Nov 22, 09
Oceans’ Ability To Absorb CO2 May Be Diminishing, New Study Says
A study of the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the world’s oceans from 1765 to the present shows that as humanity pumps more CO2 into the atmosphere, the capacity of the world’s oceans to continue absorbing carbon appears to be decreasing. Researchers from Columbia University and NASA estimate that since 2000, the proportion of fossil-fuel emissions absorbed by the oceans may have declined by as much as 10 percent. In effect, researchers say that industrial activity has been producing...
U.S. and China Announce "Positive, Cooperative and Comprehensive" Plan for Collaboration on Clean Energy and Climate Change
"Very exciting day here in Beijing. There's enormous interest in both governments in working together to fight climate change. The package announced today is far-reaching and can make a real difference in cutting emissions." That's an exclusive quote from David Sandalow, DOE's Assistant Secretary of Energy for Policy and International Affairs, who just emailed me from China about the newly announced U.S.-China cooperation plan. Sandalow is going to be in Copenhagen, so I hope to have...
Climate Success in Copenhagen
A quick note. Several people have asked me recently about Copenhagen and COP-15, and whether the summit isn't a failure from the start, since it pretty clearly will not produce a new treaty. I think not. First of all, it's been clear for months that negotiators didn't have enough time to get to a signed comprehensive global climate treaty by December. In fact, all the way back in April the main players were saying that success at Copenhagen would be defined by agreements in principle, not...
How Real is Our Ability to Control the Weather?
Chinese scientists claim to be able to control the weather. But is so-called geoengineering more than wishful thinking? And, if so, should we be worried? Image: Unseasonal snowfall in Beijing, which scientists claim is the result of their geoengineering, November 2009. Photograph: ADRIAN BRADSHAW/EPA The unseasonal snow that fell on Beijing for 11 hours on Sunday was the earliest and heaviest there has been for years. It was also, China claims, man-made. By the end of last month,...
Changing a City: Inside Portland's 80 Percent by 2050 Target
An Interview with Deputy Director of Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Micheal Armstrong by Alex Aylett Last week the City of Portland and Multnomah County jointly passed one of North America's most ambitious Climate Change Action Plan (CAP), which commits the city and county to reducing their overall emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Portland has been a leading city on climate change policy since 1993, when it became the first city adopt a strategy to...
The must-read solutions book -- Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis by Al Gore
The long-awaited sequel to An Inconvenient Truth comes out Tuesday. If you want a preview, Gore and the book are featured in an excellent Newsweek cover story, The Thinking Man’s Thinking Man. In September, Nature Reports Climate Change asked me (and several others) to suggest three books to read ahead of the Copenhagen conference. Of those, they then asked me to review Gore’s new book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis: When your last work led to an Oscar and...
Coping With Climate Change: Which Societies Will Do Best?
By Gaia Vince As the world warms, how different societies fare in dealing with rising seas and changing weather patterns will have as much to do with political, social, and economic factors as with a changing climate. Following the disastrous tsunami of December 2004, the government of Bangladesh embraced upgraded storm-alert systems that warn communities in a coordinated way and improved social support networks, resulting in a drastic reduction in typhoon deaths. In neighboring Myanmar,...
Climate Poll: Hike in Skepticism; Support for Cap and Trade
New Pew numbers show more doubters, but modest support for cap and trade nonetheless. By Anna Fahey The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 4 among 1,500 adults (reached on cell phones and landlines) revealed some disheartening trends when it comes to opinions about climate change. At the same time, things are looking decent (if not rosy) for cap and trade policy. 57 percent think there is solid evidence that the average...
The Economic Case for Slashing Carbon Emissions
Amid a growing call for reducing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 to 350 parts per million, a group of economists maintains that striving to meet that target is a smart investment — and the best insurance policy humanity could buy. By Frank Ackerman The climate change news from Washington is cautiously encouraging. No one in power is listening to the climate skeptics any more; the economic stimulus package included real money for clean energy; a bill capping U.S. carbon emissions...
Video: Maldives President Holds Underwater Cabinet Meeting
Cabinet sign SOS memo to raise awareness of threat of rising sea levels to their country. Article originally appeared on The Guardian.
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