Climate is warming - despite 'ups and downs'
December 28, 2010 -
Periodic short-term cooling in global temperatures should not be misinterpreted as signalling an end to global warming, according to an Honorary Research Fellow with CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Barrie Hunt. > www.physorg.com: Climate is warming - despite 'ups and downs'
Misleading Nature cover story misleads the media and public
New York, December 24 2010 –
Last week Nature published a study, “Greenhouse gas mitigation can reduce sea-ice loss and increase polar bear persistence”. The journal had a pretty sensational cover, with a polar bear and the compelling headline, “Staying Alive: Cut greenhouse-gas emissions now we can still save the polar bear.”
If you missed Nature, you probably saw the headlines:
* Arctic icecap safe from runaway melting: study (AFP)
* Polar Bears: On Thin Ice? Extinction Can Be Averted, Scientists Say (NSF press release)
I really wish any of that were realistic, not so much because the polar bear is a critical linchpin species, but because the loss of Arctic ice in the summer may well trigger even more rapid warming (see “Tundra 4: Permafrost loss linked to Arctic sea ice loss“ and below). But in fact a much more reasonable AFP headline would be “Arctic ice cap on verge of runaway melting: study.” The NSF release should read, “Polar bear extinction now likely.” > climateprogress.org: Polar bear, Arctic sea ice all-but doomed: Misleading Nature cover story misleads the media, public (Dec 20) > dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com: Polar Scientists Discuss Polar Bear’s Fate (Dec 20)
Getting warmer: Climatologist says it's time to act on global warming
Columbus / Ohio, December 09 / 19 2010 –
One of the world’s foremost experts on climate change is warning that if humans don’t moderate their use of fossil fuels, there is a real possibility that we will face the environmental, societal and economic consequences of climate change faster than we can adapt to them.
Lonnie Thompson, distinguished university professor in the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State University, posed that possibility in a just-released special climate-change edition of the journal The Behavior Analyst.
He also discussed how the rapid and accelerating retreat of the world’s glaciers and ice sheets dramatically illustrates the nature of the changing climate. > www.dispatch.com / Getting warmer: Climatologist says it's time to act on global warming (Dec 19) > Climate scientist warns world of widespread suffering if further climate change is not forestalled (Dec 09)
Climate change calculations put millions at risk, says new report
London, December 15 2010 -
Governments are gambling recklessly with human lives by wilfully underestimating the depth of the emission cuts they must makein the next 40 years, a new study has found.
Governments have so far based their calculations for cutting emissions on only a 50:50 chance of holding temperature rises to 2C, the point that many scientists consider to be the threshold for catastrophic climate change which, once passed, will leave millions exposed to drought, hunger and flooding. This constitutes an unacceptable risk, says the report from Friends of the Earth.
It suggests that to have any reasonable chance – 70% rather than 50% – of avoiding dangerous climate change emissions will need to fall 8 - 16% (per annum!) by 2030 based on 1990 levels. > www.guardian.co.uk: Climate change calculations put millions at risk, says new report > www.guardian.co.uk / Reckless Gamblers: How politicians’ inaction is ramping up the risk of dangerous
climate change (pdf 28 pages)
New York, December 10 2010 -
The 2010 meteorological year, which ended on 30 November, was the warmest in NASA's 130-year record, data posted by the agency today shows. Over the oceans as well as on land, the average global temperature for the 12-month period that began last December was 14.65?C. That's 0.65?C warmer than the average global temperature between 1951 and 1980, a period scientists use as a basis for comparison. > news.sciencemag.org / NASA: 2010 Meteorological Year Warmest Ever > voices.washingtonpost.com: 2010 hottest climate year on record, NASA says
WikiLeaks cables: Shell's grip on Nigerian state revealed
Concealing their sources - who funds Europe's climate change deniers?
December 7 2010 -
They are a tiny minority, a network of just a few dozen individuals around the world. Their numbers contrast starkly with the overwhelming majority of scientists who agree on the reality of man-made climate change, and on the urgent need for action. But the voices of climate deniers, are amplified in Europe by a handful of extremist free marketeers and right-wing think tanks, which try to block action to tackle climate change. Using non peer- reviewed publications, hijacking scientific debates, and targeting the mass media, they create confusion in the minds of the public about both the reality of global warming and the policies designed to curb emissions. This report investigates who funds the European think tanks that actively promote the denial of climate change. > www.corporateeurope.org: Concealing their sources - who funds Europe's climate change deniers? > Greenpeace Unmasks Koch Industries' Funding of Climate Denial Industry
2010 to be among warmest years ever: UN experts
Cancún, December 2 2010 -
The year 2010 will be one of the warmest ever, climaxing a record-breaking decade, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said at global climate talks Thursday.
"2010 is almost certain to be in the top three warmest years on record," WMO Secretary General Michel Jarraud told a press conference. "It is probably the warmest one up to October-November."
"The decade from 2001 to 2010 has set a new record, it will be the warmest decade ever since we have records."
The snapshot was published on the fourth day of the 12-day talks in Cancun under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Jarraud said he hoped the provisional assessment -- a consensus of temperature data from four meteorological institutions -- would guide policymakers negotiating a post-2012 pact on global warming.
"This is the (scientific) foundation to say where we are now, these are the facts," he said. "Of course, if nothing is done, this curve will go on increasing and increasing, it will go up and up." > yahoo.com/afp: 2010 to be among warmest years ever: UN experts > www.businessweek.com: World May Post Hottest Year in 2010, UN Agency Says > www.bbc.co.uk: 2010 sets new temperature records > www.telegraph.co.uk: 2010 was hottest year on record > 2010 on course to be joint hottest year since 1850 (Nov 26)
Butterflies or business - Europe can have both!
Brussels, 30 November 2010 -
The European Environment Agency (EEA) released today its fourth Environment State and Outlook report — SOER 2010 — a comprehensive assessment of how and why Europe’s environment is changing, and what we are doing about it. SOER 2010 concludes that a fully integrated approach to transforming Europe to a resource-efficient green economy can not only result in a healthy environment, but also boost prosperity and social cohesion. > www.eea.europa.eu: Butterflies or business - Europe can have both!
Will Year of Extremes End with a Whimper?
Cancún, 29 november 2010 -
This year will likely be the warmest ever recorded, with soaring ocean temperatures resulting in a near record die-off of tropical corals, extreme heat and drought in Russia and massive flooding in Pakistan - all signs that climate change has taken hold.
But despite the ever more compelling science regarding the urgency and risks of climate change and growing public support for action, representatives from nearly 200 countries meeting here in Cancún for the next two weeks are unlikely to produce a new binding agreement. > ipsnews.net: Will Year of Extremes End with a Whimper?
Royal Society paints picture of a world 4 °C warmer
Geneva, 24 November 2010 –
The main greenhouse gases have reached their highest levels recorded since pre-industrial times, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s 2009 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. The report also highlights concerns that global warming may lead to even greater emissions of methane from Arctic areas.
According to the Bulletin, total radiative forcing of all long-lived greenhouse gases increased by 27.5% from 1990 to 2009 and by 1.0% from 2008 to 2009, reflecting the rising atmospheric burdens of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
“Greenhouse gas concentrations have reached record levels despite the economic slowdown. They would have been even higher without the international action taken to reduce them,” said WMO Secretary-General Mr Michel Jarraud. “In addition, potential methane release from northern permafrost, and wetlands, under future climate change is of great concern and is becoming a focus of intensive research and observations.” > www.wmo.int: Greenhouse Gases Reach Record Levels > www.wmo.int: WMO Greenhouse Gas bulletin > www.wmo.int: Global Atmosphere Watch
Next climate warming report will be dramatically worse: UN
UN, November 23 2010 –
United Nations leaders will demand "concrete results" from the looming Cancun climate summit as global warming is accelerating, a top UN organizer of the event said Monday.
Robert Orr, UN under secretary general for planning, said the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on global warming will be much worse than the last one.
Representatives from 194 countries are to meet in the Mexican resort city of Cancun from November 29 to December 10 for a new attempt to strike a deal to curb greenhouse gases after 2012.
Orr told reporters that negotiators heading for the Cancun conference "need to remind themselves, the longer we delay, the more we will pay both in terms of lives and in terms of money."
He said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would make it clear to world leaders in Cancun "that we should not take any comfort in the climate deniers' siren call."
"The evidence shows us quite the opposite-- that we can't rest easy at all" as scientists agree that climate change "is happening in an accelerated way." > news.yahoo.com /afp: Next climate warming report will be dramatically worse: UN
NASA Study Finds Earth's Lakes are Warming
Pasadena (Cal), November 23, 2010 -
In the first comprehensive global survey of temperature trends in major lakes, NASA researchers determined Earth's largest lakes have warmed during the past 25 years in response to climate change. > www.jpl.nasa.gov: NASA Study Finds Earth's Lakes are Warming
China says it is world's top greenhouse gas emitter
Beijng, November 23, 2010 -
China acknowledged on Tuesday it is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases stoking global warming, confirming what scientists have said for years but defending its right to keep growing emissions.
China's chief negotiator in international climate change talks, Xie Zhenhua, made the comment while spelling out his government's position ahead of negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, from November 29 over a new global pact to fight global warming. > www.reuters.com: China says it is world's top greenhouse gas emitter
Al Gore addresses 'green' business conference in Athens
Athens, November 23, 2010 -
"The survival of our culture, the survival of Greece as a culture, depends on clear thinking and bold decisions" when it comes to climate change, former US vice-president Al Gore emphasised in Athens on Monday during an address at an international conference. > www.athensnews.gr: Al Gore addresses 'green' business conference in Athens
U.S. corn ethanol "was not a good policy": Gore
Athens, November 22, 2010 -
Former vice-president Al Gore said support for corn-based ethanol in the United States was "not a good policy", weeks before tax credits are up for renewal. > www.reuters.com: U.S. corn ethanol "was not a good policy": Gore
Global CO2 emissions back on the rise in 2010: study
Exeter (UK), November 21, 2010 -
Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions – the main contributor to global warming – show no sign of abating and may reach record levels in 2010, according to a study led by the University of Exeter (UK).
The study, which also involved the University of East Anglia (UK) and other global institutions, is part of the annual carbon budget update by the Global Carbon Project.
In a paper published today in Nature Geoscience, the authors found that despite the major financial crisis that hit the world last year, global CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuel in 2009 were only 1.3 per cent below the record 2008 figures. This is less than half the drop predicted a year ago. > www.physorg.com: Global CO2 emissions back on the rise in 2010 > www.reuters.com: Carbon emissions dip in 2009, to jump in 2010
'A stunning year in climate science reveals that human civilization is on the precipice'
Maplecroft study identifies UAE, Australia, USA, Canada, Netherlands and Saudi Arabia as worst CO2 polluters
November 17, 2010 -
With the 2010 UN climate talks due to start in Cancun on November 29th, a new study rating 183 countries on their CO2 emissions from energy use has identified United Arab Emirates, Australia, USA, Canada, Netherlands and Saudi Arabia as the six nations with the worst performance in relation to CO2 pollution.
