At last some good news: A major new educational initiative on climate change has been launched on the Net. Called “Focus the Nation” it will involve over 1000 universities, colleges and high schools in the US in a simultaneous one-day symposia that will explore the challenge of “Stabilizing the Climate in the 21st Century”. “Post … Read More
Blog Post
Warning: 90% Carbon Cut Needed to Avoid Disaste
Hot of the heels of the two NASA reports is a further one from British scientists saying that drastic action is needed if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change. The government-funded Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, the leading climate change research body, has revised upwards by a massive 50% the cuts in greenhouse … Read More
Disappearing World
The Independent today reports on the story we blogged on yesterday about disappearing sea-ice reported by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. However it is even worse – another NASA study – this time by the Goddard Space Flight Centre, in Maryland, shows that the perennial ice melting rate, has also accelerated rapidly. As the … Read More
“Drastic” Shrinkage in Arctic Ice
A Nasa satellite has documented “startling” changes in Arctic sea ice cover between 2004 and 2005. The extent of “perennial” ice – which remains all year round – declined by 14%, losing an area the size of Pakistan or Turkey. The Arctic is now warming about twice as fast as the global average. September 2005 … Read More
Wither The Traditional English Garden?
The traditional English cottage garden full of roses, delphiniums and hollyhocks may soon be a thing of the past because of climate change, the government warned yesterday. Ian Pearson, the Environment Minister, said that average temperatures would probably increase by 5.4F (3C) by the 2080s, forcing gardeners to move from traditional plants to Mediterranean varieties … Read More
Are you Loyal to Big Oil?
Loyal to Big Oil is a new consortium of oil barons, energy-company CEOs, giddy traders on the energy futures market and the faithful representatives in Congress who deliver the subsidies and tax breaks we love at the expense of consumers and taxpayers who can’t afford lobbyists of their own. Over the weekend, Loyalists in Nevada … Read More
The China Syndrome
Anyone interested in the changing geo-political landscape and China’s growing influence on oil politics should listen to Tom Mangold’s second programme in his excellent series, “Driven By Oil”. The programme explores how the emergence of a thirsty China will reshape our world over the coming decades. It will lead, in all probability, to increased conflict … Read More
The Gathering Storm: We are to Blame for More Powerful Hurricanes
As Hurricane Florence pounds the Caribbean, the most authoritative scientific study of its kind has concluded what many people have suspected: that increasing sea temperatures caused by global warming are responsible for more intense and devastating storms, such as hurricanes and tornados.
US EPA Promotes Biofuels
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken a big step towards implementing one of the most contentious parts of last year’s Energy Policy Act by proposing a regulatory system that will nearly double domestic ethanol use. Called the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the regulation establishes a credit-trading system that will mandate the use of 7.5 … Read More
Can Wind and Solar Meet Global Energy Demand?
Over 50 per cent of the expected rise in global energy demand over the next twenty five years will be met by oil and gas, according to new forecasts by the International Energy Agency. However wind and solar energy could meet a substantially greater proportion of global demand by 2030 if the right policies are … Read More