming. The western world is reeling under economic depression. |
5th July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Great American Bubble Machine - Rolling Stone Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression. |
3rd July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| CLIMATE CHANGE: Opportunity For Biopirates? - IPS NEW DELHI, Jul 2 (IPS) - Genetically modified (GM) crops that can withstand environmental stress may be one answer to climate change but a powerful lobby is building up against the patenting of technologies involved, especially when they are derivatives of traditional farmers innovations. |
3rd July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Drax protesters found guilty of obstructing coal train - Guardian Climate change protesters who ambushed and hijacked a power station coal train failed to convince a jury today that their actions were justified by the "imminent threat" of devastation from global warming. The 22 men and women, including a senior university lecturer, teachers and film-makers, were convicted - after less than two hours of deliberation - of obstructing the service carrying 42,000 tonnes of coal to Drax in North Yorkshire last June. Their hopes of repeating the "Kingsnorth Six" judgment last September, when activists who defaced a power station chimney were acquitted by a Kent jury, were dashed by a judge, who refused to admit arguments that the hijack was "necessary and proportionate to prevent the greater crime of carbon pollution". |
3rd July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sea level rise: It's worse than we thought - New Scientist As more and more ice slides into the ocean, sea levels are rising faster and faster but just how high will they get? |
2nd July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| ExxonMobil 'continuing to fund climate sceptic groups' - Guardian The world's largest oil company is continuing to fund lobby groups that question the reality of global warming, despite a public pledge to cut support for such climate change denial, a new analysis shows. Company records show that ExxonMobil handed over hundreds of thousands of pounds to such lobby groups in 2008. These include the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) in Dallas, Texas, which received $75,000 (£45,500), and the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC, which received $50,000. |
2nd July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Permafrost melting a growing climate threat - Reuters SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The amount of carbon locked away in frozen soils in the far Northern Hemisphere is double previous estimates and rapid melting could accelerate global warming, a study released on Wednesday says. |
1st July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Drax protest trial judge blocks climate change talk - Guardian Defendant tries to address court on dangers of global warming but is told jury not concerned with motivesClimate change campaigners on trial for hijacking a coal train on its way to the Drax power station in North Yorkshire were stymied three times this morning in their attempts to address a jury on the dangers of global warming.Judge Spencer repeatedly warned Paul Chatterton, a Leeds University lecturer who is leading the defence of 22 activists, that the jury was concerned only with whether they had stopped and boarded the train and not with their reasons for doing so.The defendants, aged between 21 and 43, have pleaded not guilty to obstructing a railway engine contrary to the Malicious Damage Act of 1861. |
1st July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Betraying the Planet - New York Times Climate change poses a clear and present danger to our way of life. How can anyone justify failing to act? |
30th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Is the United States drifting toward "war socialism"? - Resource Insights Jay Hansen is a well-known voice on issues of peak oil and sustainability. A systems analyst by trade, he established one of the first web sites (dieoff.org) to discuss these issues in depth in the mid-1990s. His latest web venture is a site called War Socialism on which he proposes a form of governance which he believes will be the only viable one in the coming age of scarcity.By discussing Hansen's views I am not endorsing them. But Hansen is no lightweight. He has thought very deeply about our ecological predicament. He has tried to square what he knows about human behavior with what he believes needs to be done in the world we now face. |
30th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Climate war could kill nearly all of us, leaving survivors in the Stone Age - Guardian We need a climate change 'Churchill' to lead us away from planet-wide devastation, writes James Lovelock in the latest edition of Conservation magazine, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkIn a small way, the plight of the British in 1940 resembles the state of the civilized world now. At that time we had had nearly a decade of the well-intentioned but quite wrong belief that peace was all that mattered. The followers of the peace lobbies of the 1930s resembled the environmentalist movements now; their intentions were more than good but wholly inappropriate for the war that was about to start. |
30th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Lens effect of pollution sways climate change - UC Newsroom Particulates, atmospheric soot combine chemically to absorb solar energy, increase global warming. |
30th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Brazil's Lula signs Amazon bill - BBC Brazil's president approves a controversial bill allowing Amazon farmers to acquire an area of public land larger than France. |
28th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Bubkes - Realclimate Some parts of the blogosphere, headed up by CEI ("CO2: They call it pollution, we call it life!"), are all a-twitter over an apparently "suppressed" document that supposedly undermines the EPA Endangerment finding about human emissions of carbon dioxide and a basket of other greenhouse gases. Well a draft of this "suppressed" document has been released and we can now all read this allegedly devastating critique of the EPA science. Let's take a look First off the authors of the submission; Alan Carlin is an economist and John Davidson is an ex-member of the Carter administration Council of Environmental Quality. |
28th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Miliband: 2020 is year of no return for emissions - Independent The world's emissions of the greenhouse gases causing global warming should peak in 2020 and then start to decline, the British Government is proposing in the run-up to the global climate conference taking place at Copenhagen in December. |
26th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Another day, another self-defeating energy bill compromise - Salon.com Stopping climate change won't be easy if everybody who squawks gets a free pass |
25th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Methane controls before risky geoengineering, please - New Scientist Reducing carbon dioxide emissions will be vital in the long run, but we should start by tackling methane, says Kirk Smith |
25th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Todd Stern rejects calls for 40% cut in US emissions - Guardian President Barack Obama's climate envoy has rejected calls for the US and other rich nations to make radical greenhouse gas cuts over the next decade.Speaking at the end of a ministerial level meeting of the world's most polluting countries in Mexico yesterday, Todd Stern dismissed the idea that the US might comply with calls for industrialised nations to cut carbon emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020."In our judgment [this kind of cut is] not necessary and not feasible given where we are starting from," he said. |