The CO2 Emissions from Energy Use Index (CEEI) is produced by global risk advisory firm Maplecroft to raise awareness and help companies identify their risk exposures. It also helps to identify those countries which may be subject to future regulation of CO2 emissions or pressure from public interest groups to address emissions.
The index is calculated by evaluating countries’ annual CO2 emissions from energy use, CO2 emissions per capita, and cumulative CO2 emissions from 1900 to 2006 to provide a complete picture of a country’s CO2 polluting record.
UAE (1), Australia (2), USA (3), Canada (4), Netherlands (5) and Saudi Arabia (6) are bottom of the ranking and the only countries rated as ‘extreme risk’ by Maplecroft on the basis of their high CO2 emissions from energy use. > www.maplecroft.com: Maplecroft study identifies UAE, Australia, USA, Canada, Netherlands and Saudi Arabia as worst CO2 polluters
Global Warming Could Cool Down Northern Temperatures in Winter
Silverspring / Maryland (USA), November 16 2010 -
Not only is Earth's surface warming, but the troposphere -- the lowest level of the atmosphere, where weather occurs -- is heating up too, U.S. and British meteorologists reported on Monday.
In a review of four decades of data on troposphere temperatures, the scientists found that warming in this key atmospheric layer was occurring, just as many researchers expected it would as more greenhouse gases built up and trapped heat close to the Earth.
This study aims to put to rest a controversy that began 20 years ago, when a 1990 scientific report based on satellite observations raised questions about whether the troposphere was warming, even as Earth's surface temperatures climbed. > planetark.org: Troposphere Is Warming Too, Decades Of Data Show > www.noaanews.noaa.gov: Review of Four Decades of Scientific Literature Concludes Lower Atmosphere is Warming
China Still Living Beyond Its Environmental Means: WWF
Beijng, 16 November 2010 -
China is living further and further beyond its environmental means as it tries to meet surging demand from its huge and increasingly urban population, a report by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) said.
The report said that overall changes in consumption patterns and the shift from rural to urban lifestyles were putting more pressure on China's already threadbare environment -- and the implications are global. > planetark.org: China Still Living Beyond Its Environmental Means: WWF
Coverage of climate summit called short on science
Oslo, November 15 2010 -
Less than 10 percent of the news articles written about last year's climate summit in Copenhagen dealt primarily with the science of climate change, a study showed on Monday. > www.washingtonpost.com: Coverage of climate summit called short on science
2 Degree Celsius Climate Target May Need To Change: UK Scientist
London, November 5 2010 -
A widely agreed international target to avoid dangerous global warming must take account of local impacts and may need to change, said the chief scientist at the MetOffice Hadley Center, Britain's biggest climate research center.
Julia Slingo said the target of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (2C) may need adjusting to take into account research into local and regional effects, particularly on rainfall patterns, as climate science advances. > planetark.org: 2 Degree Celsius Climate Target May Need To Change: UK Scientist
Cholera-hit Haiti braces for looming storm
Port-Au-Prince (AFP) Nov 3, 2010 -
Haiti reeled from a spike in cholera deaths as authorities planned mass evacuations from squalid tent cities ahead of a major storm set to lash the Americas' poorest nation beginning Thursday. > www.terradaily.com: Cholera-hit Haiti braces for looming storm
A statement from the Geological Society of London
London, November 2 2010 -
Climate change is a defining issue for our time. The geological record contains abundant evidence of the ways in which Earth’s climate has changed in the past. That evidence is highly relevant to understanding how it may change in the future. The Council of the Society is issuing this statement as part of the Society’s work “to promote all forms of education, awareness and understanding of the Earth and their practical applications for the benefit of the public globally”. The statement is intended for non-specialists and Fellows of the Society. It is based on analysis of geological evidence, and not on analysis of recent temperature or satellite data, or climate model projections. It contains references to support key statements, indicated by superscript numbers, and a reading list for those who wish to explore the subject further. > www.geolsoc.org.uk: Climate change: evidence from the geological record > www.geolsoc.org.uk: A statement by the Geological Society of London (pdf/79 kb)
Brazil unveils fresh aid for Amazon drought
Manaus, October 22 / 28 , 2010 -
A severe drought has pushed river levels in Brazil's Amazon region to record lows, leaving isolated communities dependent on emergency aid and thousands of boats stranded on parched riverbeds.
The drought fits a pattern of more extreme weather in the world's largest rain forest in recent years and is, scientists say, an expected result of global warming. Last year, the region was hit by widespread flooding and in 2005 it endured a devastating drought.
Brazil's government announced new aid of 13.5 million dollars for northern regions hit by the worst drought in decades which has stymied navigation on the Amazon River and tributaries.
The funds will help for food delivery, water purification and pumping in Amazonas state, where some communities have been cut off by the drop in river levels.
The Brazilian air force has already distributed 500 tonnes of food and supplies to some areas which are normally dependent on water transport.
Officials said the level of the Amazon River at Manaus, the regional capital, is near its lowest level since 1963. They say it appears Brazil is headed for its worst drought since that year. Final data to be collected up to October were expected to confirm that. > www.reuters.com: Brazil's Amazon region suffers severe drought (Oct 26) > www.guardian.co.uk: Amazon drought leaves Brazil's Rio Negro dry (Pictures / Oct 26) > www.physorg.com: Brazil unveils fresh aid for Amazon drought (Oct 22) > aljazeera.net: Amazon drought emergency widens (Sep 17) > www.bbc.co.uk: Amazon river level in Peru at 40-year low (Sep 03)
IPCC vice-chair: Attacks on climate science echo tobacco industry tactics
Amsterdam, October 27 2010 -
Jean-Pascal van Ypersele says rows over 'climategate' emails and Himalayan glaciers were organised to undermine Copenhagen summit. The attacks on climate science that were made ahead of the Copenhagen climate change summit were "organised" to undermine efforts to tackle global warming and mirror the earlier tactics of the tobacco industry, according to the vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). > www.guardian.co.uk: IPCC vice-chair: Attacks on climate science echo tobacco industry tactics
IUCN's Red List: Nature’s Backbone at Risk
Amsterdam, October 27 2010 -
The most comprehensive assessment of the world’s vertebrates confirms an extinction crisis with one-fifth of species threatened. However, the situation would be worse were it not for current global conservation efforts, according to a study launched today at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD, in Nagoya, Japan. > www.iucnredlist.org: Nature’s Backbone at Risk
EU business lobby funding climate legislation blockers in US Senate
Toxic Brew
October 25, 2010
The Tea Parties didn’t arise spontaneously: they were boiled up by big business. The Tea Party movement is remarkable in two respects. It is one of the biggest exercises in false consciousness the world has ever seen. And it is the biggest astroturf operation in history. These accomplishments are closely related. > www.monbiot.com: Toxic Brew
Victoria Beckham targeted by animal rights campaigners over handbag collection
London, October 20 2010 -
Victoria Beckham will be crying a lot more than crocodile tears if PETA get their way. The Spice Girl-turned-designer has been targeted by animal rights' activists threatening to pull their most controversial stunt ever - by dousing her in lizard blood.
Yes, the blood of a LIZARD. Aides for VB are being forced to bolster security when she comes to the UK ahead of the launch of her new handbag collection. > www.mirror.co.uk: Victoria Beckham targeted by animal rights campaigners over handbag collection
UN Conference Confronts Dramatic Loss Of Biodiversity
Nagoya, October 18 2010-
Delegates from 193 nations have opened a UN meeting in Japan to discuss how to address Earth's dramatic loss of animal and plant species.
The two-week Nagoya conference brings together parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
At its opening, Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Program, told delegates the meeting is "part of the world's efforts to address a very simple fact -- we are destroying life on Earth." > www.rferl.org: UN Conference Confronts Dramatic Loss Of Biodiversity
Jeff Masters: “The ignorance and greed that human society is showing [on climate change] will be to our ultimate detriment and possible destruction.”
Yale, October 16 2010-
When Jeff Masters was 10, he helped launch the “mad scientist club” in his Birmingham, Michigan, school, writing a 100-page thesis based on observations from his telescope.
By the time he was 12, he was diligently tracking the strength of wind gusts from a weather station he had set up in his backyard. The Midwest’s extremely variable climate conditions intrigued him. “I was always interested in weather,” he says….
Wunderground.com’s Jeff Masters’ dream job — ‘the truth’ and presenting what he sees as the best science.
Today, at age 50, all-things-weather are his job and his passion. A co-founder of The Weather Underground (wunderground.com), Masters created most of the software that formats the National Weather Service data used on the website, and also the imagery on the tropical page. And as a blogger on that site, he’s also become a committed advocate for the need to address human-caused climate change…. > climateprogress.org: “The ignorance and greed that human society is showing [on climate change] will be to our ultimate detriment and possible destruction.”
NOAA: Year-to-Date Global Temperature Ties for Warmest on Record
How fear of bias dominates the climate change debate
London, October 15, 2010 -
Climate change science has had a turbulent year. The media and blogosphere feeding-frenzy after the release of researchers' emails, dubbed "climategate", and the revelation of an embarrassing error in an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, unnerved many. Yet, as official investigations concluded that there is no conspiracy by researchers, the published results are robust, and the IPCC sometimes struggles because it employs only a handful of people, controversy has receded. So, responses to the first major post-climategate science story, that a weaker sun may actually warm the Earth's surface, the opposite of what has been accepted until now, can help us understand the legacy of the attacks on climate science. > www.guardian.co.uk: How fear of bias dominates the climate change debate
Carbon Dioxide Controls Earth's Temperature
New York, October 15, 2010 -
Water vapor and clouds are the major contributors to Earth's greenhouse effect, but a new atmosphere-ocean climate modeling study shows that the planet's temperature ultimately depends on the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide.
The study, conducted by Andrew Lacis and colleagues at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, examined the nature of Earth's greenhouse effect and clarified the role that greenhouse gases and clouds play in absorbing outgoing infrared radiation. Notably, the team identified non-condensing greenhouse gases -- such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and chlorofluorocarbons -- as providing the core support for the terrestrial greenhouse effect. > www.nasa.gov: Carbon Dioxide Controls Earth's Temperature > www.sciencemag.org: Atmospheric CO2: Principal Control Knob Governing Earth’s Temperature
Most Americans Lack Basic Knowledge of Climate Issues, Study Finds
Yale, October 15, 2010 -
The majority of Americans have limited understanding of the planet’s climate system and the causes and threats of climate change, according to a new study by Yale University. Only 1 in 10 of those surveyed by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication said they are “very well informed” about climate change issues. And while 63 percent believe that global warming is occurring, many do not understand why. > Most Americans Lack Basic Knowledge of Climate Issues, Study Finds > environment.yale.edu: Americans’ Knowledge of Climate Change: Basic Results
Call for greater support for media coverage of biodiversity issues
Amsterdam, October 14, 2010 -
Journalists need more training and greater access to sources and information if they are to effectively tell an under-reported story that has profound implications for livelihoods, health and businesses the world over -- the silent decline in the planet’s biological resources.
So say media specialists at IUCN, IIED and Internews who will formally launch their Biodiversity Media Alliance (BMA) during the conference of parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity on 27 October in Nagoya, Japan. > www.iied.org: Call for greater support for media coverage of biodiversity issues
Agencies Urged to Plan for `Inevitable Effects' of Warming in U.S. Report
Washington, October 14, 2010 -
The Obama administration, which has been unable to push climate-change legislation through Congress, is urging government agencies to prepare for the “inevitable effects” of global warming.
Strategies should be considered in every decision, and scientific data on rising temperatures and sea levels should be easily accessible to officials, according to a report from President Barack Obama’s interagency task force on adapting to climate change. The government also should develop a strategy to help poor countries contend with the climate change. > www.bloomberg.com: Agencies Urged to Plan for `Inevitable Effects' of Warming in U.S. Report
Oil boom possible but time is running out
Durham, October 14, 2010 -
Oil recovery using carbon dioxide could lead to a North Sea oil bonanza worth £150 billion ($ 240 billion) – but only if the current infrastructure is enhanced now, according to a new study published today by a world-leading energy expert.
A new calculation by Durham University of the net worth of the UK oil field shows that using carbon dioxide (CO2) to enhance the recovery from our existing North Sea oil fields could yield an extra three billion barrels of oil over the next 20 years. Three billion barrels of oil could power, heat and transport the UK for two years with every other form of energy switched off.
Importantly, at a time of rising CO2 emissions, the enhanced oil recovery process is just about carbon neutral with as much carbon being put back in the ground as will be taken out. > www.eurekalert.org: Oil boom possible but time is running out
Deep emission cuts give the EU a head start under the Kyoto Protocol
Brussels, October 12, 2010 -
A new report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows that large drop in emissions seen in 2008 and 2009 gives EU-15 a head start to reach and even overachieve its 8 % reduction target under the Kyoto Protocol. Austria, Denmark and Italy, however, need to step up their current efforts until 2012 to ensure that their contribution to the common EU-15 target is delivered. The EEA report also shows that EU-27 is well on track towards achieving its 20 % reduction target by 2020. > www.eea.europa.eu: Deep emission cuts give the EU a head start under the Kyoto Protocol
The Traveling Salesmen of Climate Skepticism: 'Science as the Enemy'
Berlin, October 8, 2010 -
A handful of US scientists have made names for themselves by casting doubt on global warming research. In the past, the same people have also downplayed the dangers of passive smoking, acid rain and the ozone hole. In all cases, the tactics are the same: Spread doubt and claim it's too soon to take action. > www.spiegel.de: The Traveling Salesmen of Climate Skepticism: 'Science as the Enemy'
Fred Pearce: "Sorry, Patchy, But Time Is Up"
London, 3 October 2010 -
In scientific circles thy call him Patchy. His real name is Rajendra Pachauri, the supremo of climate science at the United Nations, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
He picked up the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of his organisation less than three years ago. But it was pride before the fall. I lit the fuse under Patchy's chairmanship eight months ago. Now, I say he should go.
If governments won't fire him when the IPCC meets at the Korean seaside resort of Busan next week, he should fall on his sword. For the good of the battered reputation of climate-change science. For the good of the planet. > www.dailymail.co.uk: Fred Pearce: "Sorry, Patchy, But Time Is Up" See also: > Rajendra Pachauri / The Smearing of an Innocent man (Aug 27)
Ecologists find new clues on climate change in 150-year-old pressed plants
London, September 22 2010 -
Plants picked up to 150 years ago by Victorian collectors and held by the million in herbarium collections across the world could become a powerful - and much needed - new source of data for studying climate change, according to research led by the University of East Anglia and published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Ecology. > www.uea.ac.uk: Ecologists find new clues on climate change in 150-year-old pressed plants
Death in the Bayou
London, September 16 2010 -
The die-off has been massive. Over 100,000 dead fish began turning up in the Mississippi River delta earlier this week and have since formed a carpet on some parts of the bayou. Death in the Bayou
Serengeti: An alternative route
London, September 16 2010 -
A proposed road through the Serengeti can be halted only by providing a viable substitute, not by criticism. > www.nature.com: An alternative route
New report highlights two-way link between ozone layer and climate change
Britain must adapt to 'inevitable' climate change, warns minister
London, September 12 / 16 2010 -
Britons must radically change the way they live and work to adapt to being "stuck with unavoidable climate change" the Government will caution this week, as it unveils a dramatic vision of how society will be altered by floods, droughts and rising temperatures.
The coalition will signal a major switch towards adapting to the impact of existing climate change, away from Labour's heavy emphasis on cutting carbon emissions to reverse global temperature rises. Caroline Spelman, the Tory Secretary of State for the Environment, will use her first major speech on climate change since taking office to admit that the inevitable severe weather conditions will present a "survival-of-the- fittest scenario", with only those who have planned ahead able to thrive. Adapting to climate change will be "at the heart of our agenda", she is expected to say. > www.bbc.co.uk: Climate change advisers urge UK to prepare for change (Sep 16) > www.independent.co.uk: Britain must adapt to 'inevitable' climate change, warns minister > www.independent.co.uk: A policy for the planet > www.telegraph.co.uk: Climate change is inevitable, says Caroline Spelman
NOAA: 2010 Tied with 1998 as Warmest Global Temperature on Record
(News.cnet.com), September 14 2010 -
The mystery bug--a type of bacteria--behind intriguing biofuel start-up Joule Unlimited was revealed with the publication of a patent on Tuesday.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based start-up said that it has received Patent No. 7,794,969 for an engineered form of cynobacteria, or blue-green algae, which grows in water and is capable of secreting biodiesel fuel.
The company asserts that it can make diesel fuel directly using only sunlight and waste carbon dioxide in glass bioreactors for as little as $30 a barrel. > News.cnet.com: Joule patents fuel made from water, sunlight, CO2
Warmer and warmer
London, 13 September 2010 -
Are the heat waves really getting more extreme? This question popped up after the summer of 2003 in Europe, and yet again after this hot Russian summer. The European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which normally doesn’t make much noise about climate issues, has since made a statement about July global mean temperature being record warm:
"Consistent with widespread media reports of extreme heat and adverse impacts in various places, the latest results from ERA-Interim indicate that the average temperature over land areas of the extratropical northern hemisphere reached a new high in July 2010. May and June 2010 were also unusually warm. > www.realclimate.org: Warmer and Warmer See also: > data.giss.nasa.gov: GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP) > www.cru.uea.ac.uk: HadCRUT3 > www.ncdc.noaa.gov: NCDC
What If Today's CO2-Emitting Devices Were The Last?
Shades of 'Gray Literature': How Much IPCC Reform is Needed?
New York, August 30 2010 —
A better way to compile and review climate science starts with making sure the organization charged with it has an adequate and accountable full-time staff. > www.scientificamerican.com: How Much IPCC Reform is Needed?
Copenhagen, Augustus 30, 2010 -
The fear that global temperature can change very quickly and cause dramatic climate changes that may have a disastrous impact on many countries and populations is great around the world. But what causes climate change and is it possible to predict future climate change? New research from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen shows that it may be due to an accumulation of different chaotic influences and as a result would be difficult to predict. The results have just been published in Geophysical Research Letters. > www.eurekalert.com: Dramatic climate change is unpredictable
Friends of the Earth urges end to 'land grab' for biofuels
Hot Air Rises at Talks and in Towns
Paris, Augustus 28, 2010 -
The European Union (EU) is failing to fulfil its environmental commitments in practically all areas, from protecting biodiversity to improving air quality in the cities, according to official studies released this month. > www.ipsnews.net: Hot Air Rises at Talks and in Towns
The Smearing of an Innocent man
London / Exeter, August 27 2010 - (by Georges Monbiot) -
Has anyone been as badly maligned as Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?
In December, the Sunday Telegraph carried a long and prominent feature written by Christopher Booker and Richard North, titled: Questions over business deals of UN climate change guru Dr Rajendra Pachauri.
The subtitle alleged that Pachauri has been “making a fortune from his links with ‘carbon trading’ companies”. The article maintained that the money made by Pachauri while working for other organisations “must run into millions of dollars”.
It described his outside interests as “highly lucrative commercial jobs”. It proposed that these payments caused a “conflict of interest” with his IPCC role. It also complained that we don’t know “how much we all pay him” as chairman of the IPCC.
The story (which has subsequently been removed from the Sunday Telegraph’s website) immediately travelled around the world. It was reproduced on hundreds of blogs. The allegations it contained were widely aired in the media and generally believed. For a while, no discussion of climate change or the IPCC appeared complete without reference to Pachauri’s “dodgy” business dealings and alleged conflicts of interest.
There was just one problem: the story was untrue. > www.monbiot.com: The Smearing of an Innocent man
Rajendra Pachauri cleared of financial misdealings
London, August 26 2010 -
Nobel laureate Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, the chairman of the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), did not abuse his position to enrich himself, according to an independent review of his finances by the accountants KPMG that was published publicly for the first time today.
Rajendra Pachauri, had come under pressure to resign following two mistakes in a 2007 IPCC report and false allegations that he had made millions of dollars from advisory roles. > www.guardian.co.uk: Rajendra Pachauri cleared of financial misdealings > www.guardian.co.uk: Read the full report by KPMG
Experts urge faster, more relevant UN climate reports
New Delhi, August 21 2010 -
Leading British newspaper Daily Telegraph on Saturday apologised for publishing an article about UN climate body chairman RK Pachauri accusing him of making a fortune from his links with "carbon trading" firms. The international publication had been running a campaign since last year against the chief of Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) who has strongly rubbished the allegations and even issued several legal notices threatening to sue it.
Pachauri's stand was vindicated on Saturday as the UK-based paper in an apology posted on its website said, "On December 20 last year we published an article about Dr Pachauri and his business interests.
"It was not intended to suggest that Dr Pachauri was corrupt or abusing his position as head of the IPCC and we accept KPMG found he had not made 'millions of dollars' in recent years," it said.
The newspaper further said, "We apologise to Dr Pachauri for any embarrassment caused." > www.hindustantimes.com: Daily Telegraph apologises to Pachauri > www.telegraph.co.uk: Dr Pachauri - Apology
UN to get report on climate panel August 30
Amsterdam, August 20 2010 -
A UN-requested review of the world's top panel of climate scientists, accused of flaws in a key assessment on global warming, will be unveiled on August 30, the investigating committee said on Friday.