24th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| China arable land fears end reforestation drive - Reuters BEIJING (Reuters) - China has halted a program of letting marginal farmland return to woodland, because of fears the country's arable land area could fall below a "red line" needed to feed its people, a vice minister said on Tuesday. |
24th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Stop Building Tanks Let s divert the money spent on arms to addressing the real strategic threat. |
24th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Uprising In The Amazon Is More Urgent Than Iran's - It Will Determine The Future Of The Planet In the depths of the Amazon rainforest, the poorest people in the world have taken on the richest people in the world |
24th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Hansen and Hannah arrested in West Virginia mining protest Protesters arrested for blocking a road near Massey Energy coal processing plant in Raleigh County, southern West VirginiaActor Daryl Hannah and Nasa climate scientist James Hansen were among 31 people arrested yesterday as they protested against mountaintop removal mining in southern West Virginia.State police sergeant Michael Baylous said all were released after being cited for impeding traffic and obstructing an officer after they blocked a road near a Massey Energy subsidiary's coal processing plant.Another woman, who was among a crowd of mining industry supporters, was charged with misdemeanour battery, Baylous said.The arrests followed a rally involving several hundred protesters outside an elementary school about 90m away from the plant's coal storage silo. |
24th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Supermarket suppliers 'helping destroy Amazon rainforest' - Guardian Meat companies sued over Amazon deforestation Accused firms supplying Tesco, Asda and MSBrazilian authorities investigating illegal deforestation have accused the suppliers of several UK supermarkets of selling meat linked to massive destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian firms that supply Tesco, Asda and Marks Spencer are among dozens of companies named by prosecutors, who are seeking hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation.The move follows a three-year investigation by Greenpeace into the trade in cattle products such as meat and leather traced to illegal farms across the Amazon region. The Greenpeace report, revealed in the Guardian earlier this month, showed that a handful of major Brazilian processors exported products linked to Amazon destruction to dozens of blue-chip companies across the world. |
23rd June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Refrigerants set to spur climate change: study - Reuters OSLO (Reuters) - Greenhouse gases from chemicals used in refrigerants and air conditioning are set to be a bigger than expected spur of climate change by 2050, scientists said. |
23rd June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| A warning from Copenhagen - RealClimate In March the biggest climate conference of the year took place in Copenhagen: 2500 participants from 80 countries, 1400 scientific presentations. Last week, the Synthesis Report of the Copenhagen Congress was handed over to the Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen in Brussels. Denmark will host the decisive round of negotiations on the new climate protection agreement this coming December. The climate congress was organised by a "star alliance" of research universities: Copenhagen, Yale, Berkeley, Oxford, Cambridge, Tokyo, Beijing - to name a few. The Synthesis Report is the most important update of climate science since the 2007 IPCC report. So what does it say? |
20th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Video shows protesters bundled to ground by police Two female protesters who challenged police officers for not displaying their badge numbers were bundled to the ground, arrested and held in prison for four days, according to an official complaint lodged today. The incident was caught on camera, and footage shows officers standing on the women's feet and applying pressure to their necks immediately after the women attempted to photograph a fellow officer who had refused to give his badge number. The images are likely to fuel concern over the policing of protests, which is already subject to a review by the national police inspectorate and two parliamentary inquiries after the G20 demonstrations and the death of Ian Tomlinson. Val Swain, 43, and Emily Apple, 33, both mothers with young children, believe they were deliberately targeted for arrest at last year's climate camp demonstration in Kent because they campaign for Fit Watch, a protest group that opposes police surveillance at demonstrations. |
20th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Floods, heatwaves and withering vines: how scientists see the US in 75 years - Guardian Unlimited Hard-hitting report describes how America will be affected region by region if no action is taken on climate change. See also: Explore how climate change might affect the US |
20th June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Michael mccarthy: What's so depressing is the inevitability of all this - Independent Michael mccarthy: You might think you've heard it all before, and in a sense you have. There are not huge disparities between the core predictions of how climate change will affect the UK, released by the Government yesterday, and the earlier set of forecasts produced seven years ago. The central estimates of temperature rise by the 2080s, for example, are in the same ballpark. But there are three important differences. Firstly, the new figures make a much stronger attempt at qualifying one of the key aspects of any predictions, which is uncertainty. For all the forecasts, there are now not only central figures, representing the best guess at what will actually happen, but also upper and lower estimates, which represent extremes with a 10 per cent chance of occurring. This enables risk to be mathematically quantified and is an essential component of future planning to cope with what global warming may bring. Secondly, for the first time there are regional predictions in quite enormous detail, which will now enable the councillors and officials of Loamshire County Council, and even of Loamchester City Council, to get a feel for exactly what is coming their way in terms of hot, wet and dry – in other words, heatwaves, flooding, water shortages and all the other impacts which climate change is going to bring, and which they have to take into account. But perhaps the most striking (not to say depressing) aspect of these figures is their new emphasis on inevitability. The temperature rises which are forecast for the 2080s might be avoided if the world makes a titanic effort at cutting carbon emissions, beginning in Copenhagen in December, but, even if we do, the Government now admits that by the 2040s a rise of more than two degrees in average summer temperatures is going to happen anyway. For years the whole of British and European Union climate policy has been based on halting any temperature rise at the two degrees line. Does this not mean that the official objective is now unattainable? Asked about this yesterday the Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, said: "Let's be frank. It's going to be tough." Well, what else can he say? See also: | ||||||||||||||||||||