The InterAcademy Council (IAC) committee that conducted the independent review of the processes and procedures of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will deliver its report to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and IPCC Chair Rajendra K. Pachauri in New York City.
The report, CLIMATE CHANGE ASSESSMENTS: REVIEW OF THE PROCESSES AND PROCEDURES OF THE IPCC, will be publicly released at a press conference in the U.N.’s Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium beginning at 10 a.m. EDT. The event will be webcast live and archived for later viewing at http://www.un.org/webcast. Upon release, the IAC report will be available online at http://reviewipcc.interacademycouncil.net/. > www.physorg.com: UN to get report on climate panel August 30 > www.un.org/webcast/ > interacademycouncil.net: Review of the IPCC
Planet burning: Russia fires threaten climate
Moscow, 19 Aug, 2010 -
Besides causing 700 extra deaths a day in Moscow alone - due to the smoke from forest fires, according to its top health official - the smoke has quickened the melting of Arctic ice. > scitizen.com: Planet burning: Russia fires threaten climate
Drought drives decade-long decline in plant growth
SEA researchers find widespread floating plastic debris in the western North Atlantic Ocean
August 19, 2010
Despite growing awareness of the problem of plastic pollution in the world's oceans, little solid scientific information existed to illustrate the nature and scope of the issue. This week, a team of researchers from Sea Education Association (SEA), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and the University of Hawaii (UH) published a study of plastic marine debris based on data collected over 22 years by undergraduate students in the latest issue of the journal Science. > www.physorg.com: SEA researchers find widespread floating plastic debris in the western North Atlantic Ocean
Global Temperature Anomalies July 2010
In early August 2010, the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) released its analysis of global temperatures for the previous month. In July 2010, GISS found, the global average temperature was 0.55 degrees Celsius (almost 1 degree Fahrenheit) warmer than climatology—defined as average temperatures for the same month from 1951 to 1980. July 2010 was practically in a three-way tie for the warmest July on record, tied with July 1998 and July 2005. > earthobservatory.nasa.gov: Global Temperature Anomalies July 2010
Reanalysis confirms record warmth july
London, August 16 2010 -
Consistent with widespread media reports of extreme heat and adverse impacts in various places, the latest results from ERA-Interim indicate that the average temperature over land areas of the extratropical northern hemisphere reached a new high in July 2010. May and June 2010 were also unusually warm. > www.ecmwf.int: Global Temperature Anomalies July 2010
Confessions of a recovering environmentalist
August, 16 2010 -
"Environmentalism, which in its raw, early form had no time for the encrusted, seized-up politics of left and right, has been sucked into the yawning, bottomless chasm of the 'progressive' left." A personal, twenty-year journey through the world’s wild places and the movements to protect them is also, for Paul Kingsnorth, an education in the limits of a project that has forgotten nature and lost its soul. > www.opendemocracy.net: Confessions of a recovering environmentalist
Wageningen, August 13 2010 -
Microalgae are considered one of the most promising feedstocks for biofuels. The productivity of these photosynthetic microorganisms in converting carbon dioxide into carbon-rich lipids, only a step or two away from biodiesel, greatly exceeds that of agricultural oleaginous crops, without competing for arable land.
Worldwide, research and demonstration programs are being carried out to develop the technology needed to expand algal lipid production from a craft to a major industrial process. Although microalgae are not yet produced at large scale for bulk applications, recent advances—particularly in the methods of systems biology, genetic engineering, and biorefining—present opportunities to develop this process in a sustainable and economical way within the next 10 to 15 years. > www.sciencemag.org: An Outlook on Microalgal Biofuels
Despite efforts, France fails to curb CO2
Paris, August 13, 2010 —
France's carbon dioxide emissions have remained constant over the last two decades despite efforts to curb the potent greenhouse gas, a government agency reported Thursday.
Between 1990 and 2007 -- the most recent year for which figures are available -- total CO2 emissions increased slightly from 438 million to 439 million tonnes, according to the ministry for sustainable development. > www.afp.com: Despite efforts, France fails to curb CO2
'Environmentalism' can never address climate change
Moscow, 11 August 2010 -
The thick smog in Moscow is for 80 to 90 percent caused by fires in drained peatlands near Moscow. Despite the relatively small areas where the peat fires occur, these are the fires that cause the massive air pollution in Moscow involving major risks for the health of residents of the region, as well as enormous CO2 emissions. Peat fires are difficult to extinguish and may continue to burn underground for months, even after rainfall like last night. > www.wetlands.org: Moscow smog mainly caused by burning peatlands > Russia’s fires: worsened by peatland drainage (Aug 04)
Pakistan floods: Climate change experts say global warming could be the cause
Moscow deaths double in Russia's 'worst ever' heat
Moscow, August 9 2010 -
The daily mortality rate in Moscow has doubled and morgues are overflowing amid an acrid smog caused by the worst heatwave in Russia's thousand-year history, officials said Monday. > www.terradaily.com: Moscow deaths double in Russia's 'worst ever' heat
Turning Estates into Villages
London, August 9 2010 -
It took me a while to recognise what I was seeing. It was an ordinary campsite in Pembrokeshire: a square field with tents around the perimeter. But it had a curious effect on the children staying there. Young people who had seldom experienced daylight slowly emerged from their tents and were drawn towards the centre of the field. Bats and balls left on the grass mysteriously appeared in their hands. Children with no prior interest in sport started playing football, cricket and rounders. Little kids ran around with older ones. As children of all classes played together, their parents started talking to each other. It hit me with some force: we had reinvented the village green. > www.monbiot.com: Turning Estates into Villages
The worst impact of climate change may be how humanity reacts to it
August 6 2010 -
The way that humanity reacts to climate change may do more damage to many areas of the planet than climate change itself unless we plan properly, an important new study published in Conservation Letters by Conservation International's Will Turner and a group of other leading scientists has concluded.
The paper Climate change: helping nature survive the human response, looks at efforts to both reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and potential action that could be taken by people to adapt to a changed climate and assesses the potential impact that these could have on global ecosystems.
In particular it notes that one fifth of the world's remaining tropical forests lie within 50km of human populations that could be inundated if sea levels rise by 1m. These forests would make attractive sources of fuel-wood, building materials, food and other key resources and would be likely to attract a population forced to migrate by rising sea levels. About half of all Alliance for Zero Extinction sites – which contain the last surviving members of certain species – are also in these zones. > www.eurekalert.org: The worst impact of climate change may be how humanity reacts to it > www.conservation.org / Climate change: helping nature survive the human response
Travelling by car increases temperatures more than by plane
Oslo, August 4 2010 -
Driving alone in a car increases global temperatures in the long run more than making the same long-distance journey by air according to a new study. However, in the short run travelling by air has a larger adverse climate impact because airplanes strongly affect short-lived warming processes at high altitudes. > www.cicero.uio.no: Travelling by car increases temperatures more than by plane
New carbon dioxide emissions model
August 4 2010, (EurekaAlert) -
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calculated projected temperature changes for various scenarios in 2007 and researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg have now gone one step further: they have developed a new model that specifies the maximum volumes of carbon dioxide that humans may emit to remain below the critical threshold for climate warming of two degrees Celsius. To do this, the scientists incorporated into their calculations data relating to the carbon cycle, namely the volume of carbon dioxide absorbed and released by the oceans and forests. The aim of the international ENSEMBLES project is to simulate future changes in the global climate and carbon dioxide emissions and thereby to obtain more reliable threshold values on this basis. (Climatic Change, July 21, 2010) > www.eurekalert.org: New carbon dioxide emissions model
Russian Patriarch Prays For Rain As Wildfires Rage
Moscow, August 4 2010 -
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill asked Russians to pray for rain on Sunday as wildfires raged across the European parts of the vast country, sweltering since June in an unprecedented heat wave.
The hottest weather since records began 130 years ago has withered crops and pushed thousands of farmers to the verge of bankruptcy.
The Emergencies Ministry said that as of Sunday morning, 774 fires, including 369 that started since Saturday, were raging in an area totaling about 130,000 hectares (500 sq miles), about the size of the administrative area of the city of Los Angeles.
At least 28 people have died in wildfires in European Russia in the past few days, the ministry said and more than 5,200 people have been evacuated. > planetark.org: Russian Patriarch Prays For Rain As Wildfires Rage
Is it possible to limit global warming to no more than 1.5°C?
London, August 3 2010 -
A new report has been published on ‘Mitigating climate change through reductions in greenhouse gas emissions: is it possible to limit global warming to no more than 1.5°C?’, by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, and the Met Office Hadley Centre.
The report can be downloaded at: www2.lse.ac.uk (pdf 20 pgs).
International Ice Core Team Hits Bedrock in Greenland
Seatlle, July 27 / August 3 2010 -
Next to Antarctica, Greenland is home to the largest ice sheet on Earth. Scientists in the frigid north of this enormous island have achieved quite an accomplishment by drilling all the way to the bedrock under the ice. On Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling site (NEEM), the team completed their drilling to a depth of 2537.36 meters. > www.enn.com: International Ice Core Team Hits Bedrock in Greenland > neem.nbi.ku.dk: North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling
Can Science feed the World?
London, July 28 2010 -
More than one billion people go hungry today, and the vast majority of them are in low-income countries. Increasing yield sustainably — using less water, fertilizers and pesticides — is going to be a crucial part of the solution. Nature asks what role science has to play in securing food for the future. > www.nature.com: Can Science feed the World? www.nature.com: How to feed a hungry world
NOAA Has 10 Answers to Allegations That 'Climategate' Disproves Warming
The Prince of Wales accuses sceptics of peddling 'pseudo science'
London, July 15 2010 -
The Prince of Wales has accused climate change sceptics of using 'pseudo science' and 'intimidation' to stop the world from addressing catastrophic global warming.
He likened the failure to combat rising temperatures across the world to playing "Russian Roulette with the future of our children".
But instead of acting, the Prince said more and more people are listening to the "siren voices" of climate change sceptics who argue that the theory of man-made global warming is simply a "sinister attempt to undermine the capitalist system".
> www.telegraph.co.uk: The Prince of Wales accuses sceptics of peddling 'pseudo science'
A Climate Change Corrective
New York, July 10 2010 -
Perhaps now we can put the manufactured controversy known as Climategate behind us and turn to the task of actually doing something about global warming. On Wednesday, a panel in Britain concluded that scientists whose e-mail had been hacked late last year had not, as critics alleged, distorted scientific evidence to prove that global warming was occurring and that human beings were primarily responsible.
> www.nytimes.com: A Climate Change Corrective
Science behind closed doors
London, July 8, 2010 -
Two new reports say the science of climate change is fine, but that some scientists and the institutions they work in need to change their attitudes. > www.economist.com: Science behind closed doors
Climategate: No whitewash, but CRU scientists are far from squeaky clean
High Above the Earth, Satellites Track Melting Ice
Yale, July 06, 2010 -
The surest sign of a warming Earth is the steady melting of its ice zones, from disappearing sea ice in the Arctic to shrinking glaciers worldwide. Now, scientists are using increasingly sophisticated satellite technology to measure the extent, thickness, and height of ice, assembling an essential picture of a planet in transition.
news.bbc.co.uk: CRU climate scientists 'did not withold data'
Studies cast further doubt on sustainability of bioenergy
Brussels, June 29, 2010 -
Two new independent scientific studies launched today cast further doubt on the EU’s policy of promoting biomass as fuel for heat and power generation, and biofuels for transport, [1] according to BirdLife International, the European Environmental Bureau and Transport & Environment. > www.transportenvironment.org: Studies cast further doubt on sustainability of bioenergy
Medvedev Sees Risk to Euro and BP
St. Petersburg, 17 June 2010 -
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expressed doubts about the future of Europe's common currency and said the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could threaten the survival of BP PLC.
Asked whether Europe's debt turmoil could threaten the euro, Mr. Medvedev said, "I don't exaggerate the threat, but it can't be underestimated."
On the eve of his first state visit to the U.S. next week, Mr. Medvedev also questioned whether the Gulf oil spill might lead to the "annihilation" or breakup of BP, as the company faces billions of dollars in losses from the disaster. > online.wsj.com: Medvedev Sees Risk to Euro and BP
Restating the IPCC's reason for being
Montreal / Amsterdam, June 15 May 14 2010 -
As the latest meeting of the InterAcademy Council's review into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change convenes in Montreal, IPCC chairman R K Pachauri says the past year has been "momentous" for the organisation, and not always for the right reasons. In this week's Green Room, he sets out how and why the panel was established, and argues that it plays a vital role in the global climate policy debate. > news.bbc.co.uk / Rajendra Pachauri: Restating the IPCC's reason for being > news.bbc.co.uk / Rajendra Pachauri: IPCC must 'listen and learn' (May 14)
NOAA: May Global Temperature is Warmest on Record
New York, 15 June 2010 -
The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for May, March-May (Northern Hemisphere spring-Southern Hemisphere autumn), and the period January-May according to NOAA. Worldwide average land surface temperature for May and March-May was the warmest on record while the global ocean surface temperatures for both May and March-May were second warmest on record, behind 1998.
The monthly analysis from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, which is based on records going back to 1880, is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides government, business and community leaders so they can make informed decisions. > NOAA: May Global Temperature is Warmest on Record
EU promotes ‘green jobs’ as way out of crisis
Brussels, 11 June 2010 -
Plans to create a generation of 'green' jobs will involve low-skilled as well as high-skilled workers, and could therefore play a key social function in addressing Europe's unemployment crisis, EU officials and MEPs told a Brussels conference yesterday (10 June). > www.euractiv.com: EU promotes ‘green jobs’ as way out of crisis
More cold and snowy winters
Oslo, June 11 2010 -
“Cold and snowy winters will be the rule, rather than the exception,” according to a study presented by the American climate researcher Dr. James Overland at the International Polar Year Oslo Science Conference on Friday. > www.barentsobserver.com: More cold and snowy winters
Government's chief scientific adviser hits out at climate sceptics
London, May 28 2010 -
UK Royal Society revives confusion as US concludes climate change certainty. Professor John Beddington dismisses 'unreasonable' comments from groups including Nigel Lawson's thinktank, as Royal Society responds to critics with new climate science guide. > www.guardian.co.uk: Government's chief scientific adviser hits out at climate sceptics
Gulf states face food crisis
Manama, Bahrain May 27, 2010 -
The scramble by Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states to secure strategic food supplies by buying up vast tracts of farmland in Africa and Asia won't be enough to stave off a surge of food imports over the next decade, a Saudi bank report says.
"The era of cheap food is over," NCB Capital, the investment arm of Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank, declared in the report issued several weeks ago. > www.seeddaily.com: Gulf states face food crisis
USF’s R/V Weatherbird II Detects Invisible Hydrocarbons in Gulf Waters
St. Petersburg, (Fla.), May 27, 2010 –
Researchers aboard the University of South Florida’s R/V Weatherbird II conducting experiments in a previously unexplored region of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill have discovered what initial tests show to be a wide area with elevated levels of dissolved hydrocarbons throughout the water column, possibly indicating that a limb of an undersea oil plume has spread northeast toward the continental shelf. > usfweb3.usf.edu: USF’s R/V Weatherbird II Detects Invisible Hydrocarbons in Gulf Waters > globalwarming.house.gov: Oil Spill in the Gulf - Live Cam
Obama to suspend oil drilling in Arctic Ocean
Washington, May 26, 2010 -
The Obama administration today will suspend planned exploratory oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska until at least 2011, a casualty of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The suspension will be part of a report that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will give to President Barack Obama, who's likely to address the suspension as well as other proposals stemming from Salazar's report, at a White House news conference today. > www.adn.com: Obama to suspend oil > www.newyorker.com / Elisabeth Colbert: Oil shocks (31-05)
Polar bears face 'tipping point' due to climate change
Washington, May 24, 2010 -
Back in 1993, a boy playing football near Nanjing, China, suddenly fell through the ground. He had inadvertently found a new cave, later named Hulu, which has turned out to be a scientific treasure chest. Besides two Homo erectus skeletons, it contains stalagmites that have helped solve one of the greatest mysteries in climate science: why the ice ages came and went when they did. > www.newscientist.com: Meltdown: Why ice ages don't last forever > www.newscientist.com: The history of ice on Earth
Amsterdam, May 22 2010 -
The United Nations proclaimed May 22 The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues.
What is biological diversity? Why is it important? Why do we keep losing species, genes and ecosystems at unprecedented speed? What will be the consequences? What are the costs? And how can we reverse this trend? These and similar questions will be widely discussed throughout 2010. The goal is to help people understand how important biodiversity is for healthy and sustainable development on earth.
22 May is a special day in this regard: every year the world celebrates International Biodiversity Day on that date. This is a great opportunity to draw public attention to the issues at stake. > www.cbd.int: International Day for Biological Diversity > www.biodiversity-day.info: A Global Action Day and Media Event
Climate sceptics rally to expose 'myth'
Chicago, May 21 2010 -
In the Grand Ballroom Of Chicago's Magnificent Mile Hotel, dinner was over.
Beef, of course. A great pink hunk of it from the American Mid-West. At the world's biggest gathering of climate change sceptics, organised by the right-wing Heartland Institute, vegetarians were an endangered species.
Wine flowed and blood coursed during a rousing address from Heartland's libertarian president Joseph Bast. Climate change is being used by governments to oppress the people, he believes. > bbc.co.uk: Climate sceptics rally to expose 'myth'
Strong Evidence on Climate Change Underscores Need for Action
Washington, May 19, 2010 -
As part of its most comprehensive study of climate change to date, the National Research Council today issued three reports emphasizing why the U.S. should act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop a national strategy to adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change. The reports are part of a congressionally requested suite of five studies known as America's Climate Choices. > www8.nationalacademies.org: Strong Evidence on Climate Change Underscores Need for Action > americasclimatechoices.org
The Anthropocene Debate: Marking Humanity’s Impact
Yale, May 17 2010 - (by Elisabeth Kolbert) -
Is human activity altering the planet on a scale comparable to major geological events of the past? Scientists are now considering whether to officially designate a new geological epoch to reflect the changes that homo sapiens have wrought: the Anthropocene.
The Holocene — or “wholly recent” epoch — is what geologists call the 11,000 years or so since the end of the last ice age. As epochs go, the Holocene is barely out of diapers; its immediate predecessor, the Pleistocene, lasted more than two million years, while many earlier epochs, like the Eocene, went on for more than 20 million years. Still, the Holocene may be done for. People have become such a driving force on the planet that many geologists argue a new epoch — informally dubbed the Anthropocene — has begun. > e360.yale.edu / The Anthropocene Debate: Marking Humanity’s Impact See also: > It Is The Anthropocene Epoch (April 26, 2010) > Earth 'entering new age of geological time' (March 27 2010)
IPCC's Pachauri says climate body must 'listen and learn'
Amsterdam, May 14 2010 -
The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said the organisation needs to learn from recent criticisms and modernise its workings.
But despite making an error over Himalayan glacier melt in its landmark 2007 report, the panel's basic conclusions remain sound, he said.
Rajendra Pachauri was speaking at the opening session of a UN-commissioned review into the IPCC's workings. > news.bbc.co.uk: IPCC's Pachauri says climate body must 'listen and learn' > reviewipcc.interacademycouncil.net: Presentations
Disaster unfolds 'slowly' in the Gulf of Mexico
New Orleans / Houston, May 14 2010 -
Recent footage released by BP shows the undersea oil 'vulcano' in the Gulf of Mexico following the disaster with the Deepwater Horizon Oil rig.
London, May 6 2010 -
In a letter published in the journal Science, more than 250 members of the US National Academy of Sciences, including 11 Nobel Prize laureates, condemned the increase in "political assaults" on scientists who argue greenhouse gas emissions are warming the planet.
"We are deeply disturbed by the recent escalation of political assaults on scientists in general and on climate scientists in particular. All citizens should understand some basic scientific facts. There is always some uncertainty associated with scientific conclusions; science never absolutely proves anything. When someone says that society should wait until scientists are absolutely certain before taking any action, it is the same as saying society should never take action. For a problem as potentially catastrophic as climate change, taking no action poses a dangerous risk for our planet." > www.telegraph.co.uk: Climate change deniers accused of McCarthyism > www.sciencemag.org: Climate Change and the Integrity of Science
As oil spill nears Gulf Coast, experts issue dire warnings
An adaptability limit to climate change due to heat stress
Sydney / PNAS, May 3, 2010 -
Despite the uncertainty in future climate-change impacts, it is often assumed that humans would be able to adapt to any possible warming. Here we argue that heat stress imposes a robust upper limit to such adaptation. Peak heat stress, quantified by the wet-bulb temperature TW, is surprisingly similar across diverse climates today.
TW never exceeds 31 °C. Any exceedence of 35 °C for extended periods should induce hyperthermia in humans and other mammals, as dissipation of metabolic heat becomes impossible. While this never happens now, it would begin to occur with global-mean warming of about 7 °C, calling the habitability of some regions into question. With 11–12 °C warming, such regions would spread to encompass the majority of the human population as currently distributed.
Eventual warmings of 12 °C are possible from fossil fuel burning. One implication is that recent estimates of the costs of unmitigated climate change are too low unless the range of possible warming can somehow be narrowed. Heat stress also may help explain trends in the mammalian fossil record. > www.pnas.org: An adaptability limit to climate change due to heat stress (abstract) > www.google.com: Earth may be too hot for humans by 2300: study
UCSD researchers outline strategy to limit global warming
May 3, 2010 -
Major greenhouse gas-emitting countries agreed in December climate talks held in Copenhagen that substantial action is required to limit the increase of global average temperature to less than 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F).
In a paper appearing May 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Veerabhadran Ramanathan and Yangyang Xu, climate researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, have identified three avenues by which those countries can avoid reaching the warming threshold, a point beyond which many scientists believe climate change will present unmanageable negative consequences for society. > www.physorg.com: UCSD researchers outline strategy to limit global warming
CO2 effects on plants increases global warming
May 3, 2010 -
Trees and other plants help keep the planet cool, but rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are turning down this global air conditioner. According to a new study by researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science, in some regions more than a quarter of the warming from increased carbon dioxide is due to its direct impact on vegetation. This warming is in addition to carbon dioxide's better-known effect as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas. For scientists trying to predict global climate change in the coming century, the study underscores the importance of including plants in their climate models. > www.physorg.com: CO2 effects on plants increases global warming
Ignoring legitimate global-warming facts is dangerous
Bakersfield (CAL/USA) May 1 2010 -
Until the 1990s, most climatologists were unconcerned or unaware that our atmosphere is warming. All that changed in 1995 with the release of the first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which concluded there was significant empirical evidence that human activity is affecting global climate. > www.bakersfield.com: Ignoring legitimate global-warming facts is dangerous
Report: Governments Have Failed to Protect Biodiversity
April 29 2010 -
In 2002, 191 nations pledged to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss around the world by 2010. Despite the promises, enshrined in the Convention on Biological Diversity, the plight of threatened species has gotten worse, not better, researchers report online today in Science.
“All the evidence indicates that governments have failed to deliver on their commitments, and we have failed to meet the 2010 target,” says Matthew Walpole, a co-author of the report from the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge, United Kingdom. > news.sciencemag.org: Governments Have Failed to Protect Biodiversity > news.bbc.co.uk: World's 2010 nature target 'will not be met' > www.telegraph.co.uk: World fails to stop extinction
EPA Confirms Climate IS Changing
Washington, 28 April 2010 -
In another display of the sea change that has occurred at the US Environmental Protection Agency under the current administration, a new report was issued yesterday regarding indicators of climate change. The report, entitled "Climate Change Indicators in the United States," measures 24 separate indicators showing how climate change affects the health and environment of US citizens. > www.enn.com: EPA Confirms Climate IS Changing
Reviving the spirit of Rio
London, 27 April 2010 -
Following the near collapse of the UN climate negotiations in December and the seeming paralysis of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in March, the whole idea of solving the world's environmental problems through multilateral negotiations seems to be in crisis. But, argue Maurice Strong and Felix Dodds, another recent development holds out the promise of reversing the trend. > news.bbc.co.uk: Reviving the spirit of Rio
Soil Production of C02 May Decline As World Warms
Washington, 27 April 2010 -
Contradicting earlier studies showing that soil microbes will emit more carbon dioxide as global warming intensifies, new research suggests that these microbes become less efficient over time in a warmer environment and would actually emit less CO2. The research, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, could have important implications for calculating how much heat-trapping CO2 will accumulate in the atmosphere as temperatures rise. > www.enn.com: Soil Production of C02 May Decline As World Warms
Strong flow of Antarctic Bottom Water
Berlin, April 27, 2010 -
Deep western boundary currents east of the Antarctic Peninsula and the Kerguelen plateau are important pathways for transporting deep Antarctic water masses to the global ocean. An array of moored current meters, used to quantify the water transport in this system, reveals a flow that is stronger than any measured in a deep western boundary current at similar depths so far. > www.nature.com: Strong export of Antarctic Bottom Water east of the Kerguelen plateau
Climate change not slowing: German weather service
Berlin, April 27, 2010 -
Climate change is showing no signs of slowing despite a severe winter in Germany that helped reduce public concerns about the threat of global warming, Germany's leading meteorologist said on Tuesday.
Wolfgang Kusch, president of the German Meteorological Service (DWD), said it was a mistake to interpret the harsh winter of 2009/10 as a sign climate change is abating. A German opinion poll recently found fears of climate change falling sharply.
"Despite fluctuations, temperatures are still moving in one direction -- higher," he said. "Climate researchers have to look at least 30-year periods when talking about trends...At the same time the last decade was the warmest in Germany in 130 years." > www.dw-world.de: German temperature gains outpace expectations > www.dwd.de: Geschichte des Klimawandels ist nicht neu zu schreiben (27-04) > www.scientificamerican.com: Climate change not slowing: German weather service
The Age Of Aquarius? Nope, It Is The Anthropocene Epoch
Washington DC (SPX) April 26, 2010 -
In just two centuries, humans have wrought such vast and unprecedented changes to our world that we actually might be ushering in a new geological time period that could alter the planet for millions of years, according to a group of prominent scientists that includes a Nobel Laureate. They say the dawning of this new epoch could lead to the sixth largest mass extinction in the Earth's history. Their commentary appears in ACS' bi-weekly journal Environmental Science and Technology. > www.terradaily.com: The Age Of Aquarius? Nope, It Is The Anthropocene Epoch > pubs.acs.org: The New World of the Anthropocene See also: > Earth 'entering new age of geological time' (March 27 2010)
Earth, but not as we know it
April 22 2010 -
In his new book, environmentalist Bill McKibben says we must abandon the notion that economic growth and environmental sustainability are compatible — only then can we prevent a climate catastrophe. Interview by Christine Woodside. > www.nature.com / Bill McKibben: Earth, but not as we know it
Climate Science Will Prevail
Yale (US), April 20 2010 -
The chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change acknowledges it has been a rough few months for his organization. But, he argues, no amount of obfuscation and attacks by conspiracy theorists will alter the basic facts — global warming is real and intensifying.> e360.yale.edu: Climate Science Will Prevail
New York, 16 April 2010 -
The rise in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere means far more energy is coming into Earth's climate system than is going out, but half of that energy is missing and could eventually reappear as another sign of climate change, scientists said on Thursday.
In stable climate times, the amount of heat coming into Earth's system is equal to the amount leaving it, but these are not stable times, said John Fasullo of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, a co-author of the report in the journal Science.
The gap between what's entering the climate system and what's leaving is about 37 times the heat energy produced by all human activities, from driving cars and running power plants to burning wood. > e360.yale.edu: The Earth’s ‘Missing Heat’ > planetark.org: Earth's Missing Heat Could Haunt Us Later: Report > planetark.org: Tracking Earth's Energy > www.eurekalert.org: 'Missing' heat may affect future climate change
Response by the University of East Anglia to the Report by Lord Oxburgh’s Science Assessment Panel
The Natural World Vanishes: How Species Cease To Matter
(Yale) April 8 2010 -
Once, on both sides of the Atlantic, fish such as salmon, eels, and, shad were abundant and played an important role in society, feeding millions and providing a livelihood for tens of thousands. But as these fish have steadily dwindled, humans have lost sight of their significance, with each generation accepting a diminished environment as the new norm. > e360.yale.edu: The Natural World Vanishes: How Species Cease To Matter
Performers line up for Earth Day’s 40th anniversary
Berlin, April 4 2010 -
Plagued by reports of sloppy work, falsifications and exaggerations, climate research is facing a crisis of confidence. How reliable are the predictions about global warming and its consequences? And would it really be the end of the world if temperatures rose by more than the much-quoted limit of two degrees Celsius? > www.spiegel.de: A Superstorm for Global Warming Research
London, March 27 2010 -
The Earth has entered a new age of geological time – the epoch of new man, scientists claim.
Humans have wrought such vast and unprecedented changes on the planet that we may be ushering in a new period of geological history.
Through pollution, population growth, urbanisation, travel, mining and use of fossil fuels we have altered the planet in ways which will be felt for millions of years, experts believe.
It is feared that the damage mankind has inflicted will lead to the sixth largest mass extinction in Earth’s history with thousands of plants and animals being wiped out.
The new epoch, called the Anthropocene – meaning new man – would be the first period of geological time shaped by the action of a single species. > www.telegraph.co.uk: Earth 'entering new age of geological time' > www.eurekalert.org: The dawn of a new epoch? > pubs.acs.org: The New World of the Anthropocene
'I'm not quitting' says under-fire UN climate boss
The trillion-dollar question is: who will now lead the climate battle?
London, March 27 2010 -
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 forward. > www.guardian.co.uk: The trillion-dollar question is: who will now lead the climate battle?
China steams ahead on clean energy
Shanghai, March 26 2010 -
China overtook the US during 2009 to become the leading investor in renewable energy technologies, according to a new analysis.
Researchers with the Pew Charitable Trusts calculate that China invested $34.6bn (£23.2bn) in clean energy over the year, almost double the US figure.
The UK emerges in third place among G20 nations, followed by Spain and Brazil.
The most spectacular growth has come in South Korea, which saw installed capacity rise by 250% in five years.
Globally, investment has more than doubled in the last five years, Pew finds, with the recent economic turmoil generating only a slight dip. > news.bbc.co.uk: China steams ahead on clean energy > www.guardian.co.uk / Pew report: China overtakes US as top clean tech investor
More needed in climate change fight, MPs say
London, March 25 2010 -
Far more needs to be done by the government to help the UK adapt to climate change, MPs have said.
The Environmental Audit Committee says a programme to "retrofit" homes to make them more energy and water efficient and resilient to flooding is required.
Its report says adapting to climate change needs to become as much of a priority as cutting emissions. > news.bbc.co.uk: More needed in climate change fight, MPs say
CO2 At New Highs Despite Economic Slowdown
Oslo, March 16, 2010 -
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 on Monday.
Carbon dioxide, measured at Norway's Zeppelin station on the Arctic Svalbard archipelago, rose to a median 393.71 parts per million of the atmosphere in the first two weeks of March.
"Looking back at the data we have from Zeppelin since the end of the 1980s it seems like the increase is accelerating" Johan Stroem, of the Norwegian Polar Institute, said of the data compiled with Stockholm University. > www.planetark.org: CO2 At New Highs Despite Economic Slowdown
4 Keys To A Successful Sustainability Strategy
March 16, 2010 -
Consider these morsels from last week's Wall Street Journal: "By 2050, there could be two billion cars on the road -- twice as many as there are today." "Energy demand is expected to be 35 percent higher in 2030 than in 2005." "Pollution of drinking water is Americans' No. 1 environmental concern."
If you're of the mind that the global economy is an Energizer battery that will simply go, go, go -- without needing outside attention -- think again. > www.planetark.org: 4 Keys To A Successful Sustainability Strategy
Farming is mainly to blame for the loss of our native plants and wildlife
London, March 14 2010 -
England was given an uncomfortable reminder last week of the impact of its swelling number of inhabitants. Over the past two millennia, hundreds of its native plants and animals have been rendered extinct because the human population has risen from about one million to more than 51 million. Farming is mainly to blame for the loss of our native plants and wildlife
Sun Won't Stop Global Warming If Dims As In 1600s
Oslo, March 11, 2010 -
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.
A weakening of solar activity in recent years, linked to fewer sunspots, would cut at most 0.3 degree Celsius (0.5 F) from a projected rise in temperatures by 2100 if it becomes a long-lasting "Grand Minimum" of brightness, they said.
"The notion that we are heading for a new Little Ice Age if the sun actually entered a Grand Minimum is wrong," Georg Feulner, lead author of the study at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said in a statement. > planetark.org: Sun Won't Stop Global Warming If Dims As In 1600s
InterAcademy Council Asked to Review Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Plague of Black Carbon Can Be Eased With New Stoves
March 9, 2010 -
With a single, concerted initiative, says Lakshman Guruswami, the world could save millions of people in poor nations from respiratory ailments and early death, while dealing a big blow to global warming — and all at a surprisingly small cost.
“If we could supply cheap, clean-burning cook stoves to the large portion of the world that burns biomass,” says Guruswami, a Sri Lankan-born professor of international law at the University of Colorado, “we could address a significant international public health problem, and at the same stroke cut a major source of warming.” > featured.matternetwork.com: Plague of Black Carbon Can Be Eased With New Stoves
Humans must be to blame for climate change, say scientists
March 5, 2010 - (Independent) -
Climate scientists have delivered a powerful riposte to their sceptical critics with a study that strengthens the case for saying global warming is largely the result of man-made emissions of greenhouse gases.
The researchers found that no other possible natural phenomenon, such as volcanic eruptions or variations in the activity of the Sun, could explain the significant warming of the planet over the past half century as recorded on every continent including Antarctica.
It is only when the warming effect of emitting millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from human activity is considered that it is possible to explain why global average temperatures have risen so significantly since the middle of the 20th century. > www.independent.co.uk: Humans must be to blame for climate change, say scientists
NGO's alarm EU to not support forest conversion for biofuels
Amsterdam, 4 March 2010 -
The EU Parliament has formulated sustainability criteria to prevent forest loss for biofuel production. Now, a leaked draft document shows how the Commission intends to allow and support conversion of for instance rainforest areas into palm oil plantations to produce biodiesel.
Wetlands International together with a long list of NGOs urges the European Commission to alter their broad definition of ‘forests’ as it conflicts with the green intentions of the Renewable Energy Directive, violates UN-definitions and is scientifically incorrect. > www.wetlands.org: NGO's alarm EU to not support forest conversion for biofuels
India Announces Coal Tax To Fund Renewable Energy Projects
New Delhi, March 4 2010 -
In a landmark announcement the Indian Finance Minister, in his annual Budget speech, put forward the proposal of setting of National Clean Energy Fund which would be constituted through tax lieved on coal usage in the country. > www.scientificamerican.com: India Announces Coal Tax To Fund Renewable Energy Projects
World leaders, top academics selected for Ban’s climate change advisory group
New York, March 4 2010 -
Philanthropist George Soros and prominent British academic Nicholas Stern are among the 19 members of the high-level advisory group set up by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon seeking to mobilize financing to help developing countries combat climate change, it was announced today.
Last month, Mr. Ban launched the Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing, which will be headed up by the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and Ethiopia, Gordon Brown and Meles Zenawi.
It was also revealed in February that President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway will participate. > www.timesonline.co.uk: World leaders, top academics selected for Ban’s climate change advisory group
Al Gore: We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change
New York, 27 February 2010 -
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. > www.nytimes.com: We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change
Climate change report sets out an apocalyptic vision of Britain
London, February 26 2010 -
Mass migration northwards to new towns in Scotland, Wales and northeast England may be needed to cope with climate change and water shortages in the South East, according to an apocalyptic vision set out by the Government Office for Science.
Heathrow would be converted into a giant reservoir by 2035, there could be severe restrictions on flying and driving and farmers would be forced to sell their land to giant agricultural businesses. Greenhouse gas emissions would be controlled by carbon rationing for individuals, which would lead to “significant shifts in lifestyle as everyone tries to stay within budget”. > www.timesonline.co.uk: Climate change report sets out an apocalyptic vision of Britain > Apocalyptic Warnings: "The Medea hypothesis": Life is out to get you
IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri to face independent inquiry
Climate wars damage the scientists but we all stand to lose in the battle
London, February 23 2010 -
So the case is closed. The release of private emails between climate scientists at the University of East Anglia that show malpractice and conspiracy have had their effect. Public acceptance of the reality of global warming has dipped, politicians are retreating and changes to how science is done and scientists behave are required.
I do not accept this. I believe this seductively simple narrative is based on ignorance, scientific illiteracy and hypocrisy. Worse, it is dangerous and will erode the very public confidence it seeks to restore. > www.guardian.co.uk: Climate wars damage the scientists but we all stand to lose in the battle
Whaling body proposes compromise
Bali (Indonesia), 23 February 2010 –
The working group set up by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has proposed allowing a limited return to commercial whale hunts, in exchange for a reduction in the number of whales killed annually.
The proposal would allow Japan to continue its hunt of the mammals on a quota basis, while suspending its hunts for the purposes of "research".
The proposal, developed but not endorsed by a 12-nation IWC working group, calls for the suspension of "scientific whaling" - a loophole which Japan uses to circumvent the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling. > english.aljazeera.net: Whaling body proposes compromise
More Ambition Needed if Greenhouse Gases are to Peak in Time, Says New UNEP Report
CU-Boulder prof speaks on mass media role in climate change skepticism
February 22, 2010 -
Mass media have been a key vehicle by which climate change contrarianism has traveled, according to Maxwell Boykoff, a University of Colorado at Boulder professor and fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES.
Boykoff, an assistant professor of environmental studies, presented his research today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego. He spoke during a panel discussion titled "Understanding Climate Change Skepticism: Its Sources and Strategies." > www.physorg.com: CU-Boulder prof speaks on mass media role in climate change skepticism
Cars Emerge as Key Atmospheric Warming Force: Study
Hampton (VA/US), February 19, 2010 -
For decades, climatologists have studied the gases and particles that have potential to alter Earth's climate. They have discovered and described certain airborne chemicals that can trap incoming sunlight and warm the climate, while others cool the planet by blocking the Sun's rays. > www.physorg.com: Cars Emerge as Key Atmospheric Warming Force: Study
Yvo de Boer's resignation compounds sense of gathering climate crisis
Setting the climate record straight
London, February 17 2010 -
Climate researcher Martin Parry at Imperial College London co-chaired the second working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — the group charged with assessing the effects climate change is likely to have and how these might be mitigated — for the IPCC's fourth assessment. During the past month, the IPCC has corrected an error about the amount of melting anticipated for the Himalayan glaciers and defended its estimates of the financial costs of damage caused by natural disasters. Nature talks to Parry, who has been busy juggling writing up his own research with investigating queries about the 2007 report. > www.nature.com: Setting the climate record straight
On the brink of extinction – 25 of our closest relatives
Climate skeptics exploiting 'scandal': US envoy
Washington, February 16 2010 -
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.
Todd Stern, the US special envoy on climate issues, downplayed recent revelations about a landmark 2007 study by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that warned of dire consequences from global warming. > www.yahoo/afp.ocm: Climate skeptics exploiting 'scandal': US envoy
Whatevergate
London, February 16 2010 -
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. And that has been a huge shift in the Overton window for climate change. > www.realclimate.org: Whatevergate
New enzymes turn waste into fuel
Bagsvaerd (DK), February 16 2010 -
Novozymes launches the first commercially viable enzymes for production of biofuel from agricultural waste. Breakthroughs in enzyme technology enable cellulosic biofuel as a competitive alternative to gasoline.
Novozymes’ new Cellic® CTec2 enzymes enable the biofuel industry to produce cellulosic ethanol at a price below USD 2.00 per gallon for the initial commercial-scale plants that are scheduled to be in operation in 2011. This cost is on par with gasoline and conventional ethanol at the current US market prices. > www.novozymes.com: IPCC errors: facts and spin
IPCC errors: facts and spin
London, February 14 2010 -
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? > www.realclimate.org: IPCC errors: facts and spin
The Two Faces of Agriculture
Berlin, February 14, 2010 -
The challenge of the 21st century is to transform agriculture into a good administrator of biodiversity and reverse its destructive capacity, without restricting its mission to feed a growing world population, said Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme.
Like the Roman god Janus, whose two faces look in opposite directions, agriculture can either protect the planet's biodiversity, or decimate it with the irrational use of chemical inputs and the reduction of soil fertility.
According to the U.N., some 150 species disappear every day, victims of human activities - including rural production - that cause climate change and transform ecosystems.
Tierramérica spoke with the head of UNEP in Berlin, on the occasion of the launch of the International Year of Biodiversity, which is calling attention to the urgent need to protect and conserve the great variety of flora and fauna on Earth. > www.tierramerica.info: The Two Faces of Agriculture
Report: El Nino fueled record global warmth in January
Global temperature anomalies for the lower troposphere, in January 2010. Below-normal areas (in blue) were restricted to parts of Russia and China, most of Europe, and the southeastern USA. Most of Canada and Greenland were well above normal (red and orange). Lower tropospheric temperature anomalies for one month over a small region don't necessarily match surface temperature anomalies.
Alabama (US) February 12 2010 -
Due to a strong El Nino climate pattern, the Earth's temperature in January 2010 was the warmest it's been in January in 32 years, according to climate scientists from the University of Alabama-Huntsville. El Nino is a periodic natural warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean, which also heats the atmosphere to above-average levels, and can affect weather worldwide. > Report: El Nino fueled record global warmth in January
38 percent of world's surface in danger of desertification
Sevilla, February 9 2010 -
A team of Spanish researchers has measured the degradation of the planet's soil using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a scientific methodology that analyses the environmental impact of human activities, and which now for the first time includes indicators on desertification. The results show that 38 percent of the world is made up of arid regions at risk of desertification. > www.physorg.com: 38 percent of world's surface in danger of desertification
NOAA Launches "Climate Services" With Website
(Science), February 9, 2010 -
Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as long as 4 years ago, hoped that NOAA would be the home of what they were calling Climate Services. Today, with the launch of a new Web site called climate.gov, NOAA's Climate Services has debuted, albeit modestly. > NOAA Launches "Climate Services" With Website > www.climate.gov
Think-tanks take oil money and use it to fund climate deniers
London, February 8 2010 -
An orchestrated campaign is being waged against climate change science to undermine public acceptance of man-made global warming, environment experts claimed last night.
The attack against scientists supportive of the idea of man-made climate change has grown in ferocity since the leak of thousands of documents on the subject from the University of East Anglia (UEA) on the eve of the Copenhagen climate summit last December.
Free-market, anti-climate change think-tanks such as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in the US and the International Policy Network in the UK have received grants totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the multinational energy company ExxonMobil. Both organisations have funded international seminars pulling together climate change deniers from across the globe. > www.independent.co.uk: Think-tanks take oil money and use it to fund climate deniers
Sceptics have their uses
London, 7 February 2010
The climate change sceptics have done us all a favour. This may seem a curious view for a newspaper so committed to the cause of environmental sustainability. But, by challenging the consensus view of global warming, the sceptics have tested the flabbier assumptions of that consensus and forced the proponents of the majority view to sharpen their arguments. > www.independent.co.uk: Sceptics have their uses
US 'climategate' scientist all but cleared of misconduct
Michigan, February 3 2010 -
A prominent US climate scientist at the centre of the "climategate" leaked email controversy has been virtually cleared of professional misconduct by an internal university enquiry.
Michael Mann, of Penn State University, featured regularly in the more than 1000 emails that were hacked from the University of East Anglia in the UK last November. His emails and comments have since then featured in countless blogs and news articles. Some have claimed the emails reveal that mainstream climate scientists have massaged data in order to demonstrate that climate change is caused by human activities. > www.newscientist.com: US 'climategate' scientist all but cleared of misconduct
London, February 2 2010 -
Just over two years after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the United Nations panel on climate change is undergoing a period of soul-searching.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has always been a target for climate-change sceptics. In recent weeks, however, criticism has mounted and the panel admitted to a glaring error in its last comprehensive report, released in 2007, which says that Himalayan glaciers are likely to melt completely by 2035 (see Nature 463, 276–277; 2010). On top of that, its chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, is under pressure to resign because the institute he directs, the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi, has ties with companies that could benefit from climate policies. > www.nature.com: IPCC flooded by criticism
Ed Miliband declares war on climate change sceptics
London, February 1 2010 -
The climate secretary, Ed Miliband, last night warned of the danger of a public backlash against the science of global warming in the face of continuing claims that experts have manipulated data.
In an exclusive interview with the Observer, Miliband spoke out for the first time about last month's revelations that climate scientists had withheld and covered up information and the apology made by the influential UN climate body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which admitted it had exaggerated claims about the melting of Himalayan glaciers.
The perceived failure of global talks on combating climate change in Copenhagen last month has also been blamed for undermining public support. But in the government's first high-level recognition of the growing pressure on public opinion, Miliband declared a "battle" against the "siren voices" who denied global warming was real or caused by humans, or that there was a need to cut carbon emissions to tackle it. > www.guardian.co.uk: Ed Miliband declares war on climate change sceptics > www.independent.co.uk: Miliband warns against climate change cynicism > www.telegraph.co.uk: Faulty science risks obscuring 'larger truth' of climate change
How the 'climategate' scandal is bogus and based on climate sceptics' lies
London, February 1 2010 -
Claims based on email soundbites are demonstrably false – there is manifestly no evidence of clandestine data manipulation.
Almost 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?" > www.guardian.co.uk: How the 'climategate' scandal is bogus and based on climate sceptics' lies
UN-HABITAT Grants Cities Lecture Award to IPCC Chair
New York, February 1 2010 -
The UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), through the Global Research Network on Human Settlements, its advisory board for the global report on human settlements, has awarded Rajendra Pachauri the 2010 UN-HABITAT Cities Lecture Award for his contribution and leadership on climate change and cities. > www.unhabitat.org: UN-HABITAT Grants Cities Lecture Award to IPCC Chair
'Climate emails hacked by spies'
London, February 1 2010 -
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. > www.independent.co.uk: Climate emails hacked by spies' > www.independent.co.uk: We should know who leaked the emails on climate change
As the World Burns
Washington , February 1 2010 -
This was supposed to be the transformative moment on global warming, the tipping point when America proved to the world that capitalism has a conscience, that we take the fate of the planet seriously. According to the script, Congress would pass a landmark bill committing the U.S. to deep cuts in carbon emissions. President Obama would then arrive in Copenhagen for the international climate summit, armed with the moral and political capital he needed to challenge the rest of the world to do the same. After all, wasn't this the kind of bold move the Norwegians were anticipating when they awarded Obama the Nobel Peace Prize? > www.rollingstone.com: As the world burns
Global deal on climate change in 2010 'all but impossible'
London, 1 February 2010 -
A global deal to tackle climate change is all but impossible in 2010, leaving the scale and pace of action to slow global warming in coming decades uncertain, according to senior figures across the world involved in the negotiations.
"The forces trying to tackle climate change are in disarray, wandering in small groups around the battlefield like a beaten army," said a senior British diplomat. > www.guardian.co.uk: Global deal on climate change in 2010 'all but impossible'
Bin Laden blasts US for climate change
Cairo, January 30 2010 -
Osama bin Laden sought to draw a wider public into his fight against the United States in a new message Friday, dropping his usual talk of religion and holy war and focusing instead on an unexpected topic: global warming.
The al-Qaida leader blamed the United States and other industrialized nations for climate change and said the only way to prevent disaster was to break the American economy, calling on the world to boycott U.S. goods and stop using the dollar. > ap.com: Bin Laden blasts US for climate change
EU agrees to make lowest climate offer to UN
Brussel, 28 January 2010 -
The European Union has decided to stick to its lowest offer for cutting carbon emissions under a UN climate accord, but will maintain a conditional pledge to do more if others follow suit, EU diplomats said on Wednesday (27 January). > www.euractiv.com: EU agrees to make lowest climate offer to UN
Simulated volcanoes and man-made 'sun blocks' can rescue the planet
London, 28 January 2010 -
It would be 100 times cheaper to shield the Earth from sunlight with a man-made "sun block" than to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. This is one of the reasons why the world needs an international project to investigate ways of safely manipulating the global climate in addition to cutting greenhouse gases, scientists have said. > www.independent.co.uk: Simulated volcanoes and man-made 'sun blocks' can rescue the planet
A Journalist Reflects on the Rising Heat in Climate Debate
New Haven, January 26 2010 -
Although he writes one of the most popular blogs on the environment, Dot Earth author Andrew Revkin recognizes both the drawbacks and potential of the Web for exploring complex issues. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Revkin explains why the rhetoric surrounding climate change has gotten so hot. > www.e360.yale.edu: A Journalist Reflects on the Rising Heat in Climate Debate
Icy hunt for old air
Wais Divide Camp, Antarctica, January 25 2010 -
"We're checking out history books made of ice," says Kendrick Taylor. A palaeoclimatologist at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada, Taylor is the chief scientist of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide drilling project, which is now three-quarters of the way towards pulling up the most temporally precise record of carbon dioxide for the past 100,000 years. The highly anticipated ice core promises to improve climatologists' understanding of the dynamic global climate system, and has already begun to illuminate how humans can affect it. > www.nature.com: Icy hunt for old air
The real holes in climate science
London, January 20 2010 -
Like any other field, research on climate change has some fundamental gaps, although not the ones typically claimed by sceptics. Nature takes a hard look at some of the biggest problem areas.
The e-mails leaked from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) in November presented an early Christmas present to climate-change denialists. Amid the more than 1,000 messages were several controversial comments that — taken out of context — seemingly indicate that climate scientists have been hiding a mound of dirty laundry from the public.
A fuller reading of the e-mails from CRU in Norwich, UK, does show a sobering amount of rude behaviour and verbal faux pas, but nothing that challenges the scientific consensus of climate change. Still, the incident provides a good opportunity to point out that — as in any active field of inquiry — there are some major gaps in the understanding of climate science. In its most recent report in 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted 54 'key uncertainties' that complicate climate science. > www.nature.com: The real holes in climate science > www.nature.com: Enduring climate myths
If It’s That Warm, How Come It’s So Damned Cold?
Figure 1. (a) GISS analysis of global surface temperature change. Green vertical bar is estimated 95 percent confidence range (two standard deviations) for annual temperature change. (b) Hemispheric temperature change in GISS analysis. (Base period is 1951-1980.)
Hedegaard eyes tougher emission cuts from transport
Brussels, January 18 2010 -
Connie Hedegaard, the EU's incoming climate policy chief, pledged to tackle transport emissions during a confirmation hearing in the European Parliament on Friday (15 January), saying she would table an integrated legislative package on climate and transport during her mandate. > www.euractiv.com: Hedegaard eyes tougher emission cuts from transport
Climate Conditions in 2050 Crucial to Avoid Harmful Impacts in 2100
ScienceDaily, January 14, 2010 — While governments around the world continue to explore strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a new study suggests policymakers should focus on what needs to be achieved in the next 40 years in order to keep long-term options viable for avoiding dangerous levels of warming. > www.sciencedaily.com: Climate Conditions in 2050 Crucial to Avoid Harmful Impacts in 2100
Paleontologist Peter Ward's "Medea hypothesis": Life is out to get you
Scientific American, January 14, 2010 —
At a lecture at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, paleontologist Peter D. Ward laid out the argument that life as we know it serves to make Earth less habitable — a downward spiral that might spell the eventual end of life on the planet. Ward, a professor at the University of Washington, calls this the Medea hypothesis, named for the murderous mother of Greek mythology.
It is a direct challenge to scientist and futurist James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, which asserts that life constantly tweaks the dials on Earth's control systems to keep the planet in a nice, habitable homeostasis. > www.scientificamerican.com: The Medea Hypothesis
See also: > 'The Revenge of Gaia' Books & Debate (2006) > Lovelock: "Enjoy life while you can" (March 1 2008)
Climate change scepticism will increase hardship for world's poor: IPCC chief
London / Delhi, January 4 2010 -
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. > www.guardian.co.uk: Climate change scepticism will increase hardship for world's poor: IPCC chief
UN opens Biodiversity Year with plea to save world's life-supporting ecosystems
London, Januari 01 2010 -
The politicians failed in Copenhagen. Now we must take up the fight. But what has the campaign has achieved to date? 10:10 - The time for action
Top Ten Green Building Trends for 2010
(ENN) Januari 1, 2010 -
Green building is one of the keys to economic recovery. Not only is it a better way to do business, it drives innovation, improves efficiency standards, makes for happier and healthier people and creates new "green collar" jobs.
The trend topics on this list will be no surprise to others who are experts in this area; they are products, systems and concepts that have been quietly percolating. The purpose of this list is to identify those "big picture" trends that we see becoming more mainstream in 2010. > www.enn.com: Top Ten Green Building Trends for 2010